Literary Mischief: Sakaguchi Ango, Culture, and the War

Sakaguchi Ango’s insights on humanity, war, and culture have the power to move us as never before. Rising phoenix-like and irascible from the ashes of postwar Japan, Sakaguchi peeled back the shiny layers of pre-war ideology, revealing an enduring vision of the folk. With fine translations by James Dorsey and a selection of illuminating essays, Sakaguchi is riveting. — Eve Zimmerman, Wellesley College

This volume explores the historical moment and literary genius of a member of the Japanese literati who is little known in the West. Part 1 comprises five judicious essays and an introduction, in which Dorsey explicates the several representative writings by Ango (1906-55) presented in translation in part 2. Ango”s penchant for iconoclasm and irreverence for things “traditional” is revealed in his “Discourse on Decadence” (1946), which earned him his literary reputation in postwar Japan. An unflinchingly honest cultural critic, Ango remained independent of political ideology throughout a historical period noted for its severe upheavals. A joyous iconoclast with an insatiable appetite for life and a fondness for farcical extremes, Ango sometimes blurred the boundaries of genre with his writing, which defies categorization in any Japanese literary school. He was considered a buraiha, “libertine,” by default, and his life and works are distinguished by rebellion (against form and convention) and passion; he believed literature represented the entire human experience. This excellent book is a welcome addition to Japanese literary criticism. Highly recommended.

Easily one of the more fascinating writers of the twentieth century, Sakaguchi Ango refuses easy categorization. Unconventional, rebellious, and transgressive, he challenges tacit assumptions about ”Japanese-ness,” genre, and aesthetics. In Literary Mischief: Sakaguchi Ango, Culture, and the War Slaymaker and Dorsey give us an Ango dokuhon or ”reader” that aptly captures the author”s complexities and brilliance. With essays from Karatani Kôjin, Ogino Anna, and others, and finely-honed translations from Ango”s eclectic oeuvre, Literary Mischief explores the often poignant interactions between a luminous literary mind and the broader discourses that informed this pivotal point in Japanese history. — Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis

Homing in on the author’s deliberate juxtaposition of individual and cultural identity formationBecause they successfully made the case for reconsideration of Ango’s oeuvre, one hopes the editors will continue with this endeavor in their ongoing researchAngo’s predilection for inverting or dismantling a series of binary oppositions hitherto viewed as inviolable that leaps off the pagesIn a carefully constructed thesis, James Dorsey goes to the heart of the debate on literary complicityDorsey’s close reading of “Shinju,” read as it is through the prism of Ango’s hallmark “Daraku-ron,” is indeed refreshing-as is his conclusion that, for all the conflicting interpretations of the work, “all is not lost.”What we have here, in short, is a long-awaited “Ango reader,” a collection that will be of interest to a wide range of Japan hands and one that provides plenty of scope and ideas for further investigation