Vying in Beauty
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in modern Japanese literature, especially the aesthetic or naturalist schools
- History and culture enthusiasts who enjoy glimpsing an era through a particular social milieu (such as the pleasure quarters)
- Readers who appreciate finely crafted prose, strong atmosphere, and literature with a decadent aesthetic
- Readers hoping to understand the conflict between traditional Japanese culture (such as geisha culture and Edo sensibilities) and modern civilization
Not a good fit for
- Readers of popular fiction seeking tight plotting and strong dramatic conflict
- Readers uncomfortable with the period customs and depictions found in the work
Reading tips
- The book is best read alongside Nagai Kafū's Sumidagawa and Danchōtei nichijō to gain a fuller understanding of his aesthetic system and intellectual trajectory.
- While reading, pay attention to how the author uses environmental description and dialogue to evoke the atmosphere of the era and the characters' fates, and appreciate his mastery of "writing feeling through scenery."
- It may help to consult introductory materials on the social history of Tokyo in the Meiji and Taishō periods, which will deepen your understanding of the work's cultural metaphors and its sorrow for the age.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 前言
- 一 幕间
- 二 极品
- 三 鸭跖草
- 四 迎魂火
- 五 白日梦
- 六 结棉
- 七 晚霞
- 八 枕之咎
- 九 演出
- 十 观剧席一隅
- 十一 菊尾花
- 十二 半夜骤雨
- 十三 归途
- 十四 浅草
- 十五 宜春亭
- 十六 上演首日（上）
- 十七 上演首日（下）
- 十八 今昨两天
- 十九 保名
- 二十 晨浴
- 二十一 忙乱
- 二十二 如此这般
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About the author
Nagai Kafū (1879–1959), born Nagai Sōkichi, was a Japanese novelist, essayist, and translator, and a leading figure of aestheticist literature. He studied in the United States and France for five years; after returning home, he taught at Keio University and founded the journal Mita Bungaku. His work spans fiction, essays, and literary theory, with representative titles including Bokutō Kidan, Sumida River, Danchōtei Nichijō, and An Essay on Edo Art, as well as a seven-volume Chinese translation selection by Chen Dewen. Drawing on Edo customs, ordinary city dwellers, and urban life, his writing is delicate and tinged with melancholy, forming a distinctive style between aestheticism and realism and exerting a profound influence on modern Japanese literature. He received the Order of Culture in 1952.
Tan Jinghua was born in Shanghai in June 1951. He holds a doctorate in literature and is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Shanghai International Studies University, where he formerly served as executive vice president. He has long been engaged in the study and translation of modern Japanese literature. His publications include a biography of Kawabata Yasunari and A History of Modern Japanese Literature, and he has translated more than 140 major works of Japanese literature. His representative translations include Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country, The Izu Dancer, The Old Capital, Thousand Cranes, and The Sound of the Mountain, as well as the Selected Works of Kawabata Yasunari and the four-volume Abe Kobo series, and Natsume Soseki's Light and Darkness. He is a former president of the Chinese Association for Japanese Literature and of the Shanghai Translators Association. His works are generally classified under essays and miscellaneous writings and foreign literature, and he has had a broad influence in the translation and introduction of modern and contemporary Japanese literature.
