The evolution of classical detective fiction in Japan : between honkaku and henkaku / Satomi Saito

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saito, Satomi, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in crime narratives

Cambridge elements. Elements in crime narratives, 2755-1873

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Detective and mystery stories, Japanese.

Japanese fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Japanese fiction.

Japanese fiction--21st century--History and criticism.

Japanese literature--Western influences.

Japanese literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"This Element traces the evolution of honkaku (orthodox) detective fiction in Japan, examining how a Western-derived puzzle genre was adapted, contested, and transformed within Japan's twentieth-century cultural climate. It begins with the genre's prewar formation, focusing on Edogawa Rampo's shift from a faithful practitioner of honkaku to a representative figure of Japan's henkaku (unorthodox) mode. The second section analyzes the postwar honkaku movement, demonstrating how Seishi Yokomizo and Seichō Matsumoto revitalized the genre while revealing the limits of the classical puzzle model. The final section turns to the New Orthodox School of the 1990s, whose writers pushed honkaku to its limits by reworking narrative structures and subverting genre conventions. By foregrounding debates surrounding honkaku, this Element theorizes detective fiction as a historically contingent system of formal constraints and cultural negotiations, positioning modern Japanese literature as a crucial site for rethinking genre, narrative logic, and the global circulation of literary forms"-- Cambridge core

Contents:

Introduction : the discourse of orthodoxy in Japanese detective fiction

Edogawa Rampo and the politics of genre

Postwar orthodoxy and its discontents : Seishi Yokomizo and Seicho Matsumoto

The new orthodox school and the re-narrativization of postwar Japan

Conclusion : beyond Honkaku

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed June 18, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Saito, Satomi Evolution of classical detective fiction in Japan

ISBN:

9781009533942

1009533940

9781009533935

1009533932

OCLC:

1584385029

Publisher Number:

CIPO000371127

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license