Fictional Commons: Natsume Soseki and the Properties of Modern Literature

In A Fictional Commons, Michael K. Bourdaghs examines how Natsume Sōseki's literary and theoretical works explored the contradictions and ambiguities of new forms of ownership in Japan, featuring narratives about inheritance, thievery, and the struggle for material wealth. He discusses Sōseki's appropriation and rejection of ownership and subjectivity concepts in ways that theorize literature as a critical response to global capitalism.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 240 pages
\n Publication date: 24 September 2021
\n Publisher: Duke University Press
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In Japan, as in other parts of the world, modernity arrived through novel forms of ownership. In his book "A Fictional Commons," Michael K. Bourdagh delves into the literary and theoretical works of Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916), widely regarded as Japan's greatest modern novelist. Bourdagh explores how Sōseki's writings capitalized on the contradictions and ambiguities surrounding this new system. Many of his works feature narratives that revolve around inheritance, theft, and the pursuit of material wealth, while also envisioning alternative modes of owning and sharing. For Sōseki, literature served as a tool for contemplating and transcending private property. Bourdagh engages in a dialogue with thinkers from Sōseki's era, including William James and Mizuno Rentarō, the author of Japan's first copyright law. He discusses how Sōseki's work anticipates the ideas of theorists such as Karatani Kōjin and Franco Moretti. As Bourdagh demonstrates, Sōseki both appropriated and rejected concepts of ownership and subjectivity in ways that theorized literature as a critical response to the emergence of global capitalism.

\n Weight: 360g\n
Dimension: 152 x 230 x 19 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781478014621\n \n