[An] intriguing study of modern Japanese literature… Hirata’s collection of essays, some previously published, covers a broad range a broad range of twentieth-century Japanese literature, from Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro (1914) to more contemporary works of fiction by well-known writers such as Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe and Haruki Murakami. Along the way, Hirata also examines the work of an influential writer less well known in the West, Furui Yoshikichi, as well as the critic Kojin Karatani… It is the depth of Hirata’s argument, and the intriguing new readings of some modern classics, that make Discourses of Seduction a powerful addition to the small but growing number of studies of modern Japanese literature.

Hosea Hirata’s collection of essays, Discourses of Seduction, is driven by desire, and it is written in a voice delirious with the attractions of text and words; the essays are also driven by concerns for memory and history and the scandals of desire and pleasure. In the first paragraphs of the book, Hirata makes clear that these forces are united by a burning question, itself infused by matters of seduction: ‘Why do I still read literature?’ His question is given further precision as an inquiry into ‘Why am I still so madly in love with literature?’ …The outline of the project that comprises the introduction is a standalone essay and should be widely read. In all, Hirata’s text takes on the quality of desire itself—tantalizing, at times maddening and elusive, and often satisfying.