The Linguistic Turn in Contemporary Japanese Literary Studies: Politics, Language, Textuality

This volume emerged from the late twentieth-century academic movement that brought structuralist and post-structuralist literary theory to bear on the study of Japanese literature. It was published as a rigorous critical inquiry into how the shift toward linguistic analysis—often referred to as the 'linguistic turn'—redefined the relationship between politics, historical textuality, and the construction of national identity within Japan's scholarly landscape.

Michael K. Bourdaghs authored this work to synthesize complex theoretical frameworks with specific case studies in Japanese literature. The design and structure of the volume reflect the intellectual rigor typical of academic monographs from this period, intended primarily for researchers and graduate students seeking to navigate the intersection of language philosophy and post-war Japanese critical discourse. It was well-received by peers in Asian studies and comparative literature for its clarity in bridging Western theory with non-Western literary traditions.