Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Crichton, Michael (Vol. 90) - Karl Taro Greenfeld (review date 11 May 1992)

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

Karl Taro Greenfeld (review date 11 May 1992)

SOURCE: "Return of the Yellow Peril," in The Nation, New York, Vol. 254, No. 18, May 11, 1992, pp. 636-38.

[In the following review of Rising Sun, Greenfeld faults the book for its stereotyping of the Japanese people and suggests that the novel's popularity may render legitimate criticism of Japan and Japanese society suspect.]

Michael Crichton's Rising Sun, judging from its enormous sales (first on The New York Times's best-seller list for three weeks and still second as of April 19), could be the only book about Japan many Americans will ever read. If this is true, its portrayal of the Japanese as inscrutable, technologically proficient, predatory aliens who communicate through telepathy, subsist on unpalatable foods, manipulate everything and everyone and enjoy kinky, violent sex with white women will be more influential in shaping opinions about Japan and...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. ∗Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Pauline Kael (review date 9 November 1981)
   2. David Denby (review date 16 November 1981)
   3. Gary Jennings (review date 11 November 1990)
   4. Ronald Preston (review date 21 November 1990)
   5. J. P. Telotte (essay date 1990)
   6. Robert Nathan (review date 9 February 1992)
   7. Ian Buruma (review date 23 April 1992)
   8. Karl Taro Greenfeld (review date 11 May 1992)
   9. Julian Loose (review date 22 October 1992)
   10. Stephen Jay Gould (review date 12 August 1993)
   11. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (review date 6 January 1994)
   12. John Schulian (review date 16 January 1994)
   13. Patt Morrison (review date 16 January 1994)
   14. Julie Burchill (review date 22 January 1994)
   15. Geraldine Brennan (review date 30 January 1994)
   16. Douglas Kennedy (review date 4 February 1994)
   17. Michael Coren (review date 21 February 1994)
   18. Francine Prose (review date October 1994)
   19. Publishers Weekly (review date 21 August 1995)
   20. Mark Annichiarico (review date 15 September 1995)
   21. Mim Udovitch (review date 1 October 1995)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright