Modern Japanese Literature Author:Donald Keene (Compiler, Editor) Including works by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, author of Rashomon; Kawabata Yasunari, of Snow Country and The Izu Dancer; Tanizaki Junichiro, of Some Prefer Nettles; Mishima Yukio, who wrote The Sound of Waves; and many other literary greats of modern Japan who have recently been commanding increasing world-wide atten... more »tion.
Japanese literature today is as active and vital as any in the world. It is the product of two great traditions: the native, which goes back 1200 years or more, and the Western, first introduced to Japan in the 1860's. The combination of these two very different traditions has given birth to a literature which stands as a unique product of the meeting of East and West. Here in the stories, the plays and the poetry of modern Japan we find a mixture of the familiar and the strange which is fascinating in its own right and our best guide to the thoughts and lives of the Japanese people today.
The introduction by Donald Keene helps to make clear the ways in which modern Japanese literature, having passed through a period of much ferment, is emerging as a conspicuous part of the literary heritage of the world.« less