Reviews for History of Japanese Literature From the Man'Yoshu to Modern Times

The average rating for History of Japanese Literature From the Man'Yoshu to Modern Times based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-12-29 00:00:00 Gary Puszakowski This book is too subjective and offers no proof or bibliography for the "facts" it spews. Also, this book is a translation of a Japanese version and has been shortened a lot. It does offer a good frame of the whole of Japanese literature, but, again, I can't trust its facts with no proof. After finishing this book, I have some basic knowledge of some writers and their works and the century they were active in, but I am not exactly clear on how they changed Japan or its history, to be honest. The sentences are confusing and lack some clear 'flow' of ideas and conclusions.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-06-05 00:00:00 Paolo Belfiore Katō's history in Japanese is a major work. Sanderson's 'new [20 yrs. ago] simplified' translation in one volume abridged and revised from the original three-volume translation (the latter two translated by Sanderson) takes greater liberties with the translation even than the earlier work. Katō simply did not say in Japanese much of what Sanderson has him saying here. To be used with caution, particularly in the repeated references to 'haiku' and 'haiku poets'. Katō is sly but careful in his use of contentious and misunderstood terms. Sanderson is neither.