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An EDO Anthology: Literature from Japan's Mega-City, 1750-1850
Contributor(s): Jones, Sumie (Editor), Watanabe, Kenji (Editor), Bach, Faith (Contribution by)
ISBN: 0824837401     ISBN-13: 9780824837402
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
OUR PRICE:   $32.30  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: February 2013
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Asia - Japan
- Literary Criticism | Asian - Japanese
- Literary Collections | Asian - Japanese
Dewey: 895.608
LCCN: 2012029620
Physical Information: 1" H x 6" W x 8.9" (1.50 lbs) 532 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Asian
- Cultural Region - Japanese
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

During the eighteenth century, Edo (today's Tokyo) became the world's largest city, quickly surpassing London and Paris. Its rapidly expanding population and flourishing economy encouraged the development of a thriving popular culture. Innovative and ambitious young authors and artists soon began to look beyond the established categories of poetry, drama, and prose, banding together to invent completely new literary forms that focused on the fun and charm of Edo. Their writings were sometimes witty, wild, and bawdy, and other times sensitive, wise, and polished. Now some of these high spirited works, celebrating the rapid changes, extraordinary events, and scandalous news of the day, have been collected in an accessible volume highlighting the city life of Edo.

Edo's urban consumers demanded visual presentations and performances in all genres. Novelties such as books with text and art on the same page were highly sought after, as were kabuki plays and the polychrome prints that often shared the same themes, characters, and even jokes. Popular interest in sex and entertainment focused attention on the theatre district and "pleasure quarters," which became the chief backdrops for the literature and arts of the period. Gesaku, or "playful writing," invented in the mid-eighteenth century, satirized the government and samurai behavior while parodying the classics. These entertaining new styles bred genres that appealed to the masses. Among the bestsellers were lengthy serialized heroic epics, revenge dramas, ghost and monster stories, romantic melodramas, and comedies that featured common folk.

An Edo Anthology offers distinctive and engaging examples of this broad range of genres and media. It includes both well-known masterpieces and unusual examples from the city's counterculture, some popular with intellectuals, others with wider appeal. Some of the translations presented here are the first available in English and many are based on first editions. In bringing together these important and expertly translated Edo texts in a single volume, this collection will be warmly welcomed by students and interested readers of Japanese literature and popular culture.


Contributor Bio(s): Jones, Sumie: - Sumie Jones, a specialist in eighteenth-century comparative literature and Edo arts, is professor emerita of East Asian languages and cultures and comparative literature and a residential fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University, Bloomington.Watanabe, Kenji: - Kenji Watanabe, an expert in Edo-period literature and society, is professor emeritus of Rikkyo University and academic dean of the Jiyugakuen College, Tokyo.Screech, Timon: - Timon Screech is professor in the history of art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Kern, Adam L.: - Adam L. Kern is professor of Japanese literature and visual culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.