Daniel Poch, "Licentious Fictions: Ninjō and the Nineteenth-Century Japanese Novel" (Columbia UP, 2019)

New Books in Japanese Studies · Mar 23, 2021 · 58m

Nineteenth-century Japanese literary discourse and narrative developed a striking preoccupation with ninjō—literally “human emotion,” but often used in reference to amorous feeling and erotic desire. For many writers and critics, fiction’s capacity to foster both licentiousness and didactic values stood out as a crucial source of ambivalence. Simultaneously capable of inspiring exemplary behavior and a dangerous force transgressing social norms, ninjō became a focal point for debates about the role of the novel and a key motor propelling narrative plots.

In Licentious Fictions: Ninjō and the…