Description
A superb introduction to modern Japanese fiction as well as a memoir of his own love affair with Japanese literature and culture, this volume consists of chapters on five modern Japanese novelists whom Donald Keene knew personally: Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Shiba Ryotaro, and Abe Kobo. Each chapter opens with a vignette describing Keene's personal encounters with these famous men, blending his autobiographical observations with literary and cultural analysis.
About the Author
Donald Keene is Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. He is the author of more than thirty books, including the definitive multivolume history of Japanese literature, and, most recently, Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912. He divides his time between Tokyo and New York City.
Reviews
[Keene] draws on his personal experience and deep knowledge of Japanese literature to paint biographical sketches which he illuminates with quotations from English translations of their representative novels and with a critical analysis of their writings. -- Hugh Cortazzi The Japan Society This book is [Keene's] latest accomplishment that... tells about [his] participation in the cultural life of modern Japan as well as the story of the five modern Japanese novelists. And thatis what makes this book most appealing to general readers and experts alike. -- Guohe Zheng Journal of Asian Studies Charming, personal, humorous... recommended. Library Journal Keene ably speculates on Mishima's spectacular suicide, makes a full-dress biography of the contrarian Abe seem absolutely necessary, and suggests how to increase American appreciation of Shiba. Booklist
Book Information
ISBN 9780231126113
Author Donald Keene
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press