Description
Book SynopsisThis is the first work in English to explore Manchukuo literature in its entirety. It provides comprehensive, in-depth, and thought-provoking research by placing the literary history of Manchukuo from 1937 to 1941 in specific cultural lineages and socio-political contexts and focusing on four major literary groups of that periodthe Manshu romanha, the Sakubun writers, the Yiwenzhi intellectuals, and the Wenxuan Schoolto illuminate its underlying intellectual dynamics. As it turns out, Manchukuo literature notably featured multiplicity, ambiguity, and self-reflexivity, which enabled it to transcend the dichotomy of romanticism and realism and that of the colonizers and the colonized. Not unlike a coordinate system, it took modernity and national identity as its horizontal and vertical axes. The Manshu romanha and the Sakubun writers respectively adopted an anti-modern or a modernist perspective and unanimously headed towards the intellectual
Trade Review
“The Matrix of Modernity and National Identity in Manchukuo Literature from 1937 to 1941 is a bold and ambitious work that sheds light on one of the most controversial literary legacies of the twentieth century—Chinese and Japanese fiction produced in Japan’s puppet state of Manchukuo, today’s Northeast China. Chao Liu breaks free from long dominant narratives of collaboration and resistance to illuminate in new ways a literary landscape that entertained, inspired, and educated readers during the first half of China’s War of Resistance Against Japan. This volume sets a new precedent for challenging interpretations of a most contentious history, both in its theoretical approach as well as its impressive breadth of research.”—Norman Smith, Professor of History at the University of Guelph; Author of Resisting Manchukuo and Intoxicating Manchuria
“The Matrix of Modernity and National Identity in Manchukuo Literature from 1937 to 1941 dexterously combines studies of Japanese and Chinese literary production and scholarship to capture the cultural zeitgeist of Manchuria during the Japanese colonial era. Focusing on the two intersecting axes of modernity and identity, the author reveals complimentary and contradictory aspects of the dilemma of modernity for both Japanese and native writers, while locating their literary productions within the larger context of world history. This is a must read not only for those interested in Manchurian literature but for readers who are interested in cross-cultural and translingual practices in East Asia.”—Faye Kleeman, Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Table of Contents
Introduction – "Overcoming Modernity" and the Manshū Rōmanha – The Sakubun School and Their Proposals of Literary Realism – The Modernization Discourse Formulated by Yiwenzhi Intellectuals – The Nationalist Discourse Proposed by the Wenxuan School – Conclusion and Epilogue – Bibliography.
