| Summary: | This thesis seeks to explore the extent to which a conversation between Frantz
Fanon’s three-tiered paradigm on the evolution of the native writer – as manifested in his
position on national culture in The Wretched of the Earth – and Tanizaki Junichiro’s literary
trajectory successfully articulates the cultural implications of Japan’s negotiations with the
West.
Tanizaki Junichiro (1886–1965) lived through a period of Japanese history that
witnessed the beginnings of Japan’s modernisation in the Meiji era (1868–1912), the nation’s
subsequent evolving relationship with the West, two world wars, and a rapidly recovering
post-war Japan attempting to secure a position as a global economic powerhouse. This
turbulent historical landscape, and the continually evolving cultural context it engenders,
informs Tanizaki’s literary trajectory as his works experience shifts in their perspectives and
presentations of Japan in relation to the West.
|
|---|