Minae Mizumura - The Fall of Language in the Age of English

Filipino language, 177–78

Finnegans Wake (James Joyce), 100

Finnish language, 176

Five Charter Oath (Meiji Emperor), 111

Flaubert, Gustave, 104

Floating Clouds ( Ukigumo ; Futabatei Shimei), 104, 147–48

Franco-Prussian War, 119

French language, 4, 41, 47–66, 91, 93–94, 178, 194, 201

French literature and culture, 2, 17, 48–49, 51–53, 59–62, 68, 91–92, 148

French Revolution, 59–60

Fukuda Tsuneari, 187–88

Fukuzawa Momosuke, 127

Fukuzawa Yukichi, 46, 117, 119–21, 126–33, 170

Funabashi Yōichi, 196

Futabatei Shimei, 46, 104, 147–48

Galilei, Galileo, 87

genbun itchi (unification of spoken and written word), 122, 147–48, 152, 154, 206n.2 (chap. 4)

“Gendai Nihon no kaika” (The development of contemporary Japan; Natsume Sōseki), 151

gender and gender roles, 5, 46, 65, 108–10, 114–15, 136, 152, 201

General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, The (John Maynard Keynes), 96

Genghis Khan, 37

Genroku era, 110–11, 152, 154

geocentrism, 87

German language, 91, 93–96, 176

gesaku (playful writing), 121

Gĩkũyũ language, 178

global consciousness and perspective, 102, 104, 133, 136, 142

global knowledge and communication, 4, 60, 78, 84–85, 91–92, 137, 161–65, 202. See also universal language

global marketing and commerce, 50, 59, 151, 159, 174, 196. See also consumer society

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 148

Gogol, Nikolai, 94

Gold Demon, The ( Konjiki yasha ; Ozaki Kōyō), 154

Google Book Search Library Project, 162

Gramsci, Antonio, 96

Grand jeu, Le (film; 1934), 51

Grass Pillow ( Kusamakura ; Natsume Sōseki), 149–50, 181

Greco, Juliette, 52

Greek language, 82, 85, 91–92, 167, 169, 176

Greek mythology, 182

Gujarati language, 177

Gutenberg, Johannes, 75–76, 158

Hagiwara Sakutarō, 51, 201

haiku poetry, 152. See also poetry

hangul (phonetic Korean), 193, 201

Harp of Burma (Takeyama Michio), 36

Harry Potter (series; J. K. Rowling), 159

Harvard University, 164

Hearn, Lafcadio, 138, 145

Hebrew language and literature, 38–39, 70, 179

Heian period, 51, 108, 110, 114, 116

Heisei period, 174

heliocentrism, 87

Herder, Johann Gottfried von, 77, 94

Herzen, Alexander, 94

Hibbett, Howard, 69

Higuchi Ichiyō, 105, 180, 206n.2 (chap. 4)

Hindi language, 172, 177, 200

hiragana, 65, 108–10, 114–15, 124–25, 152, 201

Hobbes, Thomas, 88

Homo Ludens (Johan Huizinga), 96

Hōryūji (temple), 191

How I Became a Christian (Uchimura Kanzō), 111–12, 144

Hugo, Victor, 154

Huizinga, Johan, 96

Human Comedy, The (Honoré de Balzac), 104

Hume, David, 92

Hungarian language, 176

I Am a Cat ( Wagahai wa neko de aru ; Natsume Sōseki), 146

Ihara Saikaku, 111

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Benedict Anderson), 4, 74–83, 90

Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of prohibited books), 82

India, 177

Indonesian language and literature, 179

In Praise of Folly (Desiderius Erasmus), 87

In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust), 64, 99

International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 191

International Writing Program (IWP; University of Iowa), 3, 11–17, 20–37

Internet, x, 4, 41, 60, 78, 160–66, 173, 196–97

Iowa Writers’ Workshop (IWW; University of Iowa), 22

Irish Gaelic and Irish people, 81

Islam, 81, 85, 87, 106. See also sacred languages and texts

Italian language, 90

Itō Jinsai, 111

Iwanami Shoten, 183

IWP. See International Writing Program

IWW. See Iowa Writers’ Workshop

I Yeonsuk, 194

Izumi Kyōka, 105

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), 104

Japan: architecture in, 135, 192; and colonialism, 4, 52, 118–22, 134–35, 184–87, 189–90, 201; economy and development of, 30, 104–5, 141–42; leftist intellectuals in, 78, 182–84, 186–87, 190; modernization of, 50, 104, 111, 118–33, 154–55, 184, 190; and United States, 4, 52, 119, 121–22, 137, 184–86; universities in, 134, 137–47, 166–67, 169. See also education system of Japan

Japanese culture: and isolation, 50, 55, 110, 116–18, 127, 191–92; modern threats to, 191–92; and “shock of the West,” 147–52, 193, 200

Japanese language: crisis and decline of, ix — xi, 4, 169–72; and education policy, 124–25, 180–82, 184–87, 198–200; and English language, 5, 123–24, 169–72; Japanese attitudes toward, 190–95; and modernization of society, 118–33, 154–55, 184; origins and development of, 53, 58–59, 72, 105–12, 116–17, 122–38. See also Japanese written language

Japanese literature: canonical texts of, 46, 105, 136–37, 143–44, 147, 167–72, 179–82, 199; crisis and decline of, ix — xi, 44–46, 172–74; and education policy, 180–82, 199–200; and gender roles, 46; as a major literature, 4, 44, 66–71, 172, 202; and Meiji Restoration and period, 104–5, 117, 139, 147–48, 180–81, 200, 206n.2 (chap. 4); modern origin and development of, x, 4, 44–45, 59, 104–5, 147–56; and national language ideology, 111, 169

Japanese written language: and Chinese characters, 24, 107–12, 124–25; and gender, 108–10; origin and development of, xi, 72, 106–10, 112–16; and Roman alphabet, 4, 122, 125, 184–89, 195; unique characteristics of, 13, 65–66, 95–96, 200–203

Joyce, James, 81, 100

Kaitai shinsho (New book of anatomy; Sugita Gempaku), 111

Kalecki, Michal, 96–97

Kamakura period, 110

kana characters, 108–10, 124–25, 185, 187–88, 200. See also hiragana; katakana

Kanagaki Robun, 148

kanbun kundoku (Chinese writing, Japanese reading), 107

Kant, Immanuel, 92

Kapital, Das (Karl Marx), 183

katakana, 65, 108–10, 115, 124–25, 152–53, 195, 201

Katsura Imperial Villa, 191

Kawabata Yasunari, 69–70, 136, 156

Kawai Hayao, 191–92

Keene, Donald, 69–70

Keio University, 136

Kelly, Kevin, 161–64

Kepler, Johannes, 87

Keynes, John Maynard, 96

Khmer Rouge, massacres by, 189

Khrushchev, Nikita, 38

Kierkegaard, Søren, 95

Kinoshita Mokutarō, 136

Ki no Tsurayuki, 114

Kishida Kunio, 136

Kita Ikki, 194

Kleist, Heinrich von, 148

Kobayashi Hideo, 173

Kōda Rohan, 46

kokugaku (national philology), 115

Kokugo to iu shisō (The ideology of national language; I Yeonsuk), 194

Korean language, 114, 118, 122, 179, 193, 201

Kulmus, Johan Adam, 111

Kume Masao, 136

Kurama tengu (series; Osaragi Jirō), 154

Kuroda, Lord, 129

Laclos, Pierre Choderlos de, 148

Lafayette, Madame de (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne), 148

Laos, 178

Latin: and bilingualism, 75, 82, 85, 116; decline of, 80; and national languages, 89–92; as sacred language, 82, 106; as universal language, 60, 87–88, 116, 167, 169

Lebedev, Pyotr, 171

Leibniz, Gottfried, 88

Leonardo da Vinci, 140

library concept. See universal library

Light and Dark ( Meian ; Natsume Sōseki), 2, 105, 150

literacy, x, 94, 193, 199

literature: concept of a major, 4, 44, 66–71, 172, 202; plays as, 88, 98, 111, 116, 176; poetry as, 100, 108–10, 114, 149–50, 152, 177; and science and general knowledge, 98–102, 137–38, 157, 160, 167. See also canonical texts; novels; specific languages