1929 All Over Again, In Japanese Literature

Julie Greicius bio ↓  ·  January 12th, 2009  ·  filed under books

From Adbusters: “As they endure the nightly mundanity of the convenience store or the daytime lobotomy of waving red sticks at traffic jams, the freeter part-timers know that Kanikosen is a novel aimed at them. But the full-time, white-collar “salarymen” think it is all theirs, too: the novel describes cruelty, exploitation and imprisonment, all of which echoes the sense of padded slavery felt so keenly in Japan’s white-collar ranks. And women, whose relationship with the Japanese workplace has been a long, largely unrewarded struggle for equality and respect, empathize deeply with the below-decks repression of the crab-canning ship. Still, it is undoubtedly among the young, Asao’s “lost generation,” now aged between 20 and 35, that the connections are the sharpest.” …Read more

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Julie Greicius is the senior literary editor and a regular contributor for The Rumpus. She works as writer and editor by day and a licensed (really) hula hoop instructor by night. She's co-editor of Rumpus Women, Vol I, and has an MFA from Columbia University and a PhD in traffic school. She lives in California with her husband and two children. Follow her on Twitter. More from this author →

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