Featuring choice selections from the core anthologies The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868–1945, and The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present, this collection offers a concise yet remarkably rich introduction to the fiction, poetry, drama, and essays of Japan’s modern encounter with the West. Spanning a period of exceptional invention and transition, this volume is not only a critical companion to courses on Japanese literary and intellectual development but also an essential reference for scholarship on Japanese history, culture, and interactions with the East and West.
The first half covers the three major styles of literary expression that informed Japanese writing and performance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: classical Japanese fiction and drama, Chinese poetry, and Western literary representation and cultural critique. Their juxtaposition brilliantly captures the social, intellectual, and political challenges shaping Japan during this period, particularly the rise of nationalism, the complex interaction between traditional and modern forces, and the encroachment of Western ideas and writing. The second half conveys the changes that have transformed Japan since the end of the Pacific War, such as the heady transition from poverty to prosperity, the friction between conflicting ideologies and political beliefs, and the growing influence of popular culture on the country’s artistic and intellectual traditions. Featuring sensitive translations of works by Nagai Kafu, Natsume Soseki, Oe Kenzaburo, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, and many others, this anthology relates an essential portrait of Japan’s dynamic modernization.
Table of Content
Preface
Introduction
1. First Experiments
Fiction
Mori Ogai
‘The Dancing Girl’
Poetry
Ochiai Naobumi
‘Song of the Faithful Daughter Shiragiku’
Shimazaki Toson
‘The Fox’s Trick’
‘First Love’
Takeshima Hagoromo
‘The Maiden Called Love’
2. Beginnings
Fiction
Izumi Kyoka
‘The Holy Man of Mount Koya’
Kunikida Doppo
‘Meat and Potatoes’
Masamune Hakucho
‘The Clay Doll’
Nagai Kafu
‘The Mediterranean in Twilight’
Ozaki Koyo
The Gold Demon
Poetry in the International Style
Kodama Kagai
‘The Suicide of an Unemployed Person’
Ishikawa Takuboku
‘Better than Crying’
‘Do Not Get Up’
‘A Spoonful of Cocoa’
‘After Endless Discussions’
Kitahara Hakushu
‘Anesthesia of Red Flowers’
‘Spider Lilies’
‘Kiss’
Takamura Kotaro
‘Bear Fur’
‘A Steak Platter’
Kinoshita Mokutaro
‘Nagasaki Style’
‘Gold Leaf Brandy’
Yosano Akiko
‘Beloved, You Must Not Die’
‘In the First Person’
‘A Certain Country’
‘From Paris on a Postcard’
‘The Heart of a Thirtyish Woman’
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Kanshi
Tanka and Haiku
Ishikawa Takuboku
Masaoka Shiki
Tanka
Haiku
Yosano Akiko
‘The Dancing Girl’
‘Spring Thaw’
Essays
Natsume Soseki
‘The Civilization of Modern- Day Japan’
‘My Individualism’
3. The Interwar Years
Fiction
Akutagawa Ryunosuke
‘The Nose’
‘The Christ of Nanking’
Edogawa Ranpo
‘The Human Chair’
Hori Tatsuo
The Wind Has Risen
Inagaki Taruho
One-Thousand-and-One-Second Stories
Kawabata Yasunari
‘The Dancing Girl of Izu’
Page of Madness
Kuroshima Denji
‘A Flock of Circling Crows’
Origuchi Shinobu
Writings from the Dead
Shiga Naoya
‘The Paper Door’
Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
‘The Two Acolytes’
Uchida Hyakken
‘Realm of the Dead’
‘Triumphant March into Port Arthur’
Poetry in the International Style
Takamura Kotaro
‘Cathedral in the Thrashing Rain’
Hagiwara Sakutaro
‘On a Trip’
‘Bamboo’
‘Sickly Face at the Bottom of the Ground’
‘The One Who’s in Love with Love’
‘The Army’
‘The Corpse of a Cat’
Miyazawa Kenji
‘Spring & Asura’
‘November 3rd’
Nishiwaki Junzaburo
Seven Poems from Ambarvalia
No Traveler Returns
Kitasono Katsue
‘Collection of White Poems’
‘Vin du masque’
‘Words’
Two Poems
‘Almost Midwinter’
Kitasono’s First Letter to Ezra Pound
Nakano Shigeharu
‘Imperial Hotel’
‘Song’
‘Paul Claudel’
‘Train’
‘The Rate of Exchange’
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Kitahara Hakushu
Okamoto Kanoko
Saito Mokichi
Sugita Hisajo
Taneda Santoka
Drama
Kishida Kunio
The Swing
Essay
Kobayashi Hideo
‘Literature of the Lost Home’
4. The War Years
Fiction
Dazai Osamu
‘December 8th’
Ishikawa Tatsuzo
Soldiers Alive
Ooka Shohei
Taken Captive
Poetry in the International Style
Takamura Kotaro
‘The Elephant’s Piggy Bank’
‘The Final Battle for the Ryukyu Islands’
Kusano Shinpei
‘Mount Fuji’
Oguma Hideo
‘Long, Long Autumn Nights’
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Toki Zenmaro
‘Evidence’
Essays
Kobayashi Hideo
‘On Impermanence’
Sakaguchi Ango
‘A Personal View of Japa nese Culture’
5. Early Postwar Literature, 1945 to 1970
Fiction
Abe Kobo
‘The Red Cocoon’
Ariyoshi Sawako
‘The Village of Eguchi’
Enchi Fumiko
‘Skeletons of Men’
Endo Shusaku
‘Mothers’
Hayashi Fumiko
‘Blindfold Phoenix’
Hirabayashi Taiko
‘Demon Goddess’
Hotta Yoshie
‘The Old Man’
Ibuse Masuji
‘Old Ushitora’
Inoue Yasushi
‘The Rhododendrons of Hira’
Kanai Mieko
‘Homecoming’
Kojima Nobuo
‘The Smile’
Kono Taeko
‘Final Moments’
Mishima Yukio
‘Patriotism’
Noma Hiroshi
‘A Red Moon in Her Face’
Takeda Taijun
‘The Misshapen Ones’
Yasuoka Shotaro
‘Prized Possessions’
Poetry in the International Style
Ayukawa Nobuo
‘In Saigon’
‘The End of the Night’
‘War time Buddy’
Ishigaki Rin
‘Roof’
‘Shijimi Clams’
‘Life’
Katagiri Yuzuru
‘Christmas, 1960, Japan’
‘Why Security Treaty?’
‘Turn Back the Clock’
Shiraishi Kazuko
‘The Phallus’
Takamura Kotaro
‘End of the War’
‘My Poetry’
Tanikawa Shuntaro
‘Growth’
‘Drizzle’
Tomioka Taeko
‘between—’
‘Still Life’
Yoshioka Minoru
‘Still Life’
‘The Past’
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Baba Akiko
Kaneko Tota
Nakajo Fumiko
Drama
Betsuyaku Minoru
The Little Match Girl
Kinoshita Junji
Twilight Crane
Essay
Kawabata Yasunari
‘Japan, the Beautiful, and Myself’
6. Toward a Contemporary Literature, 1971 to the Present
Fiction
Furui Yoshikichi
‘Ravine’
Hirano Keiichiro
‘Clear Water’
Hoshi Shin’ichi
‘He-y, Come on Ou-t!’
Kaiko Takeshi
‘The Crushed Pellet’
Murakami Haruki
‘Firefly’
Nakagami Kenji
‘The Wind and the Light’
Ogawa Yoko
‘The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain’
Shima Tsuyoshi
‘Bones’
Shimizu Yoshinori
‘Jack and Betty Forever’
Takahashi Takako
‘Invalid’
Tawada Yoko
‘Where Eu rope Begins’
Tsushima Yuko
‘That One Glimmering Point of Light’
Yoshimoto Banana
‘Newlywed’
Poetry in the International Style
Ito Hiromi
‘Underground’
‘Glen Gould Goldberg’
‘Sexual Life of Savages’
Shinkawa Kazue
‘The Door’
‘When the water called me…’
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Tawara Machi
Drama
Inoue Hisashi
Makeup
Kara Juro
The 24:53 Train Bound for ‘Tower’ Is Waiting in Front of That Doughnut Shop in Takebaya
Essay
Oe Kenzaburo
‘Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself’
Bibliography
About the author
J. Thomas Rimer is emeritus professor of Japanese literature, theater, and art at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at the University of Maryland, and he served for several years as head of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. He is the author, coauthor, editor, and translator of several works, including Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture: An Illustrated Sourcebook and A Reader’s Guide to Japanese Literature.Van C. Gessel is professor of Japanese literature at Brigham Young University. He is the author of Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata; coeditor of The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories; and translator of six literary works by the Japanese Catholic novelist Endo Shusaku, including The Samurai and Deep River.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
25,609 Ebooks in this category
