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This book concludes Sumie Okada's trilogy concerning cultural relationships between Japan and the West. This volume discusses six Japanese authors (Soseki, Mishima, Akiko Yosano, Hiroshi Yosano, Endo and Murakami), analysing the encounter between their traditional Japanese group-consciousness and western individualism. It also covers Endo's student days in Lyon, and his relationship with the humanist Françoise Pastre, appending a moving account by her sister Geneviève.
List of contents
Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 'Failed individualism' observed in Japan: The Novels of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) The trip of Hiroshi (1873-1935) and Akiko Yosano (1878-1942) to France and England in 1928 Yukio Mishima (1925-1970): His love of idiosyncrasy and of 'failed groupism', in parallel with his romantic escape into the freedom of the sea, observed in his work The Golden Pavilion Traces of a different sort of 'groupism' in Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) Shusaku Endo (1923-1996): His Japanese context and its importance in the analysis of his relationship with Françoise Pastre (1930-1971) Geneviève Pastre's article on her sister Françoise Appendix 1: Geneviève Pastre's article on her sister Françoise - the original French text Appendix 2: Geneviève Pastre's article on her sister Françoise - an English translation Epilogue Index
About the author
SUMIE OKADA is the author of Edmund Blunden and Japan (published in 1988, the Japanese version of which appeared in 1995) and Western Writers in Japan (1999). She has taught at several universities in Japan, and lectured on Japanese culture in Cambridge, UK. Having studied at Oxford University as a Recognised Student under Professor John Bayley and also under the late Professor Ellman, she received an MLit degree from Cambridge University in 1985. She was also an Arthur Prowse Research Fellow at Durham University in 1991, and is now Professor of English at the Immaculate Heart University in Kagoshima, Japan, while doing research based in Cambridge during vacations.
Summary
This book concludes Sumie Okada's trilogy concerning cultural relationships between Japan and the West. This volume discusses six Japanese authors (Soseki, Mishima, Akiko Yosano, Hiroshi Yosano, Endo and Murakami), analysing the encounter between their traditional Japanese group-consciousness and western individualism. It also covers Endo's student days in Lyon, and his relationship with the humanist Françoise Pastre, appending a moving account by her sister Geneviève.
