History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text

Average customer rating:

Obviously done by a serious language student...
Great refresher or supplement. Portable and self-contained.
Real Japanese, Real good read.
a decent book, but....
wonderful storytelling and a fun study aide

Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text
Giles Murray
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Reading Skills | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

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How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder (Kodansha's Children's Classics)

ASIN: 4770028997

Book Description

Reading great books in the original should be the culmination of language study, but reading Japanese literature unassisted is a daunting task that can defeat even the most able of students. Breaking into Japanese Literature is specially designed to help you bypass all the frustration and
actually enjoy classics of Japanese literature.

Breaking into Japanese Literature features seven graded stories covering a variety of genres: whether it's the spellbinding surrealism of Natsume Soseki's Ten Nights of Dreams, the humor of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's fable of temple life ("The Nose"), or the excitement of his historic thrillers ("In a
Grove" and "Rashomon"), you are sure to find a story that appeals to you in this collection.

The unique layout-with the original Japanese story in large print, an easy-to-follow English translation and a custom dictionary-was created for maximum clarity and ease of use. There's no need to spend time consulting reference books when everything you need to know is right there in front of your
nose.

To make Japanese literature fun, Breaking into Japanese Literature also has some unique extra features: mini-biographies to tell you about the authors' lives and works, individual story prefaces to alert you to related works of literature or film, and original illustrations to fire your imagination.
Best of all, MP3 sound files of all the stories have been made available for FREE on the Internet.

Breaking into Japanese Literature provides all the backup you need to break through to a new and undiscovered world-the world of great Japanese fiction. All the hard work has been taken care of so you can enjoy the pleasures of the mind. Why not take advantage?

Learn
o 50% of all common-use kanji covered
o Kanji entry numbers given for follow-up study
o Japanese + English translation + custom dictionary on the same page
o Every single kanji word explained

Listen
o Free download of sound files from the Net

Look
o 7 original atmospheric illustrations

Link
o Original stories for Kurosawa's Rashomon and Dreams

All the stories in this book are available on the Internet as MP3 sound files read by professional Japanese actors.

For students who want to consolidate their understanding of kanji, the entry numbers for any of the 2,230 characters in The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary have been provided when those characters feature in Breaking into Japanese Literature. This makes cross-referencing a matter of
seconds.

Customer Reviews:

Obviously done by a serious language student..........2007-08-06

An excellent resource for intermediate students of Japanese working their way to a more advanced level. The author puts all the necessary learning tools in one convenient location. And the free MP3 files help students fine tune their reading, kanji, and pronunciation skills. I would like to see more products like this. I would buy more products like this.

Great refresher or supplement. Portable and self-contained........2007-07-17

I studied Japanese for three semesters ten years ago and have had no opportunity to practice it since. I'm not exactly a blank slate, but I certainly don't remember very much -- maybe 35 kanji (numbers, sun, moon, etc.) and roughly 85% of the kana.

With what basic knowledge of Japanese sentence structure, common particles, and a few verb-ending constructions (v~te, v~tari, v~nakareba, v~tai are common) I've retained, I can read these stories at about one page per 10 minutes with no other reference material needed.

It's that "no other reference materials needed" that makes this an outstanding book.

The first stories have the same slightly repetitive nature that textbooks use to help one learn kanji or sentence structures, but these are classic stories with a repetitive stylistic element, rather than the mindnumbing textbook equivalent. All the benefits of "I am Smith. Who are you? I am Jones. Are you American? Yes, I am American. Are you American? No, I am Canadian. Is your friend Canadian?..." without the boredom!

Granted, some of the kanji I've learned to recognize are not really the highest priority, in terms of usefulness -- "eyebrows" and a phrase for someone who's blind (now considered too rude to use) are in there -- but I've also learned kanji for several useful nouns and adjectives in painless increments, just while reading.

Best, it's fun and gives me a sense of accomplishment I just don't get from reading, say, a Japanese newspaper at the rate of one sentence per half-hour, surrounded by dictionaries.

Real Japanese, Real good read........2007-07-01

This book is an excellent aid for inforcing knowledge of Japanese grammar. On every page, there is a section that lists almost all the words in the order they first appear, their readings, and their translations. I personally find myself in the habit of always looking at this mini-dictionary whether I know the words or not. The English version of the story is translated to the more fluid side than literal side. I like to see if how they translated each sentence is how I would have, and with every word's meaning right there all that is left is to understand the grammar.

The book states that these versions of the stories were chosen for their moden Kanji use. I have come across several words using different kanji than I am used, and even some words using Kanji that I never knew had Kanji. Luckily I have a friend and teacher to ask questions. Often he tells me that those Kanji could be used that way but that they rarely are. Sometimes he is suprised by the use of Kanji altogether.

If nothing else, these are classic Japanese stories, in actual Japanese writings, with downloadable readings by a native speaker. And they are interesting, good reads. I only give the book 4 stars instead of 5 due to: uncommon Kanji use, artistic licence with the English, convenient current meanings in the dictionary, and the occasional forgotten word from the mini-dictionary.

a decent book, but...........2007-06-30

I bought this book thinking it would help my reading. I am at a pre-intermediate level, after learning around 400 kanji. I found this book too hard for my level, and as for the translation, I found it to have much literary license. I would prefer to have had the translation more exactly what was written.

wonderful storytelling and a fun study aide.......2007-02-24

Ive studied Nihongo for 2 months and only know 175 kanji but bought this anyway to motivate myself. As expected, it's beyond my reading level, but I was able to recognize some kanji and get a feel for how "real" Japanese differs from the exercises in my Genki text. I'll read the easiest story again in 6 months and again in 1 year to check my progress.

The MP3 file for Soseki's "First Night" is a treat for the ears and while I only understand the 1st sentence ("I had a dream") I have a better grasp of proper Japanese pronunciation and pace --- unlike Pimsleur CDS which are artificially slow by necessity. In short, even if you're a rank beginner like me, I highly recommend buying this.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present (Modern Asian Literature Series)

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The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present (Modern Asian Literature Series)

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0231138040

Book Description

In Volume 2 of Columbia's comprehensive anthology of modern Japanese literature, thoughtfully selected and carefully translated readings portray the vast changes that have transformed Japanese culture since the end of the Pacific War. Beginning with the Allied Occupation in 1945 and concluding with the early twenty-first century, these stories, poems, plays, and essays reflect Japan's heady transition from poverty to prosperity, its struggle with conflicting ideologies and political beliefs, and the growing influence of popular culture on the country's artistic and intellectual traditions.

Organized chronologically and by genre within each period, readings include fiction by Hayashi Fumiko and ?e Kenzabur?; poems by Ayukawa Nobuo, Katsura Nobuko, and Sait? Fumi; plays by Mishima Yukio and Shimizu Kunio; and a number of essays, among them Et? Jun on Natsume S?seki and his brilliant novel Kokoro ( The Heart of Things), and Kawabata Yasunari on the shape of his literary career and the enduring influence of classical Japanese literature.

Some authors train a keen eye on the contemporary world, while others address the historical past and its relationship to modern culture. Some adopt an even broader scope and turn to European models for inspiration, while others look inward, exploring psychological and sexual terrain in new, often daring ways. Spanning almost six decades, this anthology provides a thorough introduction to a profound period of creative activity.

Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900

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OK...
Ian Myles Slater on: No Rivals on the Horizon
From Early Paths to Highways and Byways

Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Japanese | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Asian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day
World Within Walls

ASIN: 0231109903

Book Description

This is the first anthology ever devoted to early modern Japanese literature, spanning the period from 1600 to 1900, known variously as the Edo or the Tokugawa, one of the most creative epochs of Japanese culture. This anthology, which will be of vital interest to anyone involved in this era, includes not only fiction, poetry, and drama, but also essays, treatises, literary criticism, comic poetry, adaptations from Chinese, folk stories and other non-canonical works. Many of these texts have never been translated into English before, and several classics have been newly translated for this collection.

Early Modern Japanese Literature introduces English readers to an unprecedented range of prose fiction genres, including dangibon (satiric sermons), kibyôshi (satiric and didactic picture books), sharebon (books of wit and fashion), yomihon (reading books), kokkeibon (books of humor), gôkan (bound books), and ninjôbon (books of romance and sentiment). The anthology also offers a rich array of poetry -- waka, haiku, senryû, kyôka, kyôshi -- and eleven plays, which range from contemporary domestic drama to historical plays and from early puppet theater to nineteenth century kabuki. Since much of early modern Japanese literature is highly allusive and often elliptical, this anthology features introductions and commentary that provide the critical context for appreciating this diverse and fascinating body of texts.

One of the major characteristics of early modern Japanese literature is that almost all of the popular fiction was amply illustrated by wood-block prints, creating an extensive text-image phenomenon. In some genres such as kibyôshi and gôkan the text in fact appeared inside the woodblock image. Woodblock prints of actors were also an important aspect of the culture of kabuki drama. A major feature of this anthology is the inclusion of over 200 woodblock prints that accompanied the original texts and drama.

Customer Reviews:

OK..........2007-03-08

I purchased this book for one particular story, hohiron, treatises on farting. It was possibly the dryest translation of the at story I have ever read. Some of the other stories are a little better done, but only "OK" translation. This is however a good source for early modern Japanese literature and a great introduction to it.

Ian Myles Slater on: No Rivals on the Horizon.......2004-11-01

I have hardly made much progress through these 2000-plus pages, containing the work of thirty-two contributors, some immediately recognizable, others unfamiliar to me, and two (Donald Keene and Burton Watson) well-represented on my shelves. The library copy I started reading a couple of years ago was in demand, and I only had a short time to use it. I also skipped around quite a lot; it invites browsing. With the paperback edition now in my hands, however, I feel it would be useful to post a note (a sort of review-in-progress) both to clarify statements in one of the reviews of the hardcover edition, and give a general impression of the book for those even *less* at home in Japanese studies than myself.

Haruo Shirane's "Early Modern Japanese Literature" appears to have been designed to serve, along with a companion volume on earlier Japanese literature, as the equivalent of the well-known "Norton Anthology of English Literature," available for classroom use as much, or more, as for casual reading. At least, this is my guess at what was in the mind of the Columbia University Press editorial director, Jennifer Crewe, whom the editor credits with suggesting and facilitating the project.

As in the Norton volumes, there is a lot of historical information in an extended introduction (the whole first section), and clear introductions to the following twenty-six sections on specific genres. Again, informative-looking notes are abundant in some sections, although rare in others, corresponding to a reader's likely needs, not a critic's desire to offer new interpretations. (So far I have found them very helpful.)

It differs from the Norton Anthologies and other American textbooks of literature in one particular. Japanese printed literature has traditionally been illustrated, and examples are provided here. The captions to period woodcut illustrations are generally to the point; a few longer examples explain inscriptions, the conventions used by illustrators, or aspects of Japanese life being portrayed. There are also photographs from modern Japanese productions of classic puppet plays, which fill in gaps in the imagination. (But not another sort of gap: some of the plays are of Shakespearean proportions, and, to fully illustrate their variety, many are represented by excerpts, single acts, or even scenes. Inevitably, the longer forms suffer in this sort of compilation.)

Despite a complaint of many typographical errors, I have not so far spotted readily identifiable misprints in the sections I have read. They could be concentrated elsewhere. Some *should* be present in a book this size, and I may be reading past them; or many may have been silently corrected in the paperback edition.

Or the complaint may be about the treatment of Japanese words and proper names, which I would *not* be able to spot, barring inconsistencies within a line or two to tip me off to a problem. And, naturally, the pages are filled with such names and words, in fairly technical-looking spellings -- probably enough to discourage some readers. (I don't even want to think about the proof-reading involved!)

What I have found, however, is a statement that the romanization (transliteration to the rest of us) "is based on the Hepburn system," which is not terribly specific about what to expect. This may account for at least part of the complaint, and is a general issue with translations from Japanese, and so, I think, is worth pointing out.

The short version is: if you aren't familiar with the standard romanization used in translations from Japanese literature, the book is going to look REALLY WEIRD.

(You can skip the next several paragraphs if you are not interested in the problems of rendering words from a foreign language into English, using the standard Roman alphabet, or are familiar with the problems. I've had to spend enough time trying to figure this out to feel that some people might want to be warned in advance.)

Hepburn, a pioneering English-language scholar of the Japanese language, seems to have had a "tin ear" for sounds not consistently distinguished in English, but significant in Japanese -- phonemes, for those who know the term. His ear apparently was not as bad as that of the originators of the Wade-Giles system for Chinese (which in this volume is represented by Pinyin), and a system once sponsored by the Japanese government seems to have been even more confusing, but it still produces complications. (I could suggest three or four books which discuss the problem at various levels of difficulty -- most of them soon going beyond my ability to follow -- but a short, well-written non-technical account is presently available on-line; search for Andrew Horvat, "Total Quality Japanese: The Romaji (Roomaji) Conundrum.")

The Hepburn system has been modified several times in the last century, beginning with introducing "glides" where Hepburn had missed them, so that the spelling "Tokio" (To-ki-o) became the now-familiar "Tokyo" (To-kyo) -- with or without a macron (long mark) over the final vowel. Other changes are not always consistent, internally, or with other alterations; not to mention cases of publishers discarding long marks and apostrophes, which makes it less accurate instead of more. Anyone used to reading (or to employing!) a different variation of the Hepburn romanization is going to see some (not all) Japanese names and words in "incorrect" forms in this book, and many others.

If the "errors" in this or another book are consistent, they probably are intended spellings, based on a different standard. Irritating to those who want everyone to be consistent in another system, and a real pest if, like me, you are comparing translations, or histories, and aren't able to deal with the Japanese directly, but that is how it is.

In addition, there are several more recent systems based directly on Japanese orthography, which allows software to convert text from one script to another, but look odd to those who expect to see the Hepburn spellings. (And vice-versa.) Some rather sharp exchanges have been going on in recent years over the preferred standards for romanizing manga and anime, particularly since commercial versions of these seem to be hit-or-miss, or consistently inconsistent, on this problem.

If you think that this situation is annoying, try the truly strange-looking variations current among Classicists (such as Aeschylus *or* Aischulos, Thucydides *or* Thoukudides), as they attempt (or refuse to attempt) to replace time-honored English versions of Latin versions of Greek names with actual transliterations!

To resume the direct review (following from REALLY WEIRD):

In this case, "based on the Hepburn system" does turn out to include marking long vowels, and other features often discarded by commercial publishers. It is not for nothing that this volume is part of the Columbia "Translations from the Asian Classics" series, and produced to a standard at least tolerable to professional scholars, who by and large do manage to use pretty much the same approach. I find it a bit distracting, but have come to appreciate its importance.

Of course, the Japanese language was never a single, static, thing, but has a history. (Hepburn, for example, apparently used nineteenth-century Edo [Tokyo] speech as his standard.) As usual, local and class dialects, and changes over time, are not without significance for a literature. In other translations from Japanese, I have seen attempts to reproduce such variations in English (fortunately without the apparent Cockneys and Scots I have spotted in other contexts). In this book, transliterations are offered of some eighteenth-century "Comic and Satiric Poetry" (pages 520-537), with attention called in the notes to how words were actually being pronounced. (I found this very interesting, and I would hope that such statements are not taken for "mistakes" in Japanese.)

On another front, Donald Keene's 1976 book "World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era, 1600-1867" is NOT a rival anthology ignored by the publicity for "Early Modern Japanese Literature." It is the second of three volumes in Keene's impressive "History of Japanese Literature." It is listed here in the first section of the generous (pages 968-981) "English Language Bibliography," which includes an impressive number of translations of writers or texts included in the anthology, and an abundance of critical literature. (I had no idea just how much Japanese literature of those three centuries was now available in English; fortunately, in this area I never thought of myself as more than a casual reader!)

Since the announced aim of the collection was to be representative, considerable duplication of existing translations of important works was only to be expected. Although there are collections covering more works in certain genres, I am inclined to accept the claim of unprecedented coverage of the major literary forms of three centuries.

Some will probably continue to prefer Donald Keene's old (1955) "Anthology of Japanese Literature, from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century" and its (1956) companion, "Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology," (from 1868 to the post-war "present day") on aesthetic, if not sentimental, grounds. A school library's copies were (along with Heian-era works translated by Arthur Waley, and Ivan Morris) my own introduction to Japanese literature, and I later acquired an Evergreen paperback edition of the former. Keene's two volumes are very different in their emphasis, covering both longer and shorter periods of time. But I am happy to have both selections available -- and look forward to Columbia's companion volume on Japan before 1600.

(Note: Columbia has announced for March 2005 the publication of "The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature," edited by J. Thomas Rimer; picking up where Haruo Shirane's volume leaves off, this should cover the writings of the twentieth century in considerable detail. It will be interesting to see what genres are chosen for representation.)

From Early Paths to Highways and Byways.......2004-05-11

Haruo Shirane has given us a new and at once deeper and broader look at "early modern" Japanese literature than was previously possible. This is the first attempt at a gathering of the riches available in English translation--with many new translations made for this volume--since Donald Keene's landmark *Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century* published half a century ago (1955, to be precise). Whereas Keene's volume attempted to sketch well over a millennium in less than 450 pages, Shirane's spends more than 1000 larger pages on just three centuries: about a quarter of the time period represented in Keene's work covered in about three times the space.

The core and plan of Shirane's anthology revolves around the speedy and often jumpy evolution of literally dozens of genres of popular literature amidst a continuing reverence for and attempts to adapt the fundamentals of classical Heian, medieval Japanese, and Chinese culture to the new plebeian situation of Tokugawa Japan. The scores of complex and detailed introductions and sometimes minute examples (often two or three of one-page or less) initially seem like the work of too many designers and far more colors than a single tapestry could support. (At 108 rather smaller pages devoted to the same period, and containing reference to only a handful of genres, Keene's earlier anthology barely scratches the Tokugawa surface.)

Understandably, Keene's treatment of Tokugawa literature was brief, and concentrated on more accessible genres that needed less background information for at least a beginning appreciation. Shirane's work, of necessity, gives almost equal weight to background and translations. Without the background so supplied, how could the student with a limited knowledge of world literatures begin to approach a range that includes such genres as: stories from the pleasure quarters of Edo, the poetics of Japan's unique linked poetry, a puppet theater that rivals Shakespeare for depth but is steeped in Japanese and Chinese folklore and thinly veiled contemporary events rather than great moments of history, Japan's own versions of Confucian wisdom, competing poetries of leisured literati and barely literate carters and shop clerks, the beginnings of several types of genre fiction, a resurgence of poetry in older Japanese and Sino-Japanese genres, and a new modern type of oral literature for the masses, not to mention the still only somewhat familiar haiku and less familiar haikai prose with their own radical shifts in content and style from one generation to the next?

Make no mistake: Shirane's *Early Modern Japanese Literature* has pages and pages that offer enjoyable reading, but it is still a textbook, designed for those who wish to appreciate and learn something about not only specific works and their authors, but where each fits in the overall tapestry of Japanese and world literature. The book's extraordinary range and depth give the astute reader a better opportunity for that than any group of a half-dozen or more books I can think of. Taking advantage of the next two generations of scholars building on Keene's first attempts at a path through unexplored territory, Shirane has built a network of highways and byways that will take the reader into unsuspected corners of a new and burgeoning country.

Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology (Classics of Japanese Literature)
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A Fine Mix of Short Stories

Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology (Classics of Japanese Literature)

Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day

The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford Books of Prose)

Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century (UNESCO Collection of Representative Works: European)

Kokoro Kokoro

The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories 1929-1984 (Japan's Modern Writers)

ASIN: 0804833362

Book Description

This collection shows the qualities that make Japanese literature among the world's finest.
Including "Under Reconstruction," considered to be the first modern Japanese short story, this book presents the short stories of Japan as among the world's most satisfying.
Edited by Ivan Morris, a recognized authority on Japanese literature, Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology is a volume of the highest quality and fidelity.

Customer Reviews:

A Fine Mix of Short Stories.......2006-04-07

This is one of the first if not THE first anthology of modern Japanese literature published in English, back in 1962. Don't let this fact make you think this fine book is outdated, though; these are top-notch translations, accurate and literary in quality, of short stories by some of the most important 20th-century Japanese authors. While I like the vintage feel of the original hardcover edition, I am very glad to see that Tuttle has reprinted this excellent anthology in paperback recently.

One thing especially good about this work as an anthology is the wide variety of writers included; Romanticists, Naturalists, Modernists, Marxists, Decadents, Nihilists, Conservatives, and Category-defying Misfits all find a place in this collection, giving the reader a vivid sense of modern Japanese literature's great variety and multivocality. Some of the featured authors are perennial favorites of English translation like Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, while some are important but under-represented in translation like Kikuchi Kan. All have some great stories to tell.

The stories include "Under Reconstruction" by Mori Ogai, "Order of the White Paulownia" by Tokuda Shusei, "Hydrangea" by Nagai Kafu, "Seibei's Gourds" by Shiga Naoya, "Tattoo" by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, "On the Conduct of Lord Tadanao" by Kikuchi Kan, "The Camellia" by Satomi Ton, "Brother and Sister" by Muro Saisei, "The House of a Spanish Dog" by Sato Haruo, "Autumn Mountain" by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, "The Handstand" by Ogawa Mimei, "Letter Found in a Cement-Barrel" by Hayama Yoshiki, "The Charcoal Bus" by Ibuse Masuji, "Machine" by Yokomitsu Riichi, "The Moon on The Water" by Kawabata Yasunari, "Nightingale" by Ito Einosuke, "Morning Mist" by Nagai Tatsuo, "The Hateful Age" by Niwa Fumio, "Downtown" by Hayashi Fumiko, "A Man's Life" by Hirabayashi Taiko, "The Idiot" by Sakaguchi Ango, "Shotgun" by Inoue Yasushi, "Tiger-Poet" by Nakajima Ton, "The Courtesy Call" by Dazai Osamu, "The Priest and His Love" by Mishima Yukio.

Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction (Asia and the Pacific)

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Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction (Asia and the Pacific)

Manufacturer: M.E. Sharpe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Woman's Hand: Gender and Theory in Japanese Women's Writing
Rabbits, Crabs, Etc.: Stories by Japanese Women
Seven Contemporary Chinese Women Writers (Panda Books)
Floating Clouds (Japanese Studies Series)
Bedtime Eyes

ASIN: 0873328604

Modern Japanese literature: From 1868 to the present day an anthology

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Modern Japanese literature: From 1868 to the present day an anthology
Donald Keene
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000738JAS

Tales Of Ise (Classics of Japanese Literature)

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Poor Translation

Tales Of Ise (Classics of Japanese Literature)

Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Taiheiki: A Chronicle of Medieval Japan

ASIN: 0804833389

Book Description

A timeless work, beloved since the Middle Ages, takes a glorious new form in this deluxe modern edition.
The Tales of Ise contains 125 vignettes following a valiant hero from his "coming of age" to his death. Included here are sixteen black-and-white woodblock prints originally published in 1608.

Customer Reviews:

Poor Translation.......2003-10-04

This is an absolutely unforgivably poor translation--famous episodes are not even recognizable. He took a famous classic work of literature--full of pathos, humor, and drama, and not least of all romance--and turned it into tasteless cardboard. Buy McCullough's translation.

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945 (Modern Asian Literature Series)

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The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945 (Modern Asian Literature Series)
J. Thomas Rimer , and Van C. Gessel
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present (Modern Asian Literature Series)
Contemporary Japanese Thought (Weatherhead Books on Asia)
The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture)
Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900 (Translations from the Asian Classics)
Kannani and Document of Flames: Two Japanese Colonial Novels

ASIN: 0231118600

Book Description

This comprehensive anthology collects works of fiction, poetry, drama, and essay-writing from a pivotal time in Japanese history. In addition to their literary achievements, the texts reflect the political, social, and intellectual changes that occurred in Japanese society during this period, including exposure to Western ideas and literature, the rise of nationalism, and the complex interaction of traditional and modern forces. The volume offers outstanding, often new translations of classic texts by such celebrated writers as Nagai Kafu, Shimazaki Toson, Natsume Soseki, Kawabata Yasunari, and Yosano Akiko. The editors have also unearthed works from lesser-known women writers, many of which have never been available in English.

Organized chronologically and by genre within each period, the volume reveals the major influences in the development of modern Japanese literature: the Japanese classics themselves, the example of Chinese poetry, and the encounter with Western literature and culture. Modern Japanese writers reread the classics of Japanese literature, infused them with contemporary language, and refashioned them with an increased emphasis on psychological elements. They also reinterpreted older aesthetic concepts in light of twentieth-century mentalities. While modern ideas captured the imagination of some Japanese writers, the example of classical Chinese poetry remained important for others. Meiji writers continued to compose poetry in classical Chinese and adhere to a Confucian system of thought. Another factor in shaping modern Japanese literature was the example of foreign works, which offered new literary inspiration and opportunities for Japanese readers and writers.

Divided into four chapters, the anthology begins with the early modern texts of the 1870s, continues with works written during the years of social change preceding World War I and the innovative writing of the interwar period, and concludes with texts from World War II. Each chapter includes a helpful critical introduction, situating the works within their literary, political, and cultural contexts. Additionally, there are biographical introductions for each writer.

Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa

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A beautiful, elusive literary tradition

Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa
Michael Molasky
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Setting Sun

ASIN: 0824823001

Book Description

Modern Okinawa has been forged by a history of conquest and occupation by mainland Japan and the United States. Its sense of dual subjugation and the propensity of its writers to confront their own complicity with Japanese militarism imbues Okinawa's literary tradition with insightful perspectives on a wide range of issues, including the ongoing discrimination against ethnic minorities in both Japan and the United States and the conflicting desires for Okinawa's assimilation to, and autonomy from, mainland Japan.

But Okinawa's literary tradition is as deeply rooted in the region's lush semi-tropical landscape as in the forces of history. In the hands of skillful writers, the brilliant flora and dense forests, the pastel waters and coral reefs, are revealed as sites not only of breathtaking beauty but of horror and depredation. Okinawans' quest to recover their region's ancient cultural heritage is invariably haunted by the phantoms of war and occupation, phantoms that have been all but effaced from the mainstream literature of contemporary Japan. Yet as this anthology demonstrates, Okinawan writers often suffuse their works with a lyricism and humor that disarms readers while bringing them face to face with the region's richly ambiguous legacy.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful, elusive literary tradition.......2004-02-26

Very little of Okinawan literature has been translated into English, and this book exemplifies why that's such a shame.
This volume provides the reader with not only a chance to explore a culture that Americans know too little about (considering the tremendous influence/destruction we've wrought in Okinawa), but highlights a rich and wonderful literary tradition that gets little to no attention in the west. Buy this book!

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