ABSTRACT
The term ‘modernism’ is commonly used to describe some of the literary and cultural production of the early twentieth century in China, Japan, and Korea, but the range of its application and its relevance to East Asia remain subjects of debate. 1 There was widespread interaction with Western authors, artists, and avant-garde movements, ranging from direct emulation (‘Japanese futurism’) to movements found only in the region (new sensationism). East Asian modernisms were shaped by profound geopolitical asymmetries with the West. Nonetheless, many of the interpretive models offered by postcolonial criticism do not apply to East Asia, which was never colonialized by a Western power and indeed produced its own imperialist power in Japan.
