Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)

Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)

Nobel Prize winner Oe Kenzaburo and the ever-disturbing Mishima Yukio have explored twentieth-century Japanese alienation with an unsparing eye and savage humor. In Escape from the Wasteland , Susan J. Napier examines their vivid and often perverse depictions of sex, impotence, emperor worship, and violence. For new readers of Oe and Mishima, this is an indispensable guide. For critics and scholars, it is the benchmark study. “Alternative fictional worlds and their ideological significance form the focus of Susan Napier’s engrossing study of the works of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo… Napier is a reader of considerable acuity and sympathy, with a refreshing candor about her convictions.” ― Journal of Japanese Studies “A refreshingly articulate study of high scholarship.” ― International Fiction Review “A major contribution to our understanding of these two essential authors and their time.” ― Journal of Asian Studies “Required reading for anyone interested in the creation of modern mythical literature.” ― Monumenta Nipponica “[Napier] has provided us with a valuable guide to the key works and intellectual concerns of these two pillars of postwar Japanese discourse. Moreover, she has offered penetrating interpretations of numerous works that remain inaccessible to many readers, whether due to lack of existing translations or the difficulty of the texts themselves… Susan Napier has undertaken a daunting project in examining so much of the work of not just one, but two of Japan’s most formidable writers and personalities. In so doing, she has provided all those who read and write about Japanese literature with a rich resource for provocative exchange.” ― Alan Wolfe , Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies In 'Escape from the Wasteland' Susan J. Napier examine their vivid and often perverse depiction's of sex, impotence, emperor worship, and violence. For new readers of Oe and Mishima, this is an indispensable guide. For critics and scholars, it is the benchmark study. Susan J. Napier is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Used Book in Good Condition