Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era; Fiction

A History of Japanese Literature #3

by Donald Keene

Basic text in English, or even in Japanese.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Nonfiction, Literature, Literary Criticism, Reference

1327 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1984

About the author

Donald Keene was a renowned American-born Japanese scholar, translator, and historian of Japanese literature. Born in Brooklyn in 1922, he developed a love for foreign cultures early in life. He graduated from Columbia University in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he studied Japanese at the Navy Language School. After the war, he returned to Columbia for his master’s and later earned a second master’s at Cambridge, followed by a PhD from Columbia in 1949. He studied further at Kyoto University and became a leading authority on Japanese literature.
Keene taught at Columbia University for over fifty years and published extensively in both English and Japanese, introducing countless readers to Japanese classics. His mentors included Ryusaku Tsunoda and Arthur Waley, whose translations deeply influenced him. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Keene retired from Columbia, moved to Japan, and became a Japanese citizen under the name Kīn Donarudo. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 2008, the first non-Japanese recipient. Keene remained active in literary and cultural life in Japan until his death in 2019 at the age of 96.

Reviews

[Steve]

Dawn to the West (1998) is the third volume of Donald Keene's (born 1922) masterful tetralogy, A History of Japanese Literature. I review this volume of the series, in particular, because it covers the fiction of the modern era (roughly, after 1850), which appears to be of more interest to the likely readers of this review than the modern poetry and theater or the earlier literature.(*) Keene deliberately omits contemporary authors, "because of my reluctance to write about living authors whose oeuvres may develop in ways I cannot predict."

In approximately 1,300 pages Keene provides a wonderful overview of modern era fiction in Japan, describing the literary movements and associations, some of the cultural, social and historical contexts, delivering critical insights and summaries of works (many of which have still not been translated into a Western language). Keene also treats the reader with translations of passages available nowhere else. Biographical information and a full overview of the literary career are provided in the case of the most important authors. His knowledge of the subject appears encyclopedic, and he writes with grace and verve.

Here is an excerpt from his chapter "The Revival of Writing By Women":

The appearance of Higuchi Ichiyo (**) on the literary scene of the 1890s marked the end of many centuries of silence on the part of prospective women writers, but her success did not immediately precipitate a flood of literature by women. It is true that a few women of the early twentieth century are remembered for a story or a translation, and Yosano Akiko (***) emerged as a poet of exceptional intensity and appeal; but it was not until the 1930s that women began to produce works that both attracted wide public attention and are still read today. This change was due mainly to the effectiveness of the individual writers, but also to the enhanced position of women in Japanese society. A lone woman writer, even one of the obvious talent of Tamura Toshiko (1894-1945), could not singlehandedly combat the "feudalistic" mentality prevalent in the literary world of the late Meiji era; eventually, after several novels of serious intent, Tamura gave up the struggle and turned into a writer of pulp romances.

Here a brief excerpt from the chapter on Kawabata Yasunari:

Kawabata's works are often sensual. This is true of two of his best, Snow Country and Thousand Cranes, but they lack the sense of personal involvement that one expects in sensual writing. Love, for Kawabata, tended to the unattainable, and experience was observed rather than felt.

I have been using Keene's books for quite a while and have found his guidance to be extremely reliable, even if we might differ here and there in matters of personal taste. This tetralogy is a summa of a lifelong dedication to Japanese literature and is a most impressive achievement.

(*) Perhaps I'm wrong here - if I am, I'll tell you about the other volumes, too.

(**) I review one of her texts here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(***) And I review a book of her poetry here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/747...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a bit sad that he didn't keep going and turn his attention to any (then) living authors. A chapter on Shūsaku Endō would have been nice. But you can't have everything. All of the Big Beasts are here ... and some of them turned out to have been much bigger than I would have guessed. Who knew Naoya Shiga was so important?

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned about Izumi Kyoka from having recently read David Joiner’s novel called Kanazawa. He was a late 19th/early 20th century novelist, short story writer, and playwright whom I had not known about before. Always curious about things Japanese I decided to see what I could learn about him.

In a 20+ page chapter in Dawn to West highly regarded Japanologist Donald Keene provided a succinct biography of Kyoka’s personal life, a description of the general qualities of his work, and a discussion of a handful of his novels and short stories. I was able to get access to two of his short stories which I will briefly review below.

The Holy Man of Mt. Koya (1900) is a 55 page depiction of a Buddhist priest’s encounter with a female spirit capable of enchanting men. The Heart Vine (1939) is a 41 page semi autobiographical portrayal of a young man’s attempt at suicide which was foiled by a geisha who died herself. With lengthy descriptions of the locales in which these stories take place, the customs, and the social norms of the people one can gain a good sense of life in Japan in earlier times and Izumi’s lifetime. The protagonists’ state of mind is also described in great detail. Thus, character development is impressive for two relatively brief pieces of fiction.

These links will provide access to both stories:

https://www.intangible.org/Acrobat/Fe...

https://archive.org/download/TheHeart...

While short stories are not a favorite genre of mine, Kyoka seems to have been quite skilled at it. Gothic Tales of Japan is a collection of his stories which I will keep in mind for the future. Dawn to West seems to be a valuable resource on Japanese fiction in general and a number of novelists in particular. I will rely on it if/when I want to learn about other authors.

[odievevo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend the chapter on I-novelists if you want to read something incredibly depressing.

Pretty excellent and broad overview, with some amazing deep dives. His chapter on Yukio Mishima and the part in the Buraiha chapter about Dazai Osamu for example were awesome.

Certain chapters are hampered by a ill-disguised condescension directed towards post-war left-wing thought and communist writers, which makes the book come off less credible. They certainly deserve a more serious treatment. I am not implying that he should've been enthusiastic to communist causes, but this condescending attitude certainly obscures the overall picture and comes off old-fashioned in a bad way.

[Richard Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Arvind Radhakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece!