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Home / publications / The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku

The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku

keenemodernASIA PERSPECTIVES: NEW HORIZONS IN ASIAN HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

Donald Keene

The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku (2016)

“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.”
– Charles Shiro Inouye, Tufts University

“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.”
– Jeffrey Angles, Western Michigan University

Visit the Columbia University Press site for this title here.

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