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Katô Shûichi
A Sheep's Song
A Writer's Reminiscences of Japan and the World
$24.95, £17.95 paperback
978-0-520-21979-3
Available Now
506 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 13 b/w photographs
May 1999, Available worldwide
Categories: Autobiographies & Biographies; Asian History; Japan; Autobiography
May 1999, Available worldwide
Categories: Autobiographies & Biographies; Asian History; Japan; Autobiography
"Elegantly translated and usefully annotated by Chang Chia-ning, these memoirs make an entertaining self-portrait of a Japanese who made it his business to become a citizen of the world, while remaining staunchly Japanese."—Anthony Thwaite, Times Literary Supplement
"A much-awaited book. . . . A Sheep's Song bears poignant relevance to any effort to understand Japan's current affairs and her future."—Journal of Asian Studies
"For an overview. . . of how one Japanese intellectual traversed a good part of the twentieth century to define himself as an internationalist, A Sheep's Song furnishes a fascinating read." —Yoshio Iwamoto, World Literature
"A critically-acclaimed autobiography. . . Kato's painted scenes are most poignant, unique, and enjoyable. . . . It doesn't take much sensitivity to admire the bravery to give such clarity to sweeping interpretations of Japan and its often rocky and misunderstood relations with the rest of the world . . . . Kudos to Chia-ning Chang for an excellent translation." —Ethne Ashizawa, Mainichi Daily News
"This book has captured the imagination of a large number of Japanese readers. . . exploring as it does the modern Japanese sense of self and its place in the world. It has been a pleasure to read a translation that conveys the nuance of Japanese writing so well. The translator's enormous efforts in its references, footnotes, and bibliography made this book something like a small encyclopedia in Japanese cultural history."—Iwane Shibuya, Limina
"An understanding of Japan's postwar intelligentsia is crucial to an appreciation of . . . Japanese literature and society. [A]lmost none of Japan's important literary/social critics have received substantial treatment in English. Chia-ning Chang's translation of Kato Shuichi's [A Sheep's Song] is one of the first major efforts to address this lacuna."—Richard Torrance, Monumenta Nipponica
"Chang has done an excellent job of translating Kato's Apollonian style into limpid and nuanced English. Besides the chronology and indices, Chang's annotations to his translation are very apt, supplementing and enhancing the scholarly value of the original. . . . A Sheep's Song provides invaluable views of literary, cultural and sociological scenes of modern Japan and the rest of the modern world. It is also interesting and highly readable as a literary work [for providing] an intriguing portrait of an exceptionally talented man famous for his keen insights into cultures, literature, human beings, and the world."—Takao Hagiwara, Pacific Affairs
"Now updated and expanded, [Kato Shuichi's A Sheep's Song] is accessible for readers of English in a fluid translation by Chia-ning Chang . . . the memoir of a world-class intellectual who has transcended national boundaries."—Doug Slaymaker, Journal of Japanese Studies
"A much-awaited book. . . . A Sheep's Song bears poignant relevance to any effort to understand Japan's current affairs and her future."—Journal of Asian Studies
"For an overview. . . of how one Japanese intellectual traversed a good part of the twentieth century to define himself as an internationalist, A Sheep's Song furnishes a fascinating read." —Yoshio Iwamoto, World Literature
"A critically-acclaimed autobiography. . . Kato's painted scenes are most poignant, unique, and enjoyable. . . . It doesn't take much sensitivity to admire the bravery to give such clarity to sweeping interpretations of Japan and its often rocky and misunderstood relations with the rest of the world . . . . Kudos to Chia-ning Chang for an excellent translation." —Ethne Ashizawa, Mainichi Daily News
"This book has captured the imagination of a large number of Japanese readers. . . exploring as it does the modern Japanese sense of self and its place in the world. It has been a pleasure to read a translation that conveys the nuance of Japanese writing so well. The translator's enormous efforts in its references, footnotes, and bibliography made this book something like a small encyclopedia in Japanese cultural history."—Iwane Shibuya, Limina
"An understanding of Japan's postwar intelligentsia is crucial to an appreciation of . . . Japanese literature and society. [A]lmost none of Japan's important literary/social critics have received substantial treatment in English. Chia-ning Chang's translation of Kato Shuichi's [A Sheep's Song] is one of the first major efforts to address this lacuna."—Richard Torrance, Monumenta Nipponica
"Chang has done an excellent job of translating Kato's Apollonian style into limpid and nuanced English. Besides the chronology and indices, Chang's annotations to his translation are very apt, supplementing and enhancing the scholarly value of the original. . . . A Sheep's Song provides invaluable views of literary, cultural and sociological scenes of modern Japan and the rest of the modern world. It is also interesting and highly readable as a literary work [for providing] an intriguing portrait of an exceptionally talented man famous for his keen insights into cultures, literature, human beings, and the world."—Takao Hagiwara, Pacific Affairs
"Now updated and expanded, [Kato Shuichi's A Sheep's Song] is accessible for readers of English in a fluid translation by Chia-ning Chang . . . the memoir of a world-class intellectual who has transcended national boundaries."—Doug Slaymaker, Journal of Japanese Studies
"No book in English so brilliantly and elegantly depicts what the post-war epoch felt like for the social and the literary activist."—Irwin Scheiner, most recently author of The Japanese Village: Imagined, Real, Contested
"This nuanced translation of Kato Shuichi's intellectual autobiography provides a trenchant and highly personal vision of the works and thought of a significant figure in Japan's postwar period. . . . [It] makes provocative reading for those interested in Japanese and comparative literature, intellectual history, and the arts." —J. Thomas Rimer, University of Pittsburgh
"This nuanced translation of Kato Shuichi's intellectual autobiography provides a trenchant and highly personal vision of the works and thought of a significant figure in Japan's postwar period. . . . [It] makes provocative reading for those interested in Japanese and comparative literature, intellectual history, and the arts." —J. Thomas Rimer, University of Pittsburgh
This critically acclaimed autobiography was an instant bestseller in Japan, where it has gone through more than forty printings since its first publication. Cultural critic, literary historian, novelist, poet, and physician, Kato Shuichi reconstructs his dramatic spiritual and intellectual journey from the militarist era of prewar Japan to the dynamic postwar landscapes of Japan and Europe. This fluid translation of A Sheep's Song captures Kato's unique voice and brings his insightful interpretation of modern Japan and its tumultuous relations with the outside world to English-speaking readers for the first time.
Kato describes his youthful interest in the natural sciences as well as in Japanese and Western literatures—from the Man'yoshu to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Baudelaire, Valéry, and Proust. Turning to the rise of Japanese fascism in the late 1930s, he recalls his rebellion against the jingoistic political atmosphere of the time. The chapters on the war and its aftermath include experiences of Hiroshima shortly after the bombing and the often tragicomic encounters between the defeated Japanese nation and the American Occupation forces. Throughout, memories of his wide-ranging literary career and broad experiences in Europe as a student, traveler, and cultural observer are punctuated by his unique perspectives on the relation between imagination, art, and politics.
A postscript written especially for the English-language edition discusses the Vietnam War, the subsequent transformation of Japan, the cultures and societies of Europe, the United States, and China, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Kato describes his youthful interest in the natural sciences as well as in Japanese and Western literatures—from the Man'yoshu to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Baudelaire, Valéry, and Proust. Turning to the rise of Japanese fascism in the late 1930s, he recalls his rebellion against the jingoistic political atmosphere of the time. The chapters on the war and its aftermath include experiences of Hiroshima shortly after the bombing and the often tragicomic encounters between the defeated Japanese nation and the American Occupation forces. Throughout, memories of his wide-ranging literary career and broad experiences in Europe as a student, traveler, and cultural observer are punctuated by his unique perspectives on the relation between imagination, art, and politics.
A postscript written especially for the English-language edition discusses the Vietnam War, the subsequent transformation of Japan, the cultures and societies of Europe, the United States, and China, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Social Sciences in Modern Japan: The Marxian and Modernist Traditions, by Andrew E. Barshay
Dreams of Difference: The Japan Romantic School and the Crisis of Modernity, by Kevin Michael Doak
State and Intellectual in Imperial Japan: The Public Man in Crisis, by Andrew Barshay
Dreams of Difference: The Japan Romantic School and the Crisis of Modernity, by Kevin Michael Doak
State and Intellectual in Imperial Japan: The Public Man in Crisis, by Andrew Barshay