The Kiso Road : : The Life and Times of Shimazaki Toson / / William E. Naff; ed. by J. Thomas Rimer.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UHP eBook Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Naff, William E.,
• HerausgeberIn: Rimer, J. Thomas,
• MitwirkendeR: Tōson, William E. Naff 's,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (800 p.) :; 1 b&w image

William E. Naff, the distinguished scholar of Japanese literature widely known and highly regarded for his eloquent translations of the writings of Shimazaki Toson (1872-1943), spent the last years of his life writing a full-length biography of Toson. Virtually completed at the time of his death, The Kiso Road provides a rich and colorful account of this canonic novelist who, along with Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai, formed the triumvirate of writers regarded as giants in Meiji Japan, all three of whom helped establish the parameters of modern Japanese literature. Professor Naff's biography skillfully places Toson in the context of his times and discusses every aspect of his career and personal life, as well as introducing in detail a number of his important but as yet untranslated works. Toson's long life, his many connections with other important Japanese artists and intellectuals, his sojourn in France during World War I, and his later visit to South America, permit a biography of depth and detail that serves as a kind of cultural history of Japan during an often turbulent period. The Kiso Road, as approachable and exciting as any novel, with Toson himself as its complex protagonist, is arguably the most thorough account of any modern Japanese writer presently available in English.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Editor's Note -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Meiji Literary Scene -- 1. Home and Family: Before 1872 -- 2. Childhood and Education: 1872-1892 -- 3. A Shaky Start: 1892-1893 -- 4. A Poet's Apprenticeship: 1893 -1896 -- 5. Escape to Sendai: 1896 -1898 -- 6. To Komoro: 1899 -1900 -- 7. From Poetry to Fiction: 1900 -1904 -- 8. Personal Catastrophe, Public Triumph: 1905 -1907 -- 9. A Bleak Spring and a Harsh Summer: 1907-1913 -- 10. The French Years: 1913 -1916 -- 11. A New Life: 1916 -1923 -- 12. The Opening of The Last Act: 1923 -1927 -- 13. Before The Dawn : 1927-1935 -- 14. The Final Years: 1936 -1943 -- Notes -- Index of Important Persons -- Significant Works of Shimazaki Tōson -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- About the Authors and Editor