Eileen Chang and Things Japanese

The chapter provides a close reading of the material world captured in Eileen Chang's writings from the war period. Noting the conspicuous lack of scholarly attention to Chang's culture connection with Japan, the chapter begins by asking and answering some basic questions: Is there a place for Japan and things Japanese in Chang's literary order? How do things Japanese feature? What position do Japan and things Japanese occupy in Chang's cultural imagination? Working through a range of cultural genres including photography, fashion, graphic design, poetry, and film, the chapter re-situates Chang in her own time, highlights wartime politics as the condition of her rise to fame, and defines the unique style of Chang's writing as closely intertwined with a vibrant transnational popular culture through war and occupation.