A Flock Of Swirling Crows And Other Proletarian Writings

Why is education potentially subversive? How does ethnocentrism facilitate an oppressive status quo? Who actually benefits from war? Questions such as these were integral to the work of writer Kuroshima Denji (1898-1943), one of modern Japan's most dedicated antimilitarist intellectuals. He was wholeheartedly committed to fundamental change and produced numerous literary works expressing his passionate opposition to armed force as an instrument of imperialism. His only full-length novel, superbly translated here as Militarized Streets, was censored by both Japan's imperial government and the U.S. occupation authorities. Best known for his "Siberian stories" of the late 1920s - vivid descriptions of agonies suffered by Japanese soldiers and Russian civilians during Japan's invasion of the newly emerged Soviet Union - Kuroshima also wrote powerful narratives dealing with the hardships, struggles, and rare triumphs of Japanese peasants. The present volume comprises much of Kuroshima's most highly acclaimed work for the first time in English.