From Library Journal
Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, Kobo Abe, and Ryotaro Shiba: these great men of modern Japanese letters were all acquaintances of Keene (Columbia Univ.), and he writes in a charming, personal tone, recounting humorous anecdotes, telling the stories of their first meetings, and sharing his initial impressions. As they have all died (Shiba most recently, in 1996), this slender book is Keene's tribute to them. He mentions their best-known works and discusses some of the controversies surrounding them, e.g., Kawabata is known for having won the Nobel prize in literature in 1968 although Mishima was considered a strong candidate. Mishima, of course, made world news with his spectacular suicide by seppuku in 1970. A helpful list of the novelists' major translated works is provided at the end. Recommended for libraries with large collections of Japanese literature.Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, NY Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Keene first went to study in Japan after World War II--just in time, it now seems, to become acquainted with five great Japanese novelists: Tanizaki and Kawabata, whose stars rose before the war, and postwar writers Mishima, Abe, and Shiba, Japan's favorite historical novelist. His essays on them, part memoir and part literary evaluation, are ideal introductions to their subjects. The older men wrote of the Japan of their heyday, Tanizaki in fascinated reaction to Western, especially American, influences, and Kawabata in a mixture of avant-garde and traditional literary manners. Mishima carried on the older novelists' practices from a sociopolitical-critical perspective that brought him international attention. Abe wrote Kafkaesque stories out of his consciousness as a Japanese who grew up outside Japan, and Shiba made Japan's history especially appreciable by modern Japanese readers. A close friend of each of the younger three, Keene ably speculates on Mishima's spectacular suicide, makes a full-dress biography of the contrarian Abe seem absolutely necessary, and suggests how to increase American appreciation of Shiba. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Keene ably speculates on Mishima's spectacular suicide, makes a full-dress biography of the contrarian Abe seem absolutely necessary, and suggests how to increase American appreciation of Shiba." -- Booklist

Review
"An excellent and enjoyable introduction to some important Japanese writers and aspects of twentieth-century Japanese culture." -- Ann Sherif, Oberlin College

Book Description
A superb introduction to modern Japanese fiction as well as a memoir of his own love affair with Japanese literature and culture, this volume consists of chapters on five modern Japanese novelists whom Donald Keene knew personally: Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, Ryotaro Shiba, and Kobo Abe. Each chapter opens with a vignette describing Keene's personal encounters with these famous men, blending his autobiographical observations with literary and cultural analysis.

About the Author
Donald Keene is Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. He is the author of more than thirty books, including the definitive multi-volume history of Japanese literature, and, most recently, Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852--1912. He divides his time between Tokyo and New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Five Modern Japanese Novelists profiles five prominent writers whom Donald Keene knew personally: Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Abe Kobo, and Shiba Ryotaro. Keene masterfully blends vignettes describing his personal encounters with these famous men with autobiographical observations and his trademark learned literary and cultural analysis.

SYNOPSIS

Keene (emeritus, Columbia U.), who has written extensively about Japanese literature, history, and culture, has written a short memoir of five famous writers he knew, some of them personally: Tankzaki Jun'ichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Abe Kobo, and Shib Ryotaro. The account of each writer includes Keene's memory of meetings with the writer as well as various anecdotes from their career and excerpts from their work. Among these, Keene includes his own thoughts on why Mishima Yukio committed ritual suicide. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, Kobo Abe, and Ryotaro Shiba: these great men of modern Japanese letters were all acquaintances of Keene (Columbia Univ.), and he writes in a charming, personal tone, recounting humorous anecdotes, telling the stories of their first meetings, and sharing his initial impressions. As they have all died (Shiba most recently, in 1996), this slender book is Keene's tribute to them. He mentions their best-known works and discusses some of the controversies surrounding them, e.g., Kawabata is known for having won the Nobel prize in literature in 1968 although Mishima was considered a strong candidate. Mishima, of course, made world news with his spectacular suicide by seppuku in 1970. A helpful list of the novelists' major translated works is provided at the end. Recommended for libraries with large collections of Japanese literature.-Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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