An Antithetical History of Contemporary Japanese Poetry: Twenty-First Century Poets and Politics (New Studies in Modern Japan)

Providing both literary-historical context and in-depth poetry analysis, this book traces major changes in twenty-first century Japanese poetry. The book examines three major contemporary poets: Tanikawa Shuntaro, Yotsumoto Yasuhiro, and Koike Masayo, as well as women's voices in contemporary poetry and poetry composed on the theme of politics. Leith Morton examines how these domains were influenced by technology and catastrophe; some poets retreated into the subjectivity of the self, while other poets boldly struck out to confront Japanese society. In part one, the book begins with a historical analysis of representative Japanese women poets followed by a chapter investigating the work of a few famous contemporary poets who have taken up political themes, including agitprop verse published online. In part two, Morton examines Tanikawa, Yotsumoto, and Koike's works. He traces the figurative and antithetical interrelations between these three major poets and the complex interplay of influence between their works. Read more