1st Edition

Writing Okinawa Narrative acts of identity and resistance

By Davinder L. Bhowmik Copyright 2008
248 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

248 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

248 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Writing Okinawa is the first comprehensive study in English of Okinawan fiction, from it’s emergence in the early twentieth-century through its most recent permutations. It provides readings of major authors and texts set against a carefully researched presentation of the region’s political and social history; at the same time, it thoughtfully engages with current critical perspective with... Read more

Introduction  1. The Color Orange: Yamagusuku Seichu’s “Mandarin Oranges” and the Blossoming of Okinawan Fiction  2. Subaltern Identity in Taisho Japan  3. Marching Forward, Glancing Backward: Language and Nostalgia in Prewar Japan  4. Oshiro Tatsuhiro and Constructions of a Mythic Okinawa  5. Postreversion Fiction and Medoruma Shun  6. Darkness Visible in Sakiyama Tami’s Island Stories.  Conclusion 

Biography

Davinder L. Bhowmik is Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Washington, USA.

'Bhowmik’s book also reveals an impressive command of Japanese and western literature, with which she frequently compares and contrasts the works of the Okinawan writers she discusses.' - HUGH CLARKE, University of Sydney, Japanese Studies 29/1

'At last, we have a book-length study in English that explores the rich diversity of modern Okinawan fiction. That fact alone would be cause for celebration, but Davinder L. Bhowmik's Writing Okinawa does far more than merely fill a gap in extant English Language scholarship on Okinawan Literature. Through detailed analysis of a wide range of fiction published from the early twentieth century to the present day, this book offers diverse perspectives into the region's perpetually shifting, yet ever tenuous, relationship with the Japanese state.' - Kristine Dennehy, Monumenta Nipponica 64:2 (2009)