This book explores one of the crucial themes in postwar Japanese fiction. Through an examination of the work of a number of prominent twentieth century Japanese writers, the book analyses the meaning of the body in postwar Japanese discourse, the gender constructions of the imagery of the body and the implications for our understanding of individual and national identity. This book will be of interest to all students of modern Japanese literature.

In the immediate postwar years, the body became an obsessive object of focus in Japanese fiction in both popular and high-brow novels. The freedom and carnal hedonism the representation of the body allowed contrasted starkly with the political ideology of wartime Japan. In a time when bodily needs were often suppressed the body served writers both as a symbol of physical toil and as a celebration of individual identity and freedom which flouted wartime censorship laws.
Through an examination of the work of a number of prominent 20th Century Japanese writers, this book analyzes the meaning of the body in postwar Japanese discourse, the gender constructions of the imagery of the body and the implications for our understanding of individual and national identity. The contributors discuss the ideological and historical conception of the body and "nikutai bungaku" (literature of the body) in general before analyzing more specific themes including:
The body as revolution
The body as a tool to subvert militarist control
The adaptable nature of the body and its role in fashioning identity
The body in relation to protest and celebration
Detailed analysis of the writings of Tamura Taijir*, Noma Hiroshi and Sakaguchi Ango
An analysis of the differences between male and female writing in the period
Concentrating on the literature produced between 1945 and 1960, this work highlights the varied uses and meanings of the human body in postwar Japanese fiction and its relationship to postwar and wartime society. It will be of interest to all students of modern Japanese literature.

Sakaguchi Ango (1906-1955) was a writer who thrived on iconoclasm and agitation. He remains one of the most creative and stimulating thinkers of twentieth-century Japan. Ango was catapulted into the public consciousness in the months immediately following Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945. The energy and iconoclasm of his writings were matched by the outrageous and outsized antics of his life. Behind that life, and in the midst of those tumultuous times, Ango spoke with a cutting clarity. The essays and translations included in Literary Mischief probe some of the most volatile issues of culture, ideology, and philosophy of postwar Japan. Represented among the essayists are some of Japan's most important contemporary critics (e.g., Karatani K?jin and Ogino Anna). Many of Ango's works were produced during Japan's wars in China and the Pacific, a context in which words and ideas carried dire consequences for both writers and readers. All of the contributions to this volume consider this dimension of Ango's legacy, and it forms one of the thematic threads tying the volume together. The essays use Ango's writings to situate his accomplishment and contribute to our understanding of the potentials and limitations of radical thought in times of cultural nationalism, war, violence, and repression. This collection of essays and translations takes advantage of current interest in Sakaguchi Ango's work and makes available to the English-reading audience translations and critical work heretofore unavailable. As a result, the reader will come away with a coherent sense of Ango the individual and the writer, a critical apparatus for evaluating Ango, and access to new translations of key texts.

Ysko Tawada: Voices from Everywhere is the first volume of criticism dedicated to the work of Ysko Tawada, one of the most highly acclaimed writers of her generation. Douglas Slaymaker has collected a range of essays including many that were featured at the 2006 MLA Conference, where a presidential panel featuring Ysko Tawada was organized by MLA President Marjorie Perloff, who has contributed a preface to this volume. The essays explore the plurality of voices and cultures in Tawada's work and push on to explicate the poetics and intellectual underpinnings of her writing. Analyses of her fiction are paired with examinations of its philosophic and aesthetic foundations. The essayists represent a wide range of scholars and translators who are intimate with Tawada's work in German, Japanese, and/or English. Many of the essays begin as close readings of the German and Japanese texts.Ysko Tawada: Voices from Everywhere is an essential collection for anyone with an interest in this important young writer.

Yoeko Tawada: Voices from Everywhere is the first volume of criticism dedicated to the work of Yoeko Tawada, one of the most highly acclaimed writers of her generation. Douglas Slaymaker has collected a range of essays including many that were featured at the 2006 MLA Conference, where a presidential panel featuring Yoeko Tawada was organized by MLA President Marjorie Perloff, who has contributed a preface to this volume. The essays explore the plurality of voices and cultures in Tawada's work and push on to explicate the poetics and intellectual underpinnings of her writing. Analyses of her fiction are paired with examinations of its philosophic and aesthetic foundations. The essayists represent a wide range of scholars and translators who are intimate with Tawada's work in German, Japanese, and/or English. Many of the essays begin as close readings of the German and Japanese texts.Yoeko Tawada: Voices from Everywhere is an essential collection for anyone with an interest in this important young writer.