Reviews
The First Modern Japanese is a poignant though familiar tale of genius and premature death of a promising artist. As Donald Keene notes, Ishikawa Takuboku was a pivotal figure, and someone to consider when thinking about larger topics such as the meaning of modernity. Keene's insightful and compelling study of Takuboku lets us finally see the dark side of Japan's tearful, beloved poet., Based on detailed readings of the diaries of writer Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912), Donald Keene's new book covers the span of Takuboku's troubled adult life. . . . Through the lens of these diaries and related correspondence, readers gain a strong sense of the personality of this writer and a fascinating glimpse into the literary culture of late Meiji-period Japan. Especially richly depicted is what life may have been like for an individual and his family trying to live off poetry and fiction in the first decade of the twentieth century during the rise of modern publishing., Well-researched.... Keene's finely wrought translations of Ishikawa's poems glimmer ever more brightly, sandwiched between the dark episodes of the young poet's short life., The First Modern Japanese is a poignant though familiar tale of the genius and premature death of a promising artist. As Donald Keene notes, Ishikawa Takuboku was a pivotal figure and someone to consider when thinking about larger topics such as the meaning of modernity. Keene's insightful and compelling study of Takuboku lets us finally see the dark side of Japan's tearful, beloved poet., Recommended for Japanese Literature Collections and Any Reader Searching for a New Poet to Discover., The poetry of Ishikawa Takuboku holds a landmark position in Japanese poetic history. With his worldly yet highly introspective, self-reflexive, and frequently melancholy tone, Takuboku developed one of the most distinctive, singular voices in the Japanese poetry of the Meiji era. Donald Keene has done the English-speaking world a major service by presenting this survey of the life of a critically important tanka master., Well-researched, well-written, informative and interesting.... A sympathetic portrait of an important figure in Japanese literary history.
