Overcoming Fate in Postwar Japanese Literature

Narratives of Christian Salvation

AvMassimiliano Tomasi

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien Routledge Research on Asian Literature

2 582 kr

Kommande

Beskrivning

This book explores the existence of a Christian discursive space in Japanese literature, extending from the Meiji (1868–1912) and Taishō (1912–1926) eras to the postwar period. It examines a crucial question: what is the correlation between Christianity and Japanese literature, and how did these two realms continue to interface following the significant Christian experience of the Meiji and Taishō years?Highlighting a major shift across the World War II divide, from narratives that emphasized humanity's inability to change its fate and avoid spiritual damnation to narratives that contemplated the possibilities of salvation, this study argues that such transformations, and the subsequent developments at the intersection of art and faith, were largely a dialectical response to earlier paradigms of despair, nihilism, and ineluctability. Examining the works of eight major authors from these intervening years, this volume explores the important mutual connections that fuelled their fiction and deliberations, challenging conventional understandings and periodization of Christianity's influence on twentieth-century Japanese literature.This work will be a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in literary criticism, Japanese literature, religion, and Christianity.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-10-16
Mått:156 x 234 x undefined mm
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Routledge Research on Asian Literature
Antal sidor:242
Förlag:Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:9781041264347

Utforska kategorier

Mer om författaren

Massimiliano Tomasi (Ph.D. Nagoya University, Japan) is Professor of Japanese and former Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, USA. Areas of interest and expertise include modern and contemporary Japanese literature, rhetorical theory, and Japanese language pedagogy. Publications include Rhetoric in Modern Japan: Western Influences on the Development of Written and Oratorical Style (University of Hawaii Press, 2004); The Literary Theory of Shimamura Hōgetsu and the Development of Feminist Discourse in Modern Japan (Mellen, 2008); The Dilemma of Faith in Modern Japanese Literature: Metaphors of Christianity (Routledge, 2018); and the edited volume Religion and Spirituality in Japanese Literature (Association for Japanese Literary Studies, 2016).

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction Bridging Meiji Christianity with the Postwar Years Chapter One The Religious Thought of Hori Tatsuo: The Tensions between the Christian God and the Pantheon of Nature Chapter Two The Dialectics of Faith of Endō Shūsaku: A Response to the Legacy of Meiji Protestantism Chapter Three Dazai Osamu: The Story of a Confrontation with God Chapter Four Ishikawa Jun: Encounter with the Transcendent Chapter Five Shiina Rinzō: Reversal of Fate and Freedom from Death Chapter Six Ōoka Shōhei: Memories of Faith Chapter Seven The Legacy of Endō Shūsaku and the Rhetoric of Evil in the Literature of Takahashi Takako Chapter Eight Art for Faith’s Sake: Paradigms Shifts in the Literature of Salvation of Miura Ayako