| In spite of the numerous volumes in English on twentieth-century Japanese poetry, it is surprising that almost nothing has been written about the most vital anti-traditional current, that mishmash of -isms collectively referred to as the avant-garde (zen'ei)--dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, abstract expressionism, minimalism, etc.;In 1936 Andre Breton was shocked to learn that 500 poets and painters in Tokyo considered themselves "surrealists," yet books on the subject continue to treat the literary history of the movement as if it had never existed in Asia. ...;This study examines the life, poetry and poetics of Japan's flamboyant and controversial avant-garde leader, Kitasono Katue (1902-1978), whose activity spanned the middle fifty years of this century and left an indelible mark on poetry written in the international idiom.;The dissertation is organized chronologically. A different set of problems is dealt with in each chapter. Taken together, a mosaic emerges of the man, the movements and the times. These are some of the main topics:;Chapter One: Kitasono's roots and pre-avant-garde poetry.;Two/Three: Kitasono's role in introducing Dadaism and Surrealism to Japan, with a critique of how the movements differed from the Western "originals".;Four: Kitasono in the early 1930s, when he gained an avant-garde following and then disguised himself behind pen names (exposed here for the first time).;Five: The relationship between Ezra Pound and Kitasono Katue, and their thirty-year correspondence. In 1938 Pound introduced "Kit Kat" and his VOU Club to the West; thereafter, their work was sought by editors from around the world.;Six: Kitasono's controversial wartime activity, including a comprehensive analysis of his patriotic poetry. Also, a glimpse of his lifestyle as revealed in his 1944-1945 diaries, never before seen outside his family.;Seven: Innovative techniques in Kitasono's postwar poetry. An evaluation of his post-modernism in reference to Marjorie Perloff, Roland Barthes and Michael Riffaterre.;Eight: Kitasono's participation in the international Concrete Poetry movement and his creating of a new genre, "Plastic Poetry.".;The critical-biography section of the dissertation totals 441 pages. Supplementary material--mostly my translations of Kitasono poems--numbers an additional 350 pages. |
