"Trespasses" may be a puzzling term (if you grew up with the Lord's Prayer), but in a foreword to this selection of writings by Masao Miyoshi (1928-2009), Frederic Jameson speaks of the "Victorianist who turns into a Japanologist" and of the "implacable unification of the aesthetic and the political" in his work, which gives some idea of the range of these remarkable essays. Miyoshi grew up in Tokyo during Japan's imperial ambition and defeat, then became a professor of English Literature in California, where he experienced the Vietnam War protests, later turning to re-examine the literature of his own country.
The first essay in the book, "Literary Elaborations," was specially written for this volume and rehearses the concerns of Miyoshi's later thought. The title is misleading, because it is not primarily about literature at all, but about the author's deep concern over the future of the university, mainly in his adopted country, the United States, though it resonates far beyond. Tracing the history of the modern institution, he contends that the academic faculty have now become "experts rather than authorities," and work in a system in which "deviation is disallowed."
There is much food for thought here and Miyoshi, always searching and provocative, asks the right questions. Funding, especially from the corporate world, now dictates the direction of much of the technological research being carried out, leaving the humanities "enervated."