Die Verortung des Westens und die Tradition des japanischen Denkens

The study of Japan has too often been premised upon a crude presupposition that any intellectual or artistic production is predetermined by the structure of Japanese language or culture. This rather culturalist assumption can be sustained only by a refusal to entertain theoretical critiques. This article shows that the typical culturalist argument about Japanese literature is based upon a misconception of translation and the accompanying essentialist view of language