Murder Most Modern: Detective Fiction and Japanese Culture

284 Pages·2008·3.1 MB·English

by  Sari Kawana

Murder Most Modern
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Murder Most Modern
Detective Fiction
and Japanese Culture
Sari Kawana
University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis / London
Th e University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges the fi nancial
a ssistance provided to support the publication of this book from the College
of Liberal Arts, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Portions of the Introduction were previously published in “Pleasures of
Permutation: Detective Fiction and Cultural Globalization,” Proceedings of the
Association for Japanese Literary Studies 5 (Summer 2004); reprinted with permis-
sion from the Association for Japanese Literary Studies. A previous version of
chapter 3 was published as “Mad Scientists and Th eir Prey: Bioethics, Murder,
and Fiction in Interwar Japan,” Journal of Japanese Studies 31, no. 1 (Winter
2005): 89–120; reprinted with permission of Journal of Japanese Studies.
Copyright 2008 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, me-
chanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written per-
mission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Th ird Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kawana, Sari.
Murder most modern : detective fi ction and Japanese culture / Sari Kawana.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-5025-5 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8166-5026-2
(pb : alk. paper)
1. Detective and mystery stories, Japanese—History and criticism.
2. Japanese fi ction—20th century—History and criticism. 3. Culture
in literature. I. Title.
PL747.67.D45K38 2008
895.6'30872—dc22
2008000751
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Th e University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Author’s Note vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Detective Fiction, Diphtheria,
and Modernity 1
1. Tailing the Tail: How to Turn Paranoia into a Hobby 29
2. Eyeing the Privates: Sexuality as Motive 69
3. Mad Scientists and Their Prey: Bioethics and Murder 111
4. Drafted Detectives and Total War: Three Editors
ofShupio 147
5. The Disfi gured National Body: Unmasking Modernity
in Postwar Mysteries 186
Epilogue: Beyond the Whodunit 219
Notes 225
Bibliography 251
Index 265
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Author’s Note
I follow Japanese convention and give Japanese names in tradi-
tional order (e.g., Oguri Mushitarō). I refer to authors by the names
by which they are best known. Some authors are referred to by sur-
name (e.g., Satō Haruo) and others by their pen names (e.g., Edogawa
Ranpo, Kuroiwa Ruikō). All translations from the Japanese are mine
unless otherwise i ndicated.
In the publication citations in the bibliography, the place of publica-
tion for all Japanese-language sources is Tokyo unless otherwise noted.
vii
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Acknowledgments
The cover and the copyright page suggest that I am the sole author
of this book, but the material herein would not have come together
without the patience, kindness, and support of numerous people and
institutions.
My sincere thanks and warmest regards go to my mentors, col-
leagues, and friends from my days as a graduate student at the
University of Pennsylvania: Bruce Baird, Linda Chance, Jennifer
Chen, Rita Copeland, Edward Drott, Jonathan Eburne, Gregory
Flaxman, Stephen Hock, G. Cameron Hurst, Ayako Kano, William
LaFleur, Gerald Prince, Deborah Shapple, Matthew Sommer,
Sayumi Takahashi, and Liliane Weissberg. Penn’s University and
SAS Dissertation Fellowships funded the research and writing of my
dissertation, on which this book is based.
At various points during my dissertation research, I received
invaluable help from archives in Japan, including the Nihon
Kindai Bungakukan, the Setagaya Bungakukan, and the Misuterī
Shiryōkan, as well as individual libraries at the University of Tokyo.
Also, I would like to thank the many scholars and afi cionados of
detective fi ction and modan culture that I met along the way: Aizu
Shingo, Endō Tomomi, Hayashi Katsurō, Jiichi, Taniguchi Yōko,
Uchida Ryūzō, Yohara Takao, Yoshimi Shun’ya, and Yuasa Atsushi. I
extend my gratitude to those individuals and institutions that kindly
granted permission to reproduce their images: Asahi Shinbun, Hirai
Ryūtarō, Mainichi Shinbunsha, Shiozawa Tamae, Tsutsumi Naruki,
Yonezawa Yoshihiro, and Yoshida Kanoko.
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