Japanese Literature: A Very Short Introduction

With a history stretching back nearly 1500 years, Japan's literature encompasses a vast range of forms and genres. Since the eighth century, poetry and the non-philosophical lyric voice have occupied a central position in Japanese literary expression. The art of narrative blossomed in the eleventh century with one of the world's great literary masterpieces, Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and later in the work of the great modern novelists Natsume Soseki, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, Kobo Abe and Oe Kenzaburo. Beginning with Murasaki and through the present-day, Japanese women have occupied a central place in the tradition: Higuchi Ichiyo, Koda Aya, Takahashi Takako, among others. Japanese literature birthed other genres no less important than poetry and narrative, among them the literary diary, the free-flowing essay, drama, the picture book, and the literary treatise. As steeped as it is in the beautiful literary rendering of the world, Japanese literature has also been deeply responsive to history and violence, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While intensely attentive to its own tradition, Japanese literature has also imbibed influences from around the globe-early on from China, later from the rest Europe, the United States, and Latin America. It has been embraced by the outside world in turn, exporting literary genres such as the haiku , and bestselling authors such as Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami. A succinct introduction to one of the most dynamic and diverse world literatures, this Very Short Introduction traces the rich history of Japanese literature from its beginnings over a millennium ago to the present day.