(Ebook) Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature by Tomoko Aoyama ISBN 9780824832858, 082483285X

(Ebook) Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature by Tomoko Aoyama ISBN 9780824832858, 082483285X

Tomoko Aoyama analyzes a wide range of diverse writings that focus on food, eating, & cooking & considers how factors such as industrialization, urbanization, nationalism, & gender construction have affected people’s relationships to food, nature, & culture, & to each other. The examples she offers are taken from novels (shosetsu) & other literary texts & include well known writers (such as Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, Hayashi Fumiko, Okamoto Kanoko, Kaiko Takeshi, & Yoshimoto
Banana) as well as those who are less widely known (Murai Gensai, Nagatsuka Takashi, Sumii Sue, & Numa Shozo).

Food is everywhere in Japanese literature, & early chapters illustrate historical changes & variations in the treatment of food & eating. Examples are drawn from Meiji literary diaries, children’s stories, peasant & proletarian literature, and women’s writing before & after World War II. 

The author then turns to the theme of cannibalism in serious & popular novels. Key issues include ethical questions about survival, colonization, & cultural identity. The quest for gastronomic gratification is a dominant theme in "gourmet novels." Like cannibalism, the gastronomic journey as a literary theme is deeply implicated with cultural identity. The final chapter deals specifically with contemporary novels by women, some of which celebrate the inclusiveness of eating (and writing), while others grapple with the fear of eating.