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FROM IMPRESSIONISM TO ANIME
Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West
Susan J. Napier
Availability: Now In Stock
From Palgrave Macmillan
Pub date: Dec 2007
272 pages
14 b/w illus.
Size 6-1/8 x 9-1/4
$27.00 - Paperback (1-4039-6214-6)
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$85.00 - Hardcover (1-4039-6213-8)

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Description
What is it about anime that is so appealing to a transnational fan base? Is the American attraction to anime similar to the popularity of previous fads of Japanese culture, like the Japonisants of fin-de-siecle France enamored of Japanese art and architecture, or the American poets in the fifties and sixties who latched onto haiku? Or is this something new, a product of global culture in which ethnic identities carry less weight? This book explores these issues by taking a look at anime fans and the place they occupy, both in terms of subculture in Japan and America, and in relation to Western perceptions of Japan since the late 1800s.

Author Bio
Susan J. Napier is Professor of Japanese Studies at Tufts University. She is the author of four books including, The Fantastic in Japanese Literature: The Subversion of Modernity and Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle.  

Praise for From Impressionism to Anime
A CHOICE Review of Books Outstanding Academic Title
 
Praise for Susan Napier's previous book, Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke:
"A thoughtful and carefully researched account."--The New York Times
"This worthy addition to the burgeoning literature on Japanese popular culture will stand the test of time."--Choice

Table of contents
Introduction: Orientalism, (soft) Power and Pleasure * Japonisme from Monet to Van Gogh * “Mon Semblable! Mon Frere”: Collecting, Doubling  and Mirroring Japan in England and America 1878-1941 * Paths of Power: Japan as Utopia and Dystopia in the Postwar  American Imagination * The Dark Heart of Fantasy: Japanese Women in the Eyes of the Western Male * 90’s and Beyond:  Japanese Fantasy Takes Wing * Anime Nation: Cons, Cosplay and (Sub) Cultural Capital * Differing Destinations: Cultural Identification, Orientalism,  and “Soft Power” in 21st Century Anime Fandom * In Search of Sacred Space? Anime Fandom and MiyazakiWorld * Conclusion: From Fans to Fandom

Other books by this author
Other Asian Media & Cultural Studies books