Description
"The travel writings of Matsuo Basho are of enormous literary importance, and so it is a joy to see them collected in this compact volume, in translations of exemplary elegance, faithfulness, and accessibility. The annotations are especially valuable: they show a solid grasp of the author's life, work, and times, and provide rich and detailed background information about allusions to Chinese and Japanese classics. Along with the high quality of the translations themselves, this thorough commentary makes the book a significant scholarly resource and will help readers appreciate the density and delicacy of Basho's writing. A very welcome addition to the English-language literature on one of the central poets of the Japanese tradition."
-David B. Lurie, Columbia University
About the Author
Steven D. Carter is Yamato Ichihashi Chair in Japanese History and Civilization, emeritus, Stanford University. His most recent books are How to Read a Japanese Poem (Columbia University Press, 2019) and The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays (Columbia University Press, 2014).
Reviews
"Destined to delight readers with its vibrant, spot-on translations, this definitive collection of haiku grandmaster Basho's travel writings, in prose as well as poetry, conveys the exquisite pleasures and heartbreaks of the road as a metaphor for life itself."
-Adam L. Kern, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Steven Carter is an outstanding scholar and translator, and his work here is superb. The six poetic travel diaries that he includes range from Basho's most beloved works to several lesser-known gems. With its copious and insightful annotations, introductions, maps, and appendices, all of which are informed by the best and latest Japanese scholarship, Travel Writings will long be the go-to source in English for Basho's lyrical travel ruminations. The work is sure to appeal to poets, students, and scholars alike, many of whom may be inspired to set out, with book in hand, to retrace the steps of the great seventeenth-century haikai master through the hinterlands of Japan."
-R. Keller Kimbrough, University of Colorado Boulder
Book Information
ISBN 9781624668579
Author Matsuo Basho
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Publisher Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
-David B. Lurie, Columbia University
About the Author
Steven D. Carter is Yamato Ichihashi Chair in Japanese History and Civilization, emeritus, Stanford University. His most recent books are How to Read a Japanese Poem (Columbia University Press, 2019) and The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays (Columbia University Press, 2014).
Reviews
"Destined to delight readers with its vibrant, spot-on translations, this definitive collection of haiku grandmaster Basho's travel writings, in prose as well as poetry, conveys the exquisite pleasures and heartbreaks of the road as a metaphor for life itself."
-Adam L. Kern, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Steven Carter is an outstanding scholar and translator, and his work here is superb. The six poetic travel diaries that he includes range from Basho's most beloved works to several lesser-known gems. With its copious and insightful annotations, introductions, maps, and appendices, all of which are informed by the best and latest Japanese scholarship, Travel Writings will long be the go-to source in English for Basho's lyrical travel ruminations. The work is sure to appeal to poets, students, and scholars alike, many of whom may be inspired to set out, with book in hand, to retrace the steps of the great seventeenth-century haikai master through the hinterlands of Japan."
-R. Keller Kimbrough, University of Colorado Boulder
Book Information
ISBN 9781624668579
Author Matsuo Basho
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Publisher Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
