Literary Mischief

"Easily one of the more fascinating writers of the twentieth century, Sakaguchi Ango refuses easy categorization. Unconventional, rebellious, and transgressive, he challenges tacit assumptions about `Japanese-ness,' genre, and aesthetics. In Literary Mischief: Sakaguchi Ango. Culture, and the War, James Dorsey and Doug Slaymaker give us an Ango dokuhon. or `reader,' that aptly captures the author's complexities and brilliance. With essays from Karatani Kojin, Ogino Anna, and others, and finely-honed translations from Ango's eclectic oeuvre, Literary Mischief explores the often poignant interactions between a luminous literary mind and the broader discourses that informed this pivotal point in Japanese history."---Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis

"With its critical insights and deft translations. Literary Mischief provides a much-needed introduction to the works of Sakaguchi Ango, the most important anti-canonical author of canonical importance whose literary endeavors helped to shift the trajectory of postwar Japanese thought." -Sari Kawana, University of Massachusetts, Boston

"Sakaguchi Ango's insights on humanity, war, and culture have the power to move us as never before. Rising phoenix-like and irascible from the ashes of postwar Japan, Sakaguchi peeled back the shiny layers of prewar ideology, revealing an enduring vision of the folk. With fine translations by James Dorsey and a selection of illuminating essays, Sakaguchi is riveting."---Eve Zimmerman, Wellesley College

Sakaguchi Ango (1906-1955) was a writer who thrived on iconoclasm and agitation. He remains one of the most creative and stimulating thinkers of twentieth-century Japan. Ango was catapulted into the public consciousness in the months immediately following Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945. The energy and iconoclasm of his writings were matched by the outrageous and outsized antics of his life. Behind that life, and in the midst of those tumultuous times, Ango spoke with a cutting clarity. The essays and translations included in Literary Mischief probe some of the most volatile issues of culture, ideology, and philosophy of postwar Japan. Represented among the essayists are some of Japan's most important contemporary critics (e.g., Karatani Kojin and Ogino Anna). Many of Ango's works were produced during Japan's wars in China and the Pacific, a context in which words and ideas carried dire consequences for both writers and readers. This collection of essays and translations takes advantage of current interest in Sakaguchi Ango's work and makes available to the English-reading audience translations and critical work heretofore unavailable.

James Dorsey is associate professor of Japanese at Dartmouth College.

Douglas Slaymaker is associate professor of Japanese at University of Kentucky.