Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.61 (994 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0804741050 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-11-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
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How then were these texts elevated and used? What kinds of values were given to them? How was this process related to larger social, political, and religious configurations?This book, which looks in depth at each of the major "classics," explores these questions in a broad historical context, from the medieval period, when multiple canons competed with each other, through the early modern and modern periods. The result is a new view of the transformation of the Japanese canon and its intimate connection with the issue of national and cultural identity.. These "classics" did not have inherent, unchanging value; instead, their value was produced and reproduced by various institutions and individuals in relation to socio-economic power. Today the term "Japanese literary classics" implies such texts as the Man'yoshu, Kojiki, Tale of Genji, Tale of the Heike, N
"Inventing the Classics fills a major gap in Japanese literary studies in its presentation of ten original, sophisticated, and cogently argued essays on the process of the construction of 'Japanese literature' as it is known today. It also sheds important light on the changing socio-political function of specific works and genres."—Janet Walker, Rutgers University. The volume combines a richly detailed historical approach to the study of canon formation with a nuanced theoretical discussion of the relevance of canon formation to the formation of a Japanese cultural and national identity