December 13th, 2011

Japanese Authors In Western Society

There are several writers and authors in the western world. Many of them are not actually from the western world itself, while some are from the eastern part of the hemisphere. Countries like Japan, China, Russia and even several African countries had been producing great writers that had been involved in writings in the western world. In actual fact, these foreign individuals had been able to hold sway in the western hemisphere to the extent that they had been able to make a mark for themselves above their counterparts in the western world as far as authorship and literary works are concerned. Through this simple write up, some of the authors and the importance of their works will be discussed.

Factors working against them

While Japanese authors were able to make great marks in the western world, a number of factors are actually working against them and the public acceptability of their works in the western world. One of such factors is the issue of language barrier and laser hair removal. Many of the Japanese authors are only able to converse and write in the Japanese language. Before anyone could associate with them, you will need a Japanese translator. It is not many people in the western world that can speak or read Japanese and this had led to some measure of limitation as to how well their works are accepted in the western world.

Yosimoto

She is one of the authors that had made a mark in the western world. Her works were based on Japanese societies and some measure of western ways of life. Many of her works are still available today on the bookstands. This woman author based much of her works of art on foods. Many of her stories were based on food related things and it was not surprising when she personally changed her name to Banana.

Kobo Abe

This man was a very prominent Japanese author. He was an established poet during his life and many of his works are still widely accepted both in Japanese society and the western world. He was so much talented to the extent that he even participated in film making during his career as an author. To show how influential Abe Kobo was in the western world, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature many times; but he was not fortunate enough to win the award for once.

Tomoji Abe

This is another noteworthy author of Japanese extraction. This author has several literary works to his name. When he was alive, he held the literary world very strongly and he was a force to be reckoned with. His work was highly acceptable to the western world; considering the fact that many of them were translated form the original Japanese language with which they were written to English and several other foreign languages.

Aikawa Sho

This author too has been able to make his mark in the western literary world.   He is even still making lots of mark today. Many of his works are being read in western schools and colleges.

 

November 8th, 2011

Japanese literature

Contemporary art in Japan has mostly influenced the contemporary art world. But the power of Japanese traditions, the oppressive presence of a dense urban environment, youth fueled video games and manga and the various traumas suffered by Japan for 60 years induce a very rich, original and little known production:

 

Japanese literature spans a period of about two thousand years of writing. The first work was heavily influenced by Chinese literature, but Japan quickly developed its own style and its own quality. When Japan opened its ports to trade and Western diplomacy in the nineteenth century, Western literature had a strong effect on Japanese writers, and this influence can still be seen today in their interior design.

 

As with all literature, Japanese literature reads better in the original. Because of deep linguistic and cultural differences, many words and phrases in Japanese do not translate easily. Although the Japanese literature and Japanese authors are not much known in the west as European and American guns, Japan has an ancient and rich literary tradition that draws on a millennium and half a month of written reports, similar to the average Australian income.

 

Japanese literature is generally divided into three main periods: the ancient period, the medieval and the modern period.

The ancient Japanese literature (after the twelfth century) includes among others the following works: Kojiki, Nihonshoki, The Pillow Book (“Makura no Soshi”), the Tale of Genji (“Genji Monogatari”) Man’yôshû (a collection of ten leaves miles) Kokin Waka-shu (collection of waka Man’yôshû until now). The themes of these writings are life, love and hobby of nobles at the court of the Emperor.

 

Middle age Japanese literature (XII – XIX centuries) was heavily accentuated by Zen Buddhism; the characters are generally travelers, ascetic poets or priests. This period was also marked by a lot of civil wars leading to the development of a class of warriors and samurai. This accentuated interest in legends, fairy tales and stories.
Modern Japanese literature (late nineteenth century to the present) corresponds to the opening of Japan and its exposure to the Western world, and canberra rental properties. One literary form tends to develop during this period: the shi-Shosetsu (or “watakushi-Shosetsu” novel in first person). These short stories has as main character the writer himself and have a quite religious view in their way of passing meaningful experiences in the life of the author. Modern literature combines the influences of the old existentialist writings and the realities of the modern world by placing them in a modern context in which the rapid progress only serves to exacerbate the sense of alienation felt by the author. Meanwhile, there is also a literature that tries to capture the feelings and stories of anime, and video game writing. This is a two-way exchange and some writings are taken to be imaged and converted into cartoons for example. Although this type of literature is frowned upon by traditional literary authorities, however, they have a positive effect, encouraging young people to read more. If kids can read more and learn more of the culture of a particular country via manga, then I believe it is worth the adaptors’ while.