The intensely confessional work of Japan’s most famous modernist poet, considered the Japanese Rimbaud, whose poems have inspired cultlike devotion—especially among fans of the hit anime show Bungo Stray Dogs—in a brilliant new translation, the most comprehensive in English
A Penguin Classic
Nakahara Chūya lived only to age thirty yet ranks among the finest of Japanese poets, evoking in his work the alienation, ennui, and romantic melancholy of a changing world. An introspective, sensitive writer and early-twentieth-century contemporary of Natsume Sōseki, Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, and Osamu Dazai, he chronicled in his poems a life of personal and political upheaval: His lover left him for his most trusted friend, his first son died at age two, his country hovered on the precipice of war, and his own tremendous promise was cut short by illness.
This edition is by far the largest collection in English of Chūya’s poetry, containing unabridged translations of the two books Chūya completed in his lifetime–Songs of the Goat and Songs of Days That Were–plus nearly one hundred additional pages of his traditional Japanse tanka poems, uncollected poems, and various other manuscripts, as well as an extensive scholarly introduction that situates Chūya within his historical moment. It captures in a melodic new translation the beauty and intimacy of this beloved poet’s voice, showing why it has resonated with readers for a century.
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