Mostri del Giappone. Narrative, figure, egemonie della dis-locazione identitaria

Contemporary Japan has become the stage for displaying an endless assortment of traditional, modern, and postmodern monsters. But why have old and new monsters gained such prominence with regard to folkloric customs, premodern urban culture, contents industry, and trans-national flows? How is this popularity connected to national identity formation and institutional legitimacy, as exemplified by the modern rise of yōkaigaku, the nativist science of monsters? And finally, what is the critical potential of monstrosity in terms of displacing naturalised identification and Othering, within the globalising entanglement of self-representations in Japan and hetero-representations of Japan? These questions aim to complicate our understanding of ‘Japan’ and ‘monsters’ in order to contribute to a transcultural theory of monsters, in contrast to prevalent investigations that focus instead on the cultural-intrinsic or the historical-specific Japaneseness of its monstrous repertoire. The book explores the «ontological liminality» addressed in monster theory (Cohen, 1996) by means of a multi-disciplinary approach, cross-cutting literary studies, visual studies, cultural anthropology, history and sociology. More specifically, it examines the discursive emer-gence of monstrous Japan, as configured by the modern intertwining of hegemonic Occidentalism, Orientalism, and self-Orientalism. The volume brings together different case studies on some of the most popular monsters in Japan, from the classical past to the contemporary present. Particular attention is given to the interlinking of narratives, figures, and hegemonies involved in the establishment of the tengu (the mountain monster), the kappa (the water goblin), the hybrid monsters in Miyazaki Hayao’s animation, and the wider trans/national monstering process shaping present Japan.