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Mother-Tongue in Modern Japanese Literature and Criticism

Toward a New Polylingual Poetics

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Takayuki Yokota-Murakami

    1. Osaka University, Toyonaka, Japan

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  • Examines the notion of “mother-tongue” in Japanese literature and literary criticism
  • Considers modern Japanese literature and literary criticism through modern philology, the vernacularization movement, and Korean-Japanese literature
  • Reveals the political problems of the notion of “mother-tongue” in literary and linguistic theories

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Theoretical Presumptions and Comparative Perspective

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 1-27

  3. “Mother-Tongue” and the Formulation of the National Language in Meiji Linguistics

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 29-53

  4. Gembun-itchi Movement: The Creation of a Linguistic State Apparatus

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 55-78

  5. Korean-Japanese Writers and the Redefinition of Bokoku-go

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 79-99

  6. Dialectal Literature as Bilingual Literature

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 101-114

  7. Contemporary Bilingual/Exophonic Writers and Their Politics

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 115-136

  8. Deconstructing Language as a Ground for Mother-Tongue

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 137-160

  9. Conclusion

    • Takayuki Yokota-Murakami
    Pages 161-167

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 169-183
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines how early research on literary activities outside national literatures such as émigré literature or diasporic literature conceived of the loss of ‘mother-tongue” as a tragedy, and how it perpetuated the ideology of national language by relying on the dichotomy of native language/foreign language. It transcends these limitations by examining modern Japanese literature and literary criticism through modern philology, the vernacularization movement, and Korean-Japanese literature. Through the insights of recent philosophical/linguistic theories, it reveals the political problems of the notion of “mother-tongue” in literary and linguistic theories and proposes strategies to realize genuinely “exophonic” and “translational” literature beyond the confines of nation. Examining the notion of “mother-tongue” in literature and literary criticism, the author deconstructs the concept and language itself as an apparatus of nation-state in order to imagine alternative literature,genuinely creolized and heterogeneous. Offering a comparative, transnational perspective on the significance of the mother tongue in contemporary literatures, this is a key read for students of modern Japanese literature, language and culture, as well as those interested in theories of translation and bilingualism.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Osaka University, Toyonaka, Japan

    Takayuki Yokota-Murakami

About the author

Takayuki Yokota-Murakami (PhD, Princeton) is Associate professor in Comparative Literature at Osaka University, Japan. His publications incldue Don Juan East/West: On the Problematics of Comparative Literature (1998) and the award-winning Iro-otoko no kenkyu (2007). He is also the co-editor of the volume Policing Literary Theory (2017).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Mother-Tongue in Modern Japanese Literature and Criticism

  • Book Subtitle: Toward a New Polylingual Poetics

  • Authors: Takayuki Yokota-Murakami

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8512-3

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-8511-6Published: 09 August 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-13-4174-8Published: 16 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-8512-3Published: 28 July 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 183

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Comparative Literature, Japanese, Language and Literature

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