Kannani and Document of Flames: Two Japanese Colonial Novels

by Katsuei Yuasa, Mark W. Driscoll (Translator)

This volume makes available for the first time in English two of the most important novels of Japanese Yuasa Katsuei’s Kannani and Document of Flames . Born in Japan in 1910 and raised in Korea, Yuasa was an eyewitness to the ravages of the Japanese occupation. In both of the novels presented here, he is clearly critical of Japanese imperialism. Kannani (1934) stands alone within Japanese literature in its graphic depictions of the racism and poverty endured by the colonized Koreans. Document of Flames (1935) brings issues of class and gender into sharp focus. It tells the story of Tokiko, a divorced woman displaced from her Japanese home who finds herself forced to work as a prostitute in Korea to support herself and her child. Tokiko eventually becomes a landowner and oppressor of the Koreans she lives amongst, a transformation suggesting that the struggle against oppression often ends up replicating the structure of domination. In his introduction, Mark Driscoll provides a nuanced and engaging discussion of Yuasa’s life and work and of the cultural politics of Japanese colonialism. He describes Yuasa’s sharp turn, in the years following the publication of Kannani and Document of Flames , toward support for Japanese nationalism and the assimilation of Koreans into Japanese culture. This abrupt ideological reversal has made Yuasa’s early writing—initially censored for its anticolonialism—all the more controversial. In a masterful concluding essay, Driscoll connects these novels to larger theoretical issues, demonstrating how a deep understanding of Japanese imperialism challenges prevailing accounts of postcolonialism.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Japan, School, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

Reviews

[John Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting works but Mark Driscoll does a very poor job of presenting them. His primary purpose is to talk about Japanese colonial literature. The texts and even more the translations are a secondary concern.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Kannani - what an absolutely gut-wrenching story! This is a story that will stick with you and will make you disgusted at Japanese imperialism.

[Laina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2016 Book #8

A book with two short novels written by a Japanese about Japanese colonialism in Korea in the 1930s, with a vantage point of criticism of both Japanese racism toward Koreans and Japanese male-dominated oppression of women. Looks like the publication was intended for college-level east Asian studies classes. Kannani was about two teenagers; a younger teen Japanese male and a Korean female a couple of years older who struck up a friendship in school. Flood, famine, racism, rape, and a riot over Korean Independence at the funeral of the Korean king which led to Kannani's death.

Document of flames began with a Japanese woman being let go from police questioning after the death of her mother, and on the trip to the funeral, she reminisces about her childhood and the hardships faced by her mother as a divorced Japanese woman, and the daughter's eventual seduction by Communism, which led to her arrest. The last page with the funeral pyre and the daughter's perceptions are obviously very symbolic, yet somewhat out of reach for my understanding.

The translation was a bit curious, with characters quoted as speaking in modern colloquialisms and improper grammar "I pulled an all nighter then I crashed" "I ain't goin' nowhere". Glad I read it as part it has really contributed to my understanding of Japan and it relationship with Korea and vice-versa.

[meeners]

a summary of the many translation problems in this book:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2...

you know it's not good when the translator can't even get the author's name right (it's yuasa katsue, not katsuei).

[Darian Lorrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was tempted to give this a lower rating because of how awful I feel after reading this but it's actually an incredibly powerful piece and beautifully written, the content is just a lot to take in. Definitely be warned before you pick this one up it's a lot... just a lot.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting portraits of colonial Korea under Japan.