The Ideology of Kokugo: Nationalizing Language in Modern Japan

Lee unearths aspects of history which Japanese scholars have been reluctant to explore but maintains a fair approach to this sensitive subject, and presents a face of kokugo that we have not seen before. . . . There can be no doubt as to the significance of Lee’s contribution and it is easy to understand why she received the prestigious Suntory Foundation Prize in Literary and Art Criticism for her work in 1997. Emiko Okayama, University of Sydney, Japanese Studies, 30:3 (December 2010)

Following its publication in Japan in 1996, Lee Yeounsuk’s Kokugo to iu shisō quickly became a must-read for anyone with an interest in the relationship between language, national identity, and imperialism in the context of modern East Asia, and its enduring relevance makes it an excellent choice for translation into English. . . . Hubbard’s translation is written in admirably felicitous academic prose, she offers a solid rendering of both Lee’s argument and the copious citations that support it, and her introduction to the work is concise and informative. Indra Levy, Stanford University, Journal of Japanese Studies, 38:2 (2012)

The Ideology of Kokugo, by Lee Yeounsuk, is a wonderful addition to the increasing body of Japanese scholarship that has been translated into English. . . . The book’s crowning jewel is the discussion of the Meiji discursive space, which occupies the first half of the volume. In her introductory chapter, Lee argues that in the pre-kokugo era “Japanese” had yet to become an “autonomous unity.” She takes up an impressive array of writings, highlighting their conflicting views. Atsuko Ueda, Princeton University, Monumenta Nipponica, 66:1 (2011)