"Unspeakable Acts interrogates postwar Japanese culture and theatre through the creative work of this unique yet emblematic artist. By situating Terayama in his historical milieu and by using tools derived from Japanese and Western theories of psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, and aesthetics, Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei has woven a sophisticated and provocative study. Among the key themes she explores are the ruins of personal and national identity in the wake of Hiroshima, the Occupation, and the anti-American demonstrations of the 1960s; the paradoxical links between Japanese nostalgia, performance, and postmodernity; the theory of Japan as a "mother-centered culture" that nurtures powerful bonds of love-in-hate toward mothers and other females; and the artistic legacies and practices that bind Terayama to - and sever him from - both the international avant-garde and the popular Japanese rural traditions of his youth." "Unspeakable Acts will be essential reading for anyone interested in the paradoxical nature of postwar Japanese theatre and culture and the cross-cultural influences in international avant-garde performance."--BOOK JACKET.