First edition of Terayama’s documentary on American culture, written after his visit to the United States in March 1968. Terayama traveled to the U.S. at the invitation of the U.S. State Department.
Full of beautiful photographs and illustrations, and housed in a hard paper slipcase overprinted using screen-print graphics.
I personally consider this book an art object, its brick-like and boxy design give it a tactile presence that can be appreciated visually and physically, even easily utilized during protests.
"Hell Tour" is a vivid, realistic document that probes the core of mass society and culture, moving freely between the underground and the mainstream, from crowds to individuals. It captures a society shaken by the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. The work stands as a youthful American theory and a record of Terayama’s own transformation - as a media operator, expressionist, and reformer of theater.
The yellow pages contain the screenplay of Terayama’s "Our Age Comes Riding On A Circus Elephant", with a central theme criticizing America and the American war in Vietnam. Stereotypical Americans were mocked, as was the ‘American way of life,’ which had been adopted by the Japanese at the time. In their attempts to speak English, characters repeated absurd and meaningless phrases. The play sought to highlight the cost Japanese society paid for its economic miracle: the loss of its cultural identity.
☆A hard paper slipcase
☆Japanese
☆Published in 1969
☆253 pages
☆12 x 21 cm
