Translation of two novels written in the 1930s by Korean-born Yuasa Katsuei, who realistically depicted the lives of Koreans under Japanese colonial rule.
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Kannani 37
Document of Flames 99
Conclusion: Postcoloniality in Reverse 161
Yuasa Katsuei (1910–1972) was the author of more than twenty novellas and novels and many essays and travel accounts. Mark Driscoll is Assistant Professor of Japanese and International Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is a coeditor of Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies.
"The publication of these translations may well be remembered as an epoch-making event. Mark Driscoll has made a major contribution to our understanding of Japanese modernity in all of its complexity, of postcoloniality as a theoretical concept and political praxis, and of the politics of Asian studies as a discipline. Moreover, he has rescued a nearly forgotten figure whose work speaks a message that--as Driscoll demonstrates so lucidly--needs to be heard by English-speaking readers today."--Michael K. Bourdaghs, author of The Dawn that Never Comes: Shimazaki Toson and Japanese Nationalism "Driscoll's concluding essay is the book's highlight, with the result that Kannani and Document of Flames is best regarded not as pair of novellas with supporting essays but as a commendable disquisition on postcolonialism, bolstered by the inclusion of newly translated source material."--Damien Weaver, Bookslut "The story of Ryuji and Kannani's relationship has the flavor of a fairy tale, with scenes of innocent beauty (kite-flying, sharing sesame candy) interspersed with scenes of shocking brutality (Japanese schoolboys raping a Korean schoolgirl with a tree branch)... Driscoll's provocative afterword ... is a valuable contribution to a field of research he describes as the X-Files of Japanese studies."--Mark Austin, The Daily Yomiyuri "What was it like, however, to live in this premature 'multicultural postcoloniality?' We get an excellent sense of that from the novels Kannani and Document of Flames by Katsuei Yuasa... Yuasa's novels are a reminder that, as bad as things ultimately turned out, there was a moment when it seemed things might have been different."--David Cozy, The Japan Times "Mark Driscoll translated two of Yuasa Katsuei's novels for academic purposes, but they're a good read for regular people, too."--Giant Robot "Kannani and Document of Flames ... is a far more valuable contribution to the study of 'Japanese (Japanese-language) literature and postcolonial studies than its unassuming title suggests... The volume reinvigorates the discussion of Japanese literature... This volume will be an effective tool for both scholarship and teaching."--Edward Mack, Postcolonial Studies "The greatest contribution this volume makes to the field of Japanese studies is to introduce English-language readers to a little-known Japanese novelist... The introduction and conclusion are interesting and thought-provoking..."-- Nobuko Miyams Ochner, Monumenta Nipponica
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