Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:26:51.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

58 - Translated fiction, political fiction

from Part V - The modern period (1868 to present)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2016

By
Dennis Washburn
Edited by
Haruo Shirane ,
Tomi Suzuki  and
David Lurie
Haruo Shirane
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Tomi Suzuki
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
David Lurie
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
Get access

Summary

Meiji Japan may be described, in both instrumental and metaphorical senses, as a translation culture. Almost all the oligarchy's policies aimed at modernizing the state were dependent to some degree on the translation of Western political, legal, and technological knowledge. It was politically advantageous for modernizers to disparage the Tokugawa period as frivolous and backward, and even conservative intellectuals saw popular forms of pre-Meiji literature and storytelling as old-fashioned. The hybridity of the political novel is apparent in two of the popular and influential works: Setchu bai by Suehiro Tetcho, which is marked by the intrusions of political dialogues into a love-romance narrative; and Kajin no kigu by Shiba Shiro, a romance centered around stories about the struggle for freedom and national independence. The important achievement of translations and political fiction was in taking advantage of new media to establish the novel as the artistic medium of modern culture that represented the sensibilities of an emerging middle-class readership.

Keywords

cultural artifactsgolden ageChikamatsu Monzaemonvisual culturesTokugawa Japanjorurikabuki dramapuppet theaterTakemoto theater
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature , pp. 578 - 582
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×