Detective fiction and the rise of the Japanese novel, 1880-1930 / Satoru Saito.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saito, Satoru, 1973-

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 346.

Harvard East Asian monographs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese fiction--Meiji period, 1868-1912--History and criticism.

Japanese fiction.

Japanese fiction--Taishō period, 1912-1926--History and criticism.

Japanese fiction--Western influences.

Detective and mystery stories, Japanese--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery stories, Japanese.

Japanese fiction--Taishō period.

Physical Description:

viii, 308 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, [2012]

Summary:

Through a series of close readings, Saito (Japanese, Rutgers U.) investigates structural and conceptual similarities between the novel in prewar Japan and Western detective stories--similarities that were not simply coincidental, as he demonstrates, but rather a manifestation of cultural conditions and needs. This study encompasses authors including Tsubouchi Shoyo, Kuroiwa Ruiko, Natsume Soseki, and Edogawa Ranpo, among others. The volume is distributed by Harvard U. Press. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

The novel's other : detective fiction and the literary project of Tsubouchi Shoyo

Allegories of detective fiction : Kuroiwa Ruiko and the refashioning of a Meiji subject

Of crimes and punishments : the tribulations of Meiji students in the writings of Japanese naturalism

Mysteries of the modern subject : the detective and the detective fiction framework in the writings of Natsume Soseki

Rhetoric of disavowal : "secrets and liberation" and the specters of the West

Detecting the unconscious : Edogawa Ranpo and the emergence of the Japanese detective

Epilogue : The detective, the masses, and the State.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [285]-293) and index.

ISBN:

9780674065864

0674065867

OCLC:

758383794