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

Published in 2003, this volume emerged from a critical period in Japanese studies when scholars were increasingly applying post-structuralist and deconstructionist theories to the analysis of national literature. Michael K. Bourdaghs curated this collection to bridge the gap between traditional philological approaches and the 'linguistic turn' that had begun to reshape humanities research, focusing on the intersection of aesthetic textuality and historical politics.

The book explores how language serves not merely as a medium for representing Japanese identity but as a site where power dynamics and ideologies are actively constructed. Bourdaghs assembled these essays to challenge essentialist readings of Japanese literature, opting for a rigorous theoretical framework that examines how the materiality of language influences literary meaning and political discourse in modern Japan.