Literature, Modernity, and the Practice of Resistance

This book is a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary study which compares responses to modernity in the literary cultures of Japan and Taiwan, 1960-1990. Moving beyond the East-West framework that has traditionally dominated comparative enquiry, the volume sets out to explore contemporary East Asian literature on its own terms. As such, it belongs to the newly emerging area of inter-Asian cultural studies, but is the first full-length monograph to explore this field through the prism of literature. The book combines close readings of paradigmatic texts with in-depth analysis of the historical, social, and ideological contexts in which these works are situated, and explores the form and function of literary practice within the “miracle” societies of industrialized East Asia.

Margaret Hillenbrand, D.Phil. (2003), University of Oxford, is Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She has published articles on East Asian literature and culture in a range of scholarly journals.

'a book that represents the first of its kind dealing with “interregional” relations in East Asian literature. Hillenbrand has made a major contribution to her field.'
David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University, Journal of Japanese Studies 34:2 (2008)

'...Margaret Hillenbrand has given us here a very important book that indeed is path breaking in its comparison of Taiwan and Japanese literary practice. In allowing us to examine the works of each tradition in conjunction with those of the other, it offers insights unavailable to us when we are solely immersed in one of those traditions. Her mastery of the material is impressive and her conclusions are enriching.'
Christopher Lupke, Washington State University, Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, Vol. 2 (2008)

“Literature, Modernity, and the Practice of Resistance will likely become a benchmark in East Asian Studies for its rigor, breadth, and clarion call for an intraregional approach to East Asian literary studies. Hillenbrand's in-depth explorations of the literary and political realms of Japan and Taiwan between 1960 and 1990 and her provacative state-of-the-field assessment, offers a promising alternative avenue of inquiry and clears more than enough discursive space for anyone willing to venture out from their national or ethnic literary trenches to explore the intraregional episteme.”
Bert Scruggs, University of California, Irvine
MCLC Research Center To see the entire review visit the website http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/reviews/scruggs.htm

"...the book is lucid, eloquent, and convincing....This is a must read for those who are interested in the cultural/literary interface between Japan and Taiwan, but can be read profitably by all interested in East Asian literature or the comparative enterprise. It is an important and a totally enjoyable contribution."
Faye Yuan Kleeman, University of Colorado, Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.3 (2008)

“Straddling both Taiwanese and Japanese studies, and crossing the boundary between the Chinese and Japanese languages, this book opens up possibilities for regional research. As such, it is the most praiseworthy achievement in the study of East Asian literature in recent years”.
Peng Hsiao-yen, Academia Sinica, Hanxue yanjiu28/2 (2008), 323-330.