Karatani, Kojin

Born in the city of Amagasaki , Hyogo Prefecture . Started as a literary critic. He drew attention to himself in 1969 with the article “Consciousness and Nature” (意識 と 自然) devoted to interpreting Natsume Soseki 's creative work, which was awarded with the prize of the magazine “ Gundzo ” for debutants. In his youth, he experienced a significant influence of the ideas of the philosopher Takaaki Yoshimoto , with whom he was personally acquainted. The choice of Soseki as the theme of his early works was partly dictated by his desire to get close to other prominent critic Jung This , most famous for his work "Soseki and His Time." It is on the recommendation of This, who became interested in Karatani, the latter was sent in 1975 to Yale University to give lectures on Japanese literature.

As a literary critic, he actively promoted the popularization of authors attributed to the “ generation of introverts ” ( Yoshikichi Furui , Meysei Goto , etc.), as well as Kenji Nakagami , with whom he was associated with friendly and fruitful creative relationships that ended only with the writer's death. At the funeral of Nakagami, Karatani provided the grave speech. An analysis of Soseki's creativity, from which Karatani began his literary path, also continued to be one of his central themes: a whole series of modern editions of Soseki's novels are accompanied by Karatani afterwords.

In 1973, a significant turnaround occurred in the activities of Karatani. In an analysis of Shakespeare's Macbeth , he addressed the issue of the collapse of the new right movement that came in that year. This kind of interpretation of Macbeth was followed by a thorough study and radical rethinking of Marx 's Capital , read from outside the doctrines of Marxism-Leninism . In 1975, during his time at Yale University, Karatani became close to the Yale School of Deconstructivism and Paul de Mans personally, and later in 1978 with Jacques Derrida . By the end of the 1970s, Karatani became one of Japan’s most prominent thinkers.

In his book, The Structure of World History: From Production Methods to Methods of Treatment, Karatani points out that methods of circulation play a key role in the reproduction of human society. He considers capital and the national state as an interconnected system on which the modern global society is based (less and less stable). To understand what will replace the current system, Karatani examines historical ways of addressing:

• Method A - the exchange of gifts, characteristic of sedentary farmers
• Method B - the exchange of obedience for protection, arising with the formation of the state
• Method C - the exchange of goods characteristic of capitalism and, finally
• mode D is the future mode of circulation based on the exchange of gifts, but on a new historical level

Karatani says that the last fourth phase in the development of methods of circulation, involving the overcoming of capital, nation and state, can be understood in the light of Kant 's ideas about eternal peace ^[1] .

Literature

• A disease called "meaning" (意味 と い う 病, 1975)
• Overcoming Kobayashi Hideo (小 林秀雄 を こ て, 1979). Together with Kenji Nakagami .
• Architecture as a metaphor (隠 喩 と し て の 建築, 1979)
• Origins of modern Japanese literature (日本 近代 文学 の 起源, 1980)
• Criticism and postmodern (批評 と ポ ス ト モ ダ ン, 1985)
• Sakaguchi Ango and Nakagami Kenji (坂口 安 吾 と 中 上 健 次, 1996)
• The end of modern literature (近代 文学 の 終 わ り ・ 柄 谷 谷人 の 現在, 2005)

Philosophy

• Marxism and its possibilities (マ ル ク ス そ の 可能性 の 中心, 1978)
• Dialogues I — IV (ダ イ ア ロ ー グ Ⅰ〜Ⅳ, 1979, 1987–1991)
• Transcriticism: Kant and Marx (ト ラ ン ス ク リ テ ィ ー ク ―― カ ン ト と マ ル ク ス, 2001)
• On the way to the world community. Overcoming capitalism and the state (世界 共和国 へ ―― 資本 = ネ ー シ ョ ン = 国家 を 超 え て, 2006)
• The structure of world history: from production methods to methods of circulation ("史 の 構造" 読 む, English translation of "The Structure of Modes of Exchange", 2014)

• Official Site (Jap.) (Eng.)