Kojin Karatani was born in Amagasaki city between Osaka and Kobe in 1941. He received his B.A. in economics and M.A. in English literature, both from Tokyo University. Awarded the Gunzo Literary Prize at the age of 27 for an essay on Natsume Soseki, he began working actively as a literary critic, while teaching at Hosei University in Tokyo. In 1975 he was invited to Yale University to teach Japanese literature as a visiting professor, where he became acquainted with Yale critics such as Paul de Man and Fredric Jameson. In the 1980s, he devoted himself to abstract problems concerning "language, number, money", while at the same time committing himself to the political situation by editing the quarterly journal 'Critical Space' with Akira Asada. 'Critical Space' was the most influential intellectual media in Japan until it folded in 2002. From 1990 onward, Karatani has taught regularly at Columbia University. He was also a regular member of ANY, the international architects' conference which was held annually for the last decade of the 20th century. In 2006, Karatani has retired from teaching in Japan.
Major books:
(English)
Origins of Modern Japanese Literature, Duke University Press,1993 Architecture as Metaphor; Language, Number, Money, MIT Press,1995 Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, MIT Press, 2003
(Japanese)
Man in Awe, Tojusha, 1972 Meaning as Illness, Kawadeshobo, 1975 Marx: The Center of Possibilities, Kodansha, 1978 Origins of Modern Japanese literature, Kodansha, 1980 Architecture as Metaphor, Kodansha, 1983 Introspection and Retrospection, Kodansha,1984 Postmodernism and Criticism, Fukutake, 1985 Philosophical Inquiry 1, Kodansha, 1986 Language and Tragedy, Daisanbunmeisha, 1989 Philosophical Inquiry 2, Kodansha,1989 On the 'End', Fukutake, 1990 Collected Essays on Soseki, Daisanbumeisha, 1992 Materialism as Humor, Chikumashobo, 1993 Thoughts before the war, Bungeishunjusha, 1994 Sakaguchi Ango and Nakagami Kenji, Ohta Press, 1996 Ethics 21, Heibonsha, 2000 Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, Hihyokukansha, 2001
以下为对购买帮助不大的评价