Cartographies
of Desire : Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950 by
Gregory M. Pflugfelder
In this sweeping study of the mapping and
remapping of male-male sexuality over four centuries of Japanese
history, Gregory Pflugfelder explores the languages of medicine,
law, and popular culture from the seventeenth century through the
American Occupation.
Pflugfelder opens with fascinating speculations
about how an Edo translator might grapple with a twentieth-century
text on homosexuality, then turns to law, literature, newspaper
articles, medical tracts, and other sources to discover Japanese
attitudes toward sexuality over the centuries. During each of
three major eras, he argues, one field dominated discourse on
male-male sexual relations: popular culture in the Edo period
(1600-1868), jurisprudence in the Meiji period (1868-1912), and
medicine in the twentieth century.
This multidisciplinary and theoretically engaged
analysis will interest not only students and scholars of Japan but
also readers of gay studies, literary studies, gender studies, and
cultural studies.
"A remarkable and sorely needed synthesis
of the best of traditional historiographical documentation and
critically astute analysis and contextualization. Cartographies
complements and, frankly, exceeds any of the English language
monographs on similar topics that precede it, and it represents
significant contributions to several fields outside of East Asian
history, including literature, gender studies, lesbian and gay
studies, and cultural studies." --Earl Jackson Jr., author of
Strategies of Deviance
"In this study of the mapping and remapping
of male-male sexuality over four centuries of Japanese history,
Gregory Pflugfelder explores the languages of popular culture,
law, and medicine from the seventeenth century through the
American Occupation." -- from the book jacket
"This multidisciplinary and theoretically
engaged analysis will interest not only students and scholars of
Japan but also readers of gay studies, literary studies, gender
studies, and cultural studies." -- from the book jacket.
