Authenticating Culture in Interwar Japan Kuki Shuzo and the Rise of National Aesthetics

"In her penetrating study, Leslie Pincus has managed to disclose how modernism in Japan (and elsewhere) was directed toward resolving the challenge of historical surplus caused by rapid modernization. She authoritatively demonstrates how thought was confronted with the epochal task of defining a stable culture capable of resisting ceaseless change and authenticating Japanese difference and identity."--Harry Harootunian, co-editor ofJapan in the World "A tour de force--a case study in the modernist critique of modernity. Through her reading of Kuki Shuzo's writings, Leslie Pincus provides a guide to the development of the philosophy of culture in a variety of national settings from the turn of the century through the 1930s."--Andrew Barshay, author ofState and Intellectual in Imperial Japan "In this exquisitely written book, Leslie Pincus examines the contradictions at the heart of Japanese modernity. She demonstrates how the extraordinary relationship between Kuki Shuzo and Heidegger allegorized the more general problem of Japan's relationship with the West. This is a wonderful example of how to situate intellectual history within contemporary cultural debates."--Nicholas Dirks, editor ofColonialism and CulturePincus, Leslie is the author of 'Authenticating Culture in Interwar Japan Kuki Shuzo and the Rise of National Aesthetics' with ISBN 9780520201347 and ISBN 0520201345.