What Is Modernity?

Writings of Takeuchi Yoshimi

Yoshimi Takeuchi author Richard Calichman translator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Columbia University Press

Published:22nd Feb '05

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

What Is Modernity? cover

Regarded as one of the foremost thinkers in Japanese postwar intellectual history, Takeuchi Yoshimi questioned the very nature of thought, emphasizing that thinking is less a subjective act than an opening to alterity. His works were central in drawing Japanese attention to the problems inherent in western colonialism and to the cultural importance of Asia, especially China. This book represents the first appearance of Takeuchi's essays in English translation and explores Japanese modernity, literature, and nationalism as well as Chinese intellectual history.

This book explores Japanese modernity, literature, and nationalism as well as Chinese intellectual history, and represents the first appearance of Takeuchi's essays in English translation.Regarded as one of the foremost thinkers in postwar Japan, Takeuchi Yoshimi (1910-1977) questioned traditional Japanese thought and radically reconfigured an understanding of the subject's relationship to the world. His works were also central in drawing Japanese attention to the problems inherent in western colonialism and to the cultural importance of Asia, especially China. Takeuchi's writings synthesized philosophy, literature, and history, focusing not simply on Japan and the West but rather on the triangular relationship between Japan, the West, and China. This book, which represents the first appearance of Takeuchi's essays in English translation, explores Japanese modernity, literature, and nationalism as well as Chinese intellectual history. Takeuchi's research demonstrates how Asians attempted to make sense of European modernity without sacrificing their own cultural histories. An authentic method of modernity for Asia, Takeuchi concludes, needs to stress difference and plurality as opposed to the homogenizing force of westernization.

Reading Takeuchi... sheds light on key issues in discussions of postmodernism, nationalism, and postcolonialism. Choice Highly recommended as a valuable text. -- Steven Heine Journal of Japanese Studies

ISBN: 9780231133265

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

224 pages