Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature

Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature looks at the ways in authors writing in Japanese in the twentieth century constructed a division between Self and Other in their work. Using a cross-section of authors and texts as case studies the contributors illuminate themes and issues related to this delineation of the Other and the Japanese Self. Part one of the book concentrates on the West and Asia as a contrastive Other, focusing on Japan looking at Others outside Japan. Taking geographical, racial and ethnic identity as a starting point to explore Japan's vision of 'non-Japan', representations of the Other are examined in terms of the experiences of Japanese authors abroad and in the imaginary lands envisioned by authors in Japan. Part two goes on to look at Japan's perspective of Others inside the borders of Japan and within the same ethnic grouping and how Japanese society looks out at the peripheries and margins of its own society. Finally, part three discusses whether there is any middle ground between this typical Japanese society and the Others on the periphery.