TRANSLATOR'S PREFACEĪfter presenting an autobiographical account of the first forty years of his extraordinary intellectual journey, Kato Shuichi surprised and bewildered many of his readers when, without any prior warning, he compared his personal experiences to 'those of an average contemporary Japanese.' Whether Kato's proclamation represents willful posturing, self-mockery, or genuine self-perception, the epistemological dynamics between Kato the autobiographer and Kato the autobiographical subject tellingly reveal the nature of rhetorical engagement in the autobiographical enterprise. A Sheep's Song: A Writer's Reminiscences of Japan and the World. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, c1999 1999.
