A History of Japanese Literature: From the Manyoshu to Modern Times

by Shūichi Katō, Don Sanderson (Translator)

A new simplified edition translated by Don Sanderson. The original three-volume work, first published in 1979, has been revised specially as a single volume paperback which concentrates on the development of Japanese literature.

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature, History, Literature

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Shūichi Katō (加藤 周一) was a Japanese critic and author best known for his works on literature and culture.
Born in Tokyo, Katō trained as a medical doctor at the University of Tokyo during World War II, specializing in haematology. The experience of living in Japan during the war and American bombing of Tokyo would shape a lifelong opposition to war, especially nuclear arms, and imperialism. It was also in this period that began to write.
In the immediate postwar period, Katō joined a Japanese-American research team to assess the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He subsequently travelled to Paris for a research fellowship at the Pasteur Institute. When he returned to Japan, he turned to writing full time. After participating in a 1958 conference of writers from Asia and Africa, he gave up practicing medicine entirely.
Fluent in French, German, and English, while being deeply focused on Japanese culture and classical Chinese literature, Katō gained a reputation for examining Japan through both domestic and foreign perspectives. He served as lecturer at Yale University, professor at the Free University of Berlin and the University of British Columbia, guest professor at Ritsumeikan University (Dept. of International Relations), and curator of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace. From 1980 until his death, he wrote a widely-read column in the evening culture pages of the Asahi Shimbun in which he discussed society, culture, and international relations from a literate and resolutely leftist perspective.
In 2004, he formed a group with philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi and novelist Kenzaburō Ōe to defend the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan.

Reviews

[Milan Baes]

Zestig euro armer; een kennismaking met de Japanse literaire traditie rijker.
Mij niet super geamuseerd, maar anders een slecht examen volgende week :(

Wegens mijn geringe voorkennis van de Japanse literatuur, vind ik het moeilijk sterretjes te geven...

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Katō's history in Japanese is a major work. Sanderson's 'new [20 yrs. ago] simplified' translation in one volume abridged and revised from the original three-volume translation (the latter two translated by Sanderson) takes greater liberties with the translation even than the earlier work. Katō simply did not say in Japanese much of what Sanderson has him saying here. To be used with caution, particularly in the repeated references to 'haiku' and 'haiku poets'. Katō is sly but careful in his use of contentious and misunderstood terms. Sanderson is neither.

[mkmk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is too subjective and offers no proof or bibliography for the "facts" it spews. Also, this book is a translation of a Japanese version and has been shortened a lot. It does offer a good frame of the whole of Japanese literature, but, again, I can't trust its facts with no proof.

After finishing this book, I have some basic knowledge of some writers and their works and the century they were active in, but I am not exactly clear on how they changed Japan or its history, to be honest. The sentences are confusing and lack some clear 'flow' of ideas and conclusions.

[Laura Tomas Avellana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmm, no estoy muy convencida. No sé si es la traducción o adaptación del japonés, pero hay frases extremadamente largas y complicadas de entender. No es un libro que puedas seguir de manera “fácil”, que puedas usar para consultar aspectos concretos de un momento específico… a menudo lees y lees y lees y no entiendes realmente nada. Me decepcionó bastante, pues pensaba que me serviría para enlazar géneros y períodos de la historia japonesa, pero me pareció muy “batiburrillo”.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overweldigende en boeiende trip doorheen meer dan 1000 jaar literatuurgeschiedenis van Japan. Tilt je over Murakami heen!

[margarida]

Not rating it. For research purposes but god how I love japanese literature.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

An abridged history of the last 1,200 years of Japanese literature, this book is crammed with information and doesn't go in-depth on any single topic. A decent overview, but a dry one.

[machinaheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read excerpts and found these to be very good!
I'd love to have this on my shelf, it seems a great and thorough history of Japanese literature!!