For dignity, justice, and revolution : an anthology of Japanese proletarian literature

Fiction Created By And For The Working Class Emerged Worldwide In The Early Twentieth Century As A Response To Rapid Modernization, Dramatic Inequality, And Imperial Expansion. In Japan, Literary Youth, Men And Women, Sought To Turn Their Imaginations And Craft To Tackling The Ensuing Injustices, With Results That Captured Both Middle-class And Worker-farmer Readers. This Anthology Is A Landmark Introduction To Japanese Proletarian Literature From That Period. Contextualized By Introductory Essays, Forty Expertly Translated Stories Touch On Topics Like Perilous Factories, Predatory Bosses, Ethnic Discrimination, And The Myriad Indignities Of Poverty. Together, They Show How Even Intensely Personal Issues Form A Pattern Of Oppression. Fostering Labor Consciousness As Part Of An International Leftist Arts Movement, These Writers, Lovers Of Literature, Were Also Challenging The Institution Of Modern Literature Itself. This Anthology Demonstrates The Vitality Of The “red Decade” Long Buried In Modern Japanese Literary History. --publisher's Description. Chapter 1. The Personal Is The Political. Comrade Taguchi's Sorrow / Kobayashi Takiji -- Red / Nakamoto Takako -- The Mother / Wakasugi Toriko -- A Statement Of My Views In Response To Mr. Masamune Hakuchō / Aono Suekichi -- A Chronology Of My Life / Kobayashi Takiji -- Chapter 2. Labor And Literature. The Prostitute / Hayama Yoshiki -- Apples / Hayashi Fusao -- Prayer / Sata Ineko -- Natural Growth And Purposeful Consciousness / Aono Suekichi -- Going On A Field Trip? / Nakamoto Takako -- Chapter 3. The Question Of Realism. March 15, 1928 / Kobayashi Takiji -- The Linesmen / Kataoka Teppei -- The Path To Proletarian Realism / Kurahara Korehito -- On The Tendency Of Proletarian Works To Become Formulaic / Hirabayashi Taiko -- Covering Over The Essence / Sata Ineko -- Chapter 4. Children. Hell / Kaji Wataru -- Death Of A Cricket / Murayama Kazuko -- Elephant And Mouse / Murayama Kazuko ; Tetsu's Story; Or, A Rope Around Whose Neck? / Nakano Shigeharu --^ The Question Of Reality And Unreality In Children's Stories / Makimoto Kusurō -- Chapter 5. Art As A Weapon. Leafleting / Sata Ineko -- Letter / Kobayashi Takiji -- Shawl / Tokunaga Sunao -- The Bulletin Board And The Wall Story / Yi Tong-gyu -- A Farmer Among Farmers / Hosono Kōjirō -- To Qiqihar / Kuroshima Denji -- A Day At The Factory / Nagano Kayo -- Our Own Literature Course (1) : A Guide To Writing Literary Reportage / Yamada Seizaburō -- On Wall Stories And Short Short Stories : A New Approach To Proletarian Literature / Kobayashi Takiji -- A Guide To Fiction Writing : How To Write Stories / Kobayashi Takiji -- The Achievements Of The Creative Writing Movement : An Assessment Of Works To Date / Tokunaga Sunao -- Chapter 6. Anti-imperialism And Internationalism. Another Battlefront / Matsuda Tokiko -- Hell Of The Starving / Chang Hyǒk-chu -- On Antiwar Literature / Kuroshima Denji --^ Chapter 7. Repression, Recantation, And Socialist Realism. Midnight Sun / Murayama Tomoyoshi -- The Breast / Miyamoto Yuriko -- Negative Realism : One Direction For Proletarian Literature / Kawaguchi Hiroshi -- Proletarian Realism And Socialist Realism : A Study Of Literary Method (1) / Moriyama Kei -- Socialist Realism Or Xxx Realism? / Kim Tu-yong -- Buds That Survive Winter / Miyamoto Yuriko. Edited By Heather Bowen-struyk And Norma Field. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 411-428). "A significant contribution to the body of English language scholarship and translation of Japanese proletarian literature. Highly recommended." — Choice Fiction created by and for the working class emerged worldwide in the early twentieth century as a response to rapid modernization, dramatic inequality, and imperial expansion. In Japan, literary youth, men and women, sought to turn their imaginations and craft to tackling the ensuing injustices, with results that captured both middle-class and worker-farmer readers. This anthology is a landmark introduction to Japanese proletarian literature from that period. Contextualized by introductory essays, forty expertly translated stories touch on topics like perilous factories, predatory bosses, ethnic discrimination, and the myriad indignities of poverty. Together, they show how even intensely personal issues form a pattern of oppression. Fostering labor consciousness as part of an international leftist arts movement, these writers were also challenging the institution of modern literature itself. This anthology demonstrates the vitality of the "red decade" long buried in modern Japanese literary history. "The thread of thought underlying the stories . . . is, as Edmund Wilson eloquently established in To the Finland Station , one of the fundamental components of our contemporary consciousness." — Kyoto Journal "An essential guidebook for navigating twentieth-century Japan's literary and political terrain." —Edward Fowler, University of California, Irvine, author of San'ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo "Excellent translations of excellent writers." —John Whitter Treat, Yale University, author of The Rise and Fall of Modern Japanese Literature "Lucidly structured. . . . The editors have also made the welcome decision to retain self-censored and suppressed passages." — Japan Times "Engaging and in-depth." — Japan Studies