Beauty Matters - Modern Japanese Literature and the Question of Aesthetics, 18901930

Anri Yasuda demonstrates that by exploring the often conflicting yet powerful pull of aesthetic sentiments, major authors of the late Meiji (1868-1912) and Taish¿ (1912-1926) periods illuminated themes and perspectives that resonated broadly in modern Japanese society.

List of contents

Acknowledgments
A Note on Sources and Translations
1. Modern Japanese Literature and Aesthetics
2. Natsume Sōseki’s Quest for “A Feeling of Beauty”
3. Mori Ogai and the “Inner Flame” of Beauty
4. Mushanokōji Saneatsu and the Early Shirakaba’s Artistic Cosmopolitanism
5. Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Literary Anxieties and the “Power to Remake”
Epilogue: Why Aesthetics?
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Anri Yasuda is an assistant professor of Japanese in the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Virginia.

Summary

Anri Yasuda demonstrates that by exploring the often conflicting yet powerful pull of aesthetic sentiments, major authors of the late Meiji (1868–1912) and Taisho (1912–1926) periods illuminated themes and perspectives that resonated broadly in modern Japanese society.

Product details

• Authors: Anri Yasuda
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.05.2024
• EAN: 9780231210638
• ISBN: 978-0-231-21063-8
• No. of pages: 304
• Series: Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
• Subjects: Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Family; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Japan, Japanese, PHILOSOPHY / Aesthetics, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Asian / Japanese, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Philosophy: aesthetics, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary Criticism