Kirsten Cather is associate professor of Japanese literature and film in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
"The Art of Censorship in Postwar Japan is among the most lucid and
engaging cross-disciplinary projects to emerge from Japan studies
in recent years. It will appeal to a broad readership both inside
and outside Japan studies, in particular scholars of literature,
visual culture, law, and the emerging field of affect studies.
Kirsten Cather accomplishes this remarkable feat by combining close
readings of aesthetic, literary, and visual texts; careful exegesis
of court cases and juridical documents; and detailed rendering of
cultural, historical, and political contexts. The Art of
Censorshipdemonstrates once and for all, without ever forcing the
issue, that culture and politics are inexorably intertwined. I can
think of no other study in the Japanese case that does it so well."
--Gregory M. Pflugfelder, Columbia University "In a series of deft
analyses bristling with insights, Kirsten Cather surveys the trial
records and some of the media responses for each of Japan's major
obscenity cases between 1950 and 2007. This highly original work
vividly presents the theoretical stakes for literature, film,
photography, and manga in each of the trials. The writing is lucid
and strong throughout, sophisticated but jargon-free and accessible
to non-specialists." --Jordan Sand, Georgetown University
"This book is definitely a page-turner. ... This is a must-assign
book for any course on modern Japan, visual arts and society, or
modern legal, social, or cultural history." -Chad R. Diehl, Loyola
University Maryland "The book assembles an impressive cast of
characters as defendants and witnesses: Ito Sei, Mishima Yukio,
Nakamura Mitsuo, Nosaka Akiyuki, Oshima Nagisa, Yoshiyuki
Jun'nosuke, Kanai Mieko, and Suzuki Seijun, among others. The
accounts of their testimonies are of great interest, not least
because of what they reveal of the artistic implications for
writers and directors of the legal arguments and verdicts. Cather
has drawn fascinating insights that are of value both for the study
of Japanese cultural history, and for the study of literature and
other media more generally." - Duncan Adam, Japan Review 25 (2013)
"Cather has succeeded admirably in presenting the complexity of an
ongoing legal debate between censor and censored, as well as the
social, political and cultural backdrop of her selected cases."
-Mark Schilling, Japan Times "Kirsten Cather has written an
important and carefully researched survey of Japan's major postwar
obscenity trials involving literature and film. The Art of
Censorship in Postwar Japan frustrates our typical comfort by
simultaneously celebrating subversive art and mocking efforts to
regulate cultural expression. Cather leverages close readings of
argumentation by prosecution, defense, witnesses, and judges at the
trials themselves and succeeds in demonstrating that these events
are far more complex than we tend to assume." -Steven Ridgely,
University of Wisconsin-Madison-- "https:
//www.uhawaiipress.com/p-8622-9780824835873.aspx"
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