Glorify the Empire

Description:

"In the 1930s and '40s, Japanese political architects of the Manchukuo project in occupied northeast China realized the importance of using various cultural media to promote a modernization program in the region, as well as its expansion into other parts of Asia. Ironically, the writers and artists chosen to spread this imperialist message had left-wing political roots in Japan, where their work strongly favoured modernist, even avant-garde, styles of expression. In Glorify the Empire, Annika Culver explores how these once anti-imperialist intellectuals produced modernist works celebrating the modernity of a fascist state and reflecting a complicated picture of complicity with, and ambivalence towards, Japan's utopian project. During the war, literary and artistic representations of Manchuria accelerated, and the Japanese-led culture in Manchukuo served as a template for occupied areas in Southeast Asia. A groundbreaking work, Glorify the Empire magnifies the intersection between politics and art in a rarely examined period in Japanese history."--Publisher's website.

subjects: Propaganda, japanese,  Arts, china,  World war, 1939-1945, china,  Artists, japan,  Modernism (art),  Art and state,  Avant-garde (aesthetics),  Japanese Propaganda,  History,  Arts,  World War, 1939-1945,  Propaganda,  Art and the war,  Artists,  Propaganda in art,  Propagande japonaise,  Histoire,  Aspect politque,  Avant-garde (Esthétique),  Aspect politique,  Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945,  Propagande,  Art et guerre,  Artistes,  Propagande dans l'art,  Political aspects