A fictional commons : Natsume Sōseki and the properties of modern literature

Modernity arrived in Japan, as elsewhere, through new forms of ownership. In A Fictional Commons , Michael K. Bourdaghs explores how the literary and theoretical works of Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916), widely celebrated as Japan's greatest modern novelist, exploited the contradictions and ambiguities that haunted this new system. Many of his works feature narratives about inheritance, thievery, and the struggle to obtain or preserve material wealth while also imagining alternative ways of owning and sharing. For Sōseki, literature was a means for thinking through—and beyond—private property. Bourdaghs puts Sōseki into dialogue with thinkers from his own era (including William James and Mizuno Rentarō, author of Japan’s first copyright law) and discusses how his work anticipates such theorists as Karatani Kōjin and Franco Moretti. As Bourdaghs shows, Sōseki both appropriated and rejected concepts of ownership and subjectivity in ways that theorized literature as a critical response to the emergence of global capitalism. "In A Fictional Commons, Michael K. Bourdaghs explores the fiction and literary theory of Natsume Sōseki as a critical and creative response to new forms of property ownership in Japan. Reading Sōseki in relation to both theorists from his era (for example, William James) and from today (for example, Kojin Karatani), Bourdaghs explores how Sōseki's stories exploited the contradictions and ambiguities that haunted the new system, as well as imagined alternative modes of owning and sharing. This includes a consideration of Sōseki's attempt to construct a universally valid, scientifically grounded theory of literature. Taking up a number of Sōseki's most famous works as well as some of his less-read writings, the book explores how his literature disrupts the emerging common sense of ownership through his depictions of animals, colonial subjects, women, and other figures who were treated as incompetent for ownership under the new system. It also explores how he both appropriated and rejected the notions of ownership that emerged under the modern disciplines of psychology and sociology, and how he proposed literature as an alternative mode for knowing and being in the world"-- Provided by publisher Modernity arrived in Japan, as elsewhere, through new forms of ownership. In A Fictional Commons, Michael K. Bourdaghs explores how the literary and theoretical works of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), widely celebrated as Japan's greatest modern novelist, exploited the contradictions and ambiguities that haunted this new system. Many of his works feature narratives about inheritance, thievery, and the struggle to obtain or preserve material wealth while also imagining alternative ways of owning and sharing. For Soseki, literature was a means for thinking through-and beyond-private property. Bourdaghs puts Soseki into dialogue with thinkers from his own era (including William James and Mizuno Rentaro, author of Japan's first copyright law) and discusses how his work anticipates such theorists as Karatani Kojin and Franco Moretti. As Bourdaghs shows, Soseki both appropriated and rejected concepts of ownership and subjectivity in ways that theorized literature as a critical response to the emergence of global capitalism Cover Contents Note on Usage Acknowledgments Introduction / Owning Up to Sōseki Chapter One / Fables of Property: Nameless Cats, Trickster Badgers, Stray Sheep Chapter Two / House under a Shadow: Disowning the Psychology of Possessive Individualism in The Gate Chapter Three / Property and Sociological Knowledge: Sōseki and the Gift of Narrative Chapter Four / The Tragedy of the Market: Younger Brothers, Women, and Colonial Subjects in Kokoro Conclusion / Who Owns Sōseki? Or, How Not to Belong in World Literature Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y Z Introduction: Owning up to Sōseki -- Fables of property : nameless cats, stray sheep, trickster badgers -- House under a shadow : disowning the psychology of possessive individualism in the gate -- Property and sociological knowledge : Sōseki and the gift of narrative -- The tragedy of the market : women, younger brothers, and colonial subjects in Kokoro -- Epilogue: Who owns Sōseki? Or, how not to belong to world literature "Michael K. Bourdaghs presents a radical reframing of the works of Natsume Sōseki--widely considered to be Japan's greatest modern novelist--as critical and creative responses to the emergence of new forms of property ownership in nineteenth-century Japan."-- Provided by publisher.