Escape from the Wasteland

“Alternative fictional worlds and their ideological significance form the focus of Susan Napier’s engrossing study of the works of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo… Napier is a reader of considerable acuity and sympathy, with a refreshing candor about her convictions.”—Journal of Japanese Studies

“A refreshingly articulate study of high scholarship.”—International Fiction Review

“A major contribution to our understanding of these two essential authors and their time.”—Journal of Asian Studies

“Required reading for anyone interested in the creation of modern mythical literature.”—Monumenta Nipponica

“[Napier] has provided us with a valuable guide to the key works and intellectual concerns of these two pillars of postwar Japanese discourse. Moreover, she has offered penetrating interpretations of numerous works that remain inaccessible to many readers, whether due to lack of existing translations or the difficulty of the texts themselves… Susan Napier has undertaken a daunting project in examining so much of the work of not just one, but two of Japan’s most formidable writers and personalities. In so doing, she has provided all those who read and write about Japanese literature with a rich resource for provocative exchange.”—Alan Wolfe, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies