The Columbia Companion to modern East Asian literature

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Where to find it

Davis Library — Reference (1st floor)

Call Number
PL493 .C55 2003
Status
In-Library Use Only

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Summary

This extraordinary one-volume guide to the modern literatures of China, Japan, and Korea is the definitive reference work on the subject in the English language. With more than one hundred articles that show how a host of authors and literary movements have contributed to the general literary development of their respective countries, this companion is an essential starting point for the study of East Asian literatures. Comprehensive thematic essays introduce each geographical section with historical overviews and surveys of persistent themes in the literature examined, including nationalism, gender, family relations, and sexuality.

Following the thematic essays are the individual entries: over forty for China, over fifty for Japan, and almost thirty for Korea, featuring everything from detailed analyses of the works of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Murakami Haruki, to far-ranging explorations of avant-garde fiction in China and postwar novels in Korea. Arrayed chronologically, each entry is self-contained, though extensive cross-referencing affords readers the opportunity to gain a more synoptic view of the work, author, or movement. The unrivaled opportunities for comparative analysis alone make this unique companion an indispensable reference for anyone interested in the burgeoning field of Asian literature.

Although the literatures of China, Japan, and Korea are each allotted separate sections, the editors constantly kept an eye open to those writers, works, and movements that transcend national boundaries. This includes, for example, Chinese authors who lived and wrote in Japan; Japanese authors who wrote in classical Chinese; and Korean authors who write in Japanese, whether under the colonial occupation or because they are resident in Japan. The waves of modernization can be seen as reaching each of these countries in a staggered fashion, with eddies and back-flows between them then complicating the picture further. This volume provides a vivid sense of this dynamic interplay.

Contents

  • Part I General Introduction
  • 1. The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature p. 1
  • 2. Modern Literature in East Asia: An Overview p. 7
  • Part II Japan Sharalyn Orbaugh
  • Thematic Essays
  • 3. Historical Overview p. 21
  • 4. The Problem of the Modern Subject p. 24
  • 5. Nation and Nationalism p. 36
  • 6. Gender, Family, and Sexualities in Modern Literature p. 43
  • 7. The Social Organization of Modern Japanese Literature p. 52
  • Authors, Works, Schools
  • 8. Translated and Political Novels of the Meiji Period p. 59
  • 9. Tsubouchi Shoyo and Futabatei Shimei p. 62
  • 10. The Ken'yusha, Ozaki Koyo, and Yamada Bimyo p. 66
  • 11. Meiji Women Writers p. 69
  • 12. Mori Ogai p. 74
  • 13. Higuchi Ichiyo and Neoclassical Modernism p. 79
  • 14. Shimazaki Toson p. 84
  • 15. Natsume Soseki p. 87
  • 16. Seito and the Resurgence of Writing by Women p. 93
  • 17. The Revival of Poetry in Traditional Forms p. 99
  • 18. Poetry in Chinese in the Modern Period p. 105
  • 19. Meiji-Period Theater p. 108
  • 20. Uno Chiyo p. 112
  • 21. Tanizaki Jun'ichiro p. 115
  • 22. Shiga Naoya and the Shirakaba Group p. 121
  • 23. Akutagawa Ryunosuke p. 126
  • 24. The Debate over Pure Literature p. 132
  • 25. Naturalism and the Emergence of the Shishosetsu (Personal Novel) p. 137
  • 26. Kawabata Yasunari p. 141
  • 27. Free Verse in the Taisho Era p. 146
  • 28. Takamura Kotaro p. 150
  • 29. Taisho and Prewar Showa Theater p. 154
  • 30. Hayashi Fumiko p. 158
  • 31. Miyamoto Yuriko and Socialist Writers p. 164
  • 32. Nagai Kafu p. 170
  • 33. Wartime Fiction p. 175
  • 34. Atomic Fiction and Poetry p. 179
  • 35. Occupation-Period Fiction p. 184
  • 36. Dazai Osamu, Sakaguchi Ango, and the Burai School p. 190
  • 37. Abe Kobo p. 193
  • 38. Oe Kenzaburo p. 198
  • 39. Ibuse Masuji p. 204
  • 40. Endo Shusaku p. 207
  • 41. Enchi Fumiko p. 212
  • 42. Mishima Yukio p. 216
  • 43. The 1960s and 1970s Boom in Women's Writing p. 221
  • 44. Oba Minako p. 230
  • 45. Murakami Ryu p. 233
  • 46. Murakami Haruki p. 236
  • 47. Nakagami Kenji p. 239
  • 48. Kanai Mieko p. 242
  • 49. Tsushima Yuko p. 246
  • 50. Shimada Masahiko and Shimizu Yoshinori p. 251
  • 51. Yoshimoto Banana p. 256
  • 52. Yamada Eimi p. 259
  • 53. Postwar Poetry p. 262
  • 54. Postwar Experimental Theater I: Angura p. 269
  • 55. Postwar Experimental Theater II: Buto and Performance Art p. 274
  • 56. Modern Okinawan Literature p. 278
  • Part III China
  • Thematic Essays
  • 57. Historical Overview p. 287
  • 58. Language and Literary Form p. 307
  • 59. Literary Communities and the Production of Literature p. 315
  • 60. Modern Chinese Literature As an Institution: Canon and Literary History p. 324
  • Authors, Works, Schools
  • 61. The Late Qing Poetry Revolution: Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian, and Chinese Literary Modernity p. 333
  • 62. The Uses of Fiction: Liang Qichao and His Contemporaries p. 341
  • 63. Late Qing Fiction p. 348
  • 64. Zhou Shoujuan's Love Stories and Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies Fiction p. 355
  • 65. Form and Reform: New Poetry and the Crescent Moon Society p. 364
  • 66. Reconsidering the Origins of Modern Chinese Women's Writing p. 371
  • 67. Romantic Sentiment and the Problem of the Subject: Yu Dafu p. 378
  • 68. The Madman That Was Ah Q: Tradition and Modernity in Lu Xun's Fiction p. 385
  • 69. Feminism and Revolution: The Work and Life of Ding Ling p. 395
  • 70. The Debate on Revolutionary Literature p. 401
  • 71. Mao Dun, the Modern Novel, and the Representation of Women p. 405
  • 72. Ba Jin's Family: Fiction, Representation, and Relevance p. 411
  • 73. Chinese Modernism: The New Sensationists p. 418
  • 74. Shen Congwen and Imagined Native Communities p. 425
  • 75. Xiao Hong's Field of Life and Death p. 431
  • 76. Performing the Nation: Chinese Drama and Theater p. 437
  • 77. Cao Yu and Thunderstorm p. 446
  • 78. The Reluctant Nihilism of Lao She's Camel Xiangzi p. 452
  • 79. Eileen Chang and Alternative Wartime Narrative p. 458
  • 80. Literature and Politics: Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Art and literature" p. 463
  • 81. Revolutionary Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism: The Song of Youth p. 470
  • 82. The Hundred Flowers p. 476
  • 83. The Taiwan Modernists p. 481
  • 84. Same-Sex Love in Recent Chinese Literature p. 488
  • 85. The Cultural Revolution Model Theater p. 496
  • 86. The Taiwan Nativists p. 502
  • 87. Martial-Arts Fiction and Jin Yong p. 509
  • 88. Taiwanese Romance: San Mao and Qiong Yao p. 515
  • 89. Misty Poetry p. 520
  • 90. Scar Literature and the Memory of Trauma p. 527
  • 91. Culture against Politics: Roots-Seeking Literature p. 533
  • 92. Mo Yan and Red Sorghum p. 541
  • 93. Diaspora Literature p. 546
  • 94. Avant-Garde Fiction in China p. 554
  • 95. Modern Poetry of Taiwan p. 561
  • 96. Post-Mao Urban Fiction p. 570
  • 97. Xi Xi and Tales of Hong Kong p. 578
  • 98. Writing Taiwan's Fin-de-siecle Splendor: Zhu Tianwen and Zhu Tianxin p. 584
  • 99. Wang Anyi p. 592
  • 100. Wang Shuo and the Commercialization of Literature p. 598
  • 101. Voices of Negotiation in Late Twentieth-Century Hong Kong Literature p. 604
  • 102. Returning to Recluse Literature: Gao Xingjian p. 610
  • Part IV Korea
  • Thematic Essays
  • 103. Historical Overview p. 619
  • 104. Pure Literature versus the Literature of Engagement p. 630
  • 105. The Literature of Territorial Division p. 635
  • 106. Women's Literature p. 638
  • 107. The Songjang Sosol p. 644
  • Authors, Works, Schools
  • 108. Yi Kwangsu p. 648
  • 109. Realism in Early Modern Fiction p. 651
  • 110. Chong Chiyong p. 654
  • 111. Yi Sang p. 657
  • 112. Kim Sowol p. 664
  • 113. Ch'ae Manshik p. 667
  • 114. The Unencumbered in So Chongju p. 669
  • 115. Hwang Sunwon p. 673
  • 116. The Short Fiction of Kim Tongni p. 677
  • 117. The Wolbuk Writers p. 681
  • 118. Short Fiction from the Liberation Period p. 684
  • 119. Postwar Fiction p. 687
  • 120. O Yongsu and The Good People p. 692
  • 121. Ch'oe Inhun's The Square p. 695
  • 122. Pak Kyongni and Land p. 698
  • 123. O Chonghui p. 701
  • 124. Pak Wanso p. 704
  • 125. Kim Suyong p. 707
  • 126. Ko Un p. 710
  • 127. Hwang Sogyong p. 713
  • 128. Yun Hunggil p. 718
  • 129. Cho Sehui and The Dwarf p. 720
  • 130. The Intellectual Realm of Yi Ch'ongjun p. 723
  • 131. Yi Munyol p. 727
  • 132. Shin Kyongnim p. 731
  • 133. The Theater of O T'aesok p. 734
  • 134. Yang Kwija p. 737
  • 135. Ch'oe Yun p. 740
  • Timeline p. 743
  • Contributors p. 745
  • Index p. 747

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