Kenji Nakagami

Mats Arne Karlsson (University of Sydney)

Ed. by Roy Anthony Starrs, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.2.2: Japanese Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Mats Arne Karlsson (University of Sydney), Roy Anthony Starrs (University of Otago)

Dates

Born 2 Aug 1946
Died 12 Aug 1992
Activity 1970-1992

Places

Born in Japan
Active in Japan

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Other

Literary Critic/ Historian
Poet

Resources

Nakagami's Works

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Novelist Nakagami Kenji (to give his name in its usual Japanese order, family name first) was for much of two decades from the early 1970s seen as the great hope on the Japanese literary horizon, the renewer of prose fiction. Born and raised in an outcast

burakumin

community, Nakagami launched an attack from an outsider position on majority ways of thinking. By probing the origin and structure of discrimination, Nakagami altered the outlook on Japan’s supposedly homogenous culture and society. By bringing his prose closer to the oral tradition and by adopting the methods of free jazz, Nakagami attempted to dismantle the well-written novel. It was while working as a cargo handler in Tokyo that Nakagami started to explore his background with the help of his pen. He created the

roji

…

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3731 words

Citation: Karlsson, Mats Arne. "Kenji Nakagami". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 December 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12634, accessed 22 November 2024.]