The pleasures of Japanese literature / Donald Keene.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Keene, Donald.

Contributor:

Milton Mausner Collection of Lafcadio Hearn (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Companions to Asian studies

Companions to Asian studies.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese literature--To 1868--History and criticism.

Japanese literature.

Theater--Japan--History.

Theater.

Japan.

History.

Aesthetics, Japanese.

Genre:

Dust jackets (Binding)

Penn Provenance:

Mausner, Milton A., Estate of (donor) (Mausner Collection copy)

Mausner, Milton A., 1918-2012 (former owner) (Mausner Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xii, 133 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [1988]

Summary:

Perhaps no one is more qualified to write about Japanese culture than Donald Keene, considered the leading interpreter of that nation's literature to the Western world. The author, editor, or translator of nearly three dozen books of criticism and works of literature, Keene now offers an enjoyable and beautifully written introduction to traditional Japanese culture for the general reader. The book acquaints the reader with Japanese aesthetics, poetry, fiction, and theater, and offers Keene's appreciations of these topics. Based on lectures given at the New York Public Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the University of California, Los Angeles, the essays -though written by a renowned scholar- presuppose no knowledge of Japanese culture. Keene's deep learning, in fact, enables him to construct an overview as delightful to read as it is informative. His insights often illuminate aspects of traditional Japanese culture that endure today. One of these is the appreciation of "perishability." this appreciation os seen in countless little bits of Japanese life: in temples made of wood instead of durable materials; in the preference for objects -such as pottery- that are worn, broken, or used rather than new; and in the national love of the delicate cherry blossom, which normally falls after a brief three days of flowering. Keene quotes the fourteenth-century Buddhist monk Kenko, who wrote that "the most precious thing about life is its uncertainty." Throughout the volume, Keene demonstrates that the rich artistic and social traditions of Japan can indeed be understood by readers from our culture.

Contents:

Japanese aesthetics

Japanese poetry

The uses of Japanese poetry

Japanese fiction

Japanese theater.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [123]-126) and index.

Includes index.

"Jacket illustration from Album of the thirty-six immortal poets."

Local Notes:

Mausner Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2012 by the estate of Milton A. Mausner.

Mausner Collection copy: dust jacket retained.

Cited in:

Public library core collection: nonfiction. 14th ed., p. 1055

ISBN:

0231067364

OCLC:

18068964