Japanese Prints

John Gould FletcherProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 32K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Japanese Prints by John Gould FletcherAuthor: Fletcher, John Gould, 1886-1950,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 8, 2008

Editor's review

This volume, Japanese Prints, is a poetry collection by John Gould Fletcher, classified under American literature and released as an eBook by Project Gutenberg. Fletcher was an early twentieth-century American poet with ties to Imagism, and his verse emphasizes color, pictorial composition, and sensory impression. The title invokes Japanese woodblock prints, and the book can be read as the poet's response to and reworking of an Orientalist aesthetic. For Chinese readers, its value lies in showing how American modernist poetry borrowed the visual language of Japanese ukiyo-e, and in tracing cross-art, cross-cultural lines of influence; the public-domain Gutenberg edition is also convenient for searching and citation. It should not be taken as a history of Japanese printmaking or a scholarly art study: this is poetry, and needs to be read for its rhythm and imagery. It suits readers interested in Anglo-American modernist poetry and East-West artistic exchange who can read English, and can serve as supplementary reading for students of Imagist verse.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Anglo-American modernist poetry and Imagism who can read English
Literature enthusiasts studying East-West artistic exchange and Japonisme
Poetry students wanting to see how an American poet transformed Eastern visual imagery

Not a good fit for

Art-history readers seeking a systematic account of ukiyo-e history and technique
General readers who read only Chinese translations and have no English reading ability
Beginners needing a systematic textbook of poetics or a heavily annotated edition

Reading tips

First learn the basic visual features of ukiyo-e, then read the recurring color and pictorial descriptions in the poems.
Read the collection straight through once for overall atmosphere, then return to short poems with vivid imagery.
Read aloud against the English original, noting how line breaks, rhythm, and images shift.
Read alongside classical Chinese landscape poetry or Imagist poems to compare how visual imagery is handled.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book about the art history of Japanese prints?

No. It is a poetry collection by the American poet Fletcher, using Japanese prints as imagery and inspiration; it is not an art-history treatise. Readers wanting to learn ukiyo-e techniques, schools, and representative artists should look for specialized art-history works; this book is better read for poetry and cross-cultural influence.

Can I understand this collection if my English is weak?

Fletcher's lines are relatively compressed but involve many visual images and cultural references, so readers with weak English will struggle. Middle-level English or above is advisable, or use a bilingual edition and annotation tools; relying entirely on machine translation easily loses the poetry's rhythm and tone.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition, and what reading approach suits it?

The Gutenberg edition is a free public-domain eBook, easy to search, copy, and cite, and suited to annotating and excerpting on a computer or e-reader. It usually has no introduction, notes, or translation, so readers need their own background material; it suits researchers and readers with strong independent reading skills.

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About the author

John Gould Fletcher Author · American · 1886–1950

John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950) was an American poet born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and one of the central figures of the Imagist movement. He lived in Europe for many years, and his work was deeply influenced by Eastern art and visual imagery. His collections include Irradiations: Sand and Spray, Goblins and Pagodas, and Japanese Prints, and he also wrote Paul Gauguin, His Life and Art. In 1939 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his Selected Poems, and he later joined the Southern Agrarian movement. His poetry is concise and attentive to imagery and sensory impression, giving him a representative place in the transition of modern American poetry from Imagism toward regionalism. Four of his works are held in this collection.