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Samurai with Telephones: Anachronism in Japanese Literature Volume 102

Samurai with Telephones: Anachronism in Japanese Literature Volume 102

Hardcover

Series: Michigan Monograph Japanese Studies

Literary CriticismGeneral SociologyJapanese History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0472076876
ISBN13: 9780472076871
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: Jul 11 2024
Pages: 242
Weight: 0.92
Height: 0.88 Width: 6.36 Depth: 9.25
Language: English
What is going on when a graphic novel has a twelfth-century samurai pick up a telephone to make a call, or a play has an ancient aristocrat teaching in a present-day schoolroom? Rather than regarding such anachronisms as errors, Samurai with Telephones develops a theory of how texts can use different types of anachronisms to challenge or rewrite history, play with history, or open history up to new possibilities. By applying this theoretical framework of anachronism to several Japanese literary and cultural works, author Christopher Smith demonstrates how different texts can use anachronism to open up history for a wide variety of different textual projects.

From the modern period, this volume examines literature by Mori Ōgai and Ōe Kenzaburō, manga by Tezuka Osamu, art by Murakami Takashi, and a variety of other pop cultural works. Turning to the Early Modern period (Edo period, 1600-1868), which produced a literature rich with playful anachronism, he also examines several Kabuki and Bunraku plays, kibyōshi comic books, and gōkan illustrated novels. In analyzing these works, he draws a distinction between anachronisms that attempt to hide their work on history and convincingly rewrite it and those conspicuous anachronisms that highlight and disrupt the construction of historical narratives.

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Japanese History