About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity of California Press

ISBN-100520222733

ISBN-139780520222731

eBay Product ID (ePID)53845455

Product Key Features

Number of Pages388 Pages

Publication NameErotic Grotesque Nonsense : the Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times

LanguageEnglish

SubjectAsia / Japan, Asia / General, Customs & Traditions

Publication Year2007

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaSocial Science, History

AuthorMiriam Silverberg

SeriesAsia Pacific Modern Ser.

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.2 in

Item Weight28.9 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2006-027326

Dewey Edition22

Reviews"Leaves the reader longing to know more, and regretting that the author is no longer here to help us satisfy that wish."-- Japanese Studies, "This is a book not just for Japan specialists, but for anyone interested in a history of cosmopolitism and modern life."-- Journal Royal Anthro Inst, "This is a book not just for Japan specialists, but for anyone interested in a history of cosmopolitism and modern life."-- Jrnl Royal Anthro Inst, Leaves the reader longing to know more, and regretting that the author is no longer here to help us satisfy that wish., This is a book not just for Japan specialists, but for anyone interested in a history of cosmopolitism and modern life.

Series Volume Number1

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal306.095209041

Table Of ContentList of Illustrations By Way of a Preface Acknowledgments Introduction PART I. JAPANESE MODERN TIMES Japanese Moddern within Modernity PART II. JAPANESE MODERN SITES 1. The Modern Girl as Militant (Movement on the Streets) 2. The Café Waitress Sang the Blues 3. Friends of the Movies (From Ero to Empire) 4. The Household Becomes Modern Life PART III. ASAKUSA--HONKY-TONK TEMPO 1. Asakusa Eroticism 2. Down-and-Out Grotesquerie 3. Modern Nonsense List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

SynopsisThis history of Japanese mass culture during the decades preceding Pearl Harbor argues that the new gestures, relationship, and humor of ero-guro-nansensu (erotic grotesque nonsense) expressed a self-consciously modern ethos that challenged state ideology and expansionism. Miriam Silverberg uses sources such as movie magazines, ethnographies of the homeless, and the most famous photographs from this era to capture the spirit, textures, and language of a time when the media reached all classes, connecting the rural social order to urban mores. Employing the concept of montage as a metaphor that informed the organization of Japanese mass culture during the 1920s and 1930s, Silverberg challenges the erasure of Japanese colonialism and its legacies. She evokes vivid images from daily life during the 1920s and 1930s, including details about food, housing, fashion, modes of popular entertainment, and attitudes toward sexuality. Her innovative study demonstrates how new public spaces, new relationships within the family, and an ironic sensibility expressed the attitude of Japanese consumers who identified with the modern as providing a cosmopolitan break from tradition at the same time that they mobilized for war., This history of Japanese mass culture during the decades preceding Pearl Harbor argues that the new gestures, relationship, and humor ofero-guro-nansensu(erotic grotesque nonsense) expressed a self-consciously modern ethos that challenged state ideology and expansionism. Miriam Silverberg uses sources such as movie magazines, ethnographies of the homeless, and the most famous photographs from this era to capture the spirit, textures, and language of a time when the media reached all classes, connecting the rural social order to urban mores. Employing the concept of montage as a metaphor that informed the organization of Japanese mass culture during the 1920s and 1930s, Silverberg challenges the erasure of Japanese colonialism and its legacies. She evokes vivid images from daily life during the 1920s and 1930s, including details about food, housing, fashion, modes of popular entertainment, and attitudes toward sexuality. Her innovative study demonstrates how new public spaces, new relationships within the family, and an ironic sensibility expressed the attitude of Japanese consumers who identified with the modern as providing a cosmopolitan break from tradition at the same time that they mobilized for war.

LC Classification Number2006027326