General Nogi Maresuki paid a decades-old debt of honor by disemboweling himself on the day of his emperor's funeral. Nogi Shizuko, his wife, joined him in self-inflicted death. News of their suicide split opinion throughout the Japan of 1912 and brought into full view long-simmering questions about traditional morality within the samurai code, the intrusion or improvements of modernity, and the many and complex reasons why the ritual of seppuku was forbidden but still practiced. Bargen (Japanese literature and culture, U. of Massachusetts Amherst) explores these acts in themselves within their historical and political contexts. She also examines how these acts influenced two of Japan's greatest writers in a time of significant and painful historical transition and redefinition of national identity, when Japan was still defining what it was as a nation and what was meant by national and personal honor. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)