Description
Book SynopsisA pioneering look at same-sex desire in Japanese modernist writing.
Trade Review"Writing the Love of Boys makes an important contribution to the study of sexuality in modern Japan. Jeffrey Angles thoughtfully examines the representation of male-male sexuality in the work of three prewar Japanese writers, offering insightful commentary on the specific features of how each writer depicts male-male desire and uses their texts as a lens through which to explore larger currents in the literary and sexual culture of the time." —Jim Reichert, author of In the Company of Men: Representations of Male-Male Sexuality in Meiji Literature
"Angles vividly resurrects a current of Japanese literary modernism—namely, its estheticization of the ‘love of boys’—that previous narratives have obscured. From the perspective of queer history and culture the trio of authors on whom he focuses—Kaita, Ranpo, Taruho—form a fascinating and lastingly influential lineage." —Gregory Pflugfelder, Columbia University
Table of ContentsNote about Japanese Names
Introduction
1. Blow the Blood-Stained Bugle: Murayama Kaita and the Language of Personal Sensation
2. Treading the Edges of the Known World: Homoerotic Fantasies in Murayama Kaita’s Prose
3. The Appeal of the Strange: Same-Sex Desire in Edogawa Ranpo’s Mystery Fiction
4. (Re)Discovering Same-Sex Love: Ranpo and the Creation of Queer History
5. Uninscribing the Adolescent Body: Aesthetic Resistance in Taruho’s Writing
Conclusion: Postwar Legacies
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
