Glorify the Empire

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18762876-glorify-the-empire?from_search=true

Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo by Annika A Culver

In the 1930’s and ’40’s, 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 A. 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. Annika A. Culver is an assistant professor of East Asian history at Florida State University. She also serves as a scholar in the US-Japan Network for the Future.