A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose

A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose

Author: Alexander Vovin

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9780700717163

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This complete description of the language of the golden Heian period (794-1185) features an innovative morphological analysis to facilitate reference usage and provides a comprehensive reference work for students of classical Japanese.


A Waka Anthology, Volume Two

A Waka Anthology, Volume Two

Author: Edwin A. Cranston

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 1332

ISBN-13: 9780804748254

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Grasses of Remembrance, the second volume of Edwin Cranston's monumental Waka Anthology, carries forward the story of Japanese court poetry, drawing on sources dating from the 890s to the 1080s. The book presents over 2,600 poems in lively and readable translation, including all 795 poems from The Tale of Genji.


Classical Japanese Prose

Classical Japanese Prose

Author: Helen Craig McCullough

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 604

ISBN-13: 9780804719605

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume brings together in convenient form a rich selection of Japanese prose dating from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries, a period during which the preeminent cultural and aesthetic values were those of the Heian court. It contains 22 works representing all the major indigenous literary forms, either complete or in generous excerpts, and is particularly rich in writing by women and in autobiographical writings. This anthology contains longer selections than the only other available anthology, which was published in the 1950s, and each selection is preceded by an introduction reflecting the most recent scholarship. With three exceptions, all the translations are by the compilers, and almost all of them are published here for the first time. Because of space limitations, the compiler has omitted the two long masterpieces of the age, The Tale of Genji and The Tale of Heike, which deserve to be read in their entirety, and which are available in paperback English translations. The book contains an extensive general introduction, thirteen illustrations, five maps, a glossary, and a selected bibliography of works in English translation.


Traditional Japanese Literature

Traditional Japanese Literature

Author: Haruo Shirane

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 601

ISBN-13: 0231157304

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Traditional Japanese Literature features a rich array of works dating from the very beginnings of the Japanese written language through the evolution of Japan's noted aristocratic court and warrior cultures. It contains stunning new translations of such canonical texts as The Tales of the Heike as well as works and genres previously ignored by scholars and unknown to general readers.


An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry

An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry

Author: Earl Roy Miner

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The poetry written by the Japanese imperial court between A.D. 550 and 1350 is regarded as one of the great literatures of the world. This volume introduces readers to that literature, offering at once a condensation, a reorganization, and an extension (to A.D. 1500) of "Japanese Court Poetry" (1901). (Poetry)


Early Modern Japanese Literature

Early Modern Japanese Literature

Author: Haruo Shirane

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2002-07-10

Total Pages: 1054

ISBN-13: 0231507437

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.


The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan

The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan

Author: Ernest Fenollosa

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1959

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9780811201520

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Noh plays of Japan have been compared to the greatest of Greek tragedies for their evocative, powerful poetry and splendor of emotional intensity.


Genji & Heike

Genji & Heike

Author:

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1994-06-01

Total Pages: 1002

ISBN-13: 0804766460

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike are the two major works of classical Japanese prose. The complete versions of both works are too long to be taught in one term, and this abridgement answers the need for a one-volume edition of both works suitable for use in survey courses in classical Japanese literature or world literature in translation and by the general reader daunted by the complete works. The translator has selected representative portions of the two texts with a view to shaping the abridgments into coherent, aesthetically acceptable wholes. Often called the world's earliest novel, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, is a poetic evocation of aristocratic life in eleventh-century Japan, a period of brilliant cultural efflorescence. This new translation focuses on important events in the life of its main character, Genji. It traces the full length of Genji's relationship with Murasaki, the deepest and most enduring of his emotional attachments, and contains all or parts of 10 of the 41 chapters in which Genji figures, including the "Broom Tree" chapter, which provides a reprise of the themes of the book. In romanticized but essentially truthful fashion, The Tale of the Heike describes the late twelfth-century political intrigues and battlefield clashes that led to the eclipse of the Kyoto court and the establishment of a military government by the rival Minamotho (Genji) clan. Its underlying theme, the evanescence of worldly things, echoes some of the concerns of the Genji, but its language preserves many traces of oral composition, and its vigor and expansivelness contrast sharply with the pensive, elegant tone of the Genji. The selections of the Heike, about 40 percent of the owrk, are taken from the translator's complete edition, which received great acclaim: "this verison of the Heike is superb and indeed reveals to English-language readers for the first time the full scope, grandeur, and literary richness of the work."—Journal of Asian Studies For both the Genji and the Heike abridgments, the translator has provided introductions, headnote summaries, adn other supplementary maerials designed to help readers follow the sometimes confused story lines and keep the characters straight. The book also includes an appendix, a glossary, a bibliography, and two maps.