A Bloody Song: How Anime and Literature Collide

Growing up in a fractious household in working-class Brooklyn, my mother dreamt of living in France, of experiencing "civilization." As for myself, molded by the gloomy obsessions of the adults around me, I sought refuge as a child in a Japanese anime titled Lady Oscar, and its story of a woman forced into the role of military officer for the royal guard at Versailles.

Very personal in tone, A Bloody Song examines the enduring mystery of "time travel", leading from an adult's awakening into ...