TY - JOUR
T1 - Why Saikaku was memorable but Bakin was unforgettable
AU - Dowdle, Brian C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Society for Japanese Studies.
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - This essay reconsiders the motivations and results of the “rediscovery” of the author Ihara Saikaku in the Meiji period. Conventionally, the re-evaluation of Saikaku is seen as a nationalist reaction to Westernization; however, this essay situates it within the increasing prevalence of reprints of texts by Kyokutei Bakin, the eclectic literary interests of Awashima Kangetsu, and the personal expectations of Uchida Roan, who represented Saikaku as an alternative to Bakin. It identifies an inversion of the Meiji literary marketplace within the English-language canon of literature of the Edo period—Saikaku is omnipresent and Bakin is all but forgotten.
AB - This essay reconsiders the motivations and results of the “rediscovery” of the author Ihara Saikaku in the Meiji period. Conventionally, the re-evaluation of Saikaku is seen as a nationalist reaction to Westernization; however, this essay situates it within the increasing prevalence of reprints of texts by Kyokutei Bakin, the eclectic literary interests of Awashima Kangetsu, and the personal expectations of Uchida Roan, who represented Saikaku as an alternative to Bakin. It identifies an inversion of the Meiji literary marketplace within the English-language canon of literature of the Edo period—Saikaku is omnipresent and Bakin is all but forgotten.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958191233&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/jjs.2016.0009
DO - 10.1353/jjs.2016.0009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84958191233
SN - 0095-6848
VL - 42
SP - 91
EP - 121
JO - Journal of Japanese Studies
JF - Journal of Japanese Studies
IS - 1
ER -