The dilemma of faith in modern Japanese literature : metaphors of Christianity
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The dilemma of faith in modern Japanese literature : metaphors of Christianity
(The Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese studies series)
Routledge, 2019
- : pbk
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"First published 2018. First issued in paperback 2019"--T.p. verso
Bibliography: p. [191]-196
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The first book-length study to explore the links between Christianity and modern Japanese literature, this book analyses the process of conversion of nine canonical authors, unveiling the influence that Christianity had on their self-construction, their oeuvre and, ultimately, the trajectory of modern Japanese literature.
Building significantly on previous research, which has treated the intersections of Christianity with the Japanese literary world in only a cursory fashion, this book emphasizes the need to make a clear distinction between the different roles played by Catholicism and Protestantism. In particular, it argues that most Meiji and Taisho intellectuals were exposed to an exclusively Protestant and mainly Calvinist derivation of Christianity and so it is against this worldview that the connections between the two ought to be assessed. Examining the work of authors such as Kitamura Tokoku, Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Nagayo Yoshiro, this book also contextualises the spread of Christianity in Japan and challenges the notion that Christian thought was in conflict with mainstream literary schools. As such, this book explains how the dualities experienced by many modern writers were in fact the manifestation of manifold developments which placed Christianity at the center, rather than at the periphery, of their process of self-construction.
The Dilemma of Faith in Modern Japanese Literature will be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese modern literature, as well as those interested in Religious Studies and Japanese Studies more generally.
Table of Contents
Part I Introduction 1. Christianity and Modern Japanese Literature Part II Narratives of Conversion 2. Kitamura Tokoku and the Celebration of the "Inner Life" 3. Shimazaki Toson and the Discovery of the Self 4. Kunikida Doppo: The Rejection of Self-Deception and the Paradox of Contrition 5. Masamune Hakucho: The Fear of Death and the Cruelty of the Christian God 6. Arishima Takeo: The Problem of Sin and of the Inevitability of Fate 7. The Salvific Discourse of Akutagawa Ryunosuke Part III Metaphors of Christianity 8. A Christology of the Self: The Case of Mushanokoji Saneatsu 9. The Appropriation of Christianity in Narrative: Kinoshita Naoe's Hi no hashira and Nagayo Yoshiro's Seido no kirisuto Epilogue
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