Into the Fantastical Spaces of Contemporary Japanese Literature

Dr. Mina Qiao teaches Japanese literature at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

• Into the Fantastical Spaces of Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Introduction by Mina QiaoChapter One: The Layered Everyspace in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki by Matthew C. StrecherChapter Two: Shojo, Mother, and the Uncanny Space in Ogawa Yoko’s Writings by Mina QiaoChapter Three: Textual, Liminal, Fantastical Spaces in Kanai Mieko’s Early Writings by Anthony BekirovChapter Four: Cannibalistic Space and Reproduction in Japanese Speculative Fiction by Kazue HaradaChapter Five: Ports in a Storm: The Poetics of Space in Hino Keizo by Amanda C. SeamanChapter Six: The Foreign Land Outside Japan: an Attempted Solution to Abjection in Murakami Ryu’s Fiction by Francesca BiancoChapter Seven: The Fantastical Space of Exile in Tawada Yoko’s Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Barbara HartleyChapter Eight: Minding the Gap in Kawakami Hiromi by Mina Qiao and Matthew C. StrecherAbout the Contributors

Qiao here asserts that modern Japanese literature, at times absurd and even ridiculous, is created out of traumas both unique to Japan and common to all…. It is encouraging that younger female writers are included [in the book]. Each chapter has its own notes and works cited... an index of works adds to usability. A required resource for students of world literature, Asian studies, and Japanese literature.Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.