JAPAN: A REINTERPRETATION

New York City, NY: Pantheon Books, 1997. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Pantheon Books, 1997. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 385 pages. Book-length account on subject. One of the best books on Japan ever published in the West. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents Patrick Smith's "Japan: A Reinterpretation". His provocative account, the most interesting and the best from the West since Roland Barthes' "Empire of Signs" (1982). "The Japanese are in the process of re-creating themselves, an endeavor they have undertaken at various intervals throughout their history, always prompted by a combination of domestic and global forces. In this landmark book, Patrick Smith asserts that a variety of forces - the achievement of material affluence, the Cold War's end, and the death of Emperor Hirohito - are now spurring Japan once again toward a fundamental re-definition of itself. This requires of the West an equally thorough re-evaluation of the picture we have held of Japan over the past half-century. Reveals how economic over-development conceals profound political, social, and psychological under-development. And by refocusing on 'internal history' and the Japanese character, Smith offers a new framework for understanding Japan and the Japanese as they really are. The Japanese, he says, are now seeking to alter the very thing we believe distinguishes them: The relationship between the individual and society. Illuminates a new Japan, a nation preparing to drop the mask it holds up to the West and to steer a course of its own in the world" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Patrick Smith and Japan collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, dated (in the year of publication), and placed in black fountain pen on the title page by the author: "Patrick Smith Nov 6, '97 SF". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Patrick Smith's handwriting is elegant and beautiful, a rarity nowadays among writers. This title is a contemporary classic. This is the only such signed, publication-year dated, and placed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0679422315.