A review by melanie_reads
Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century by

3.0

Throughout this book, my greatest challenge was trying to be understanding of the time and place in which this book was released. It serves its purpose as an anthology, albeit a tad light for my tastes, and as a brief introduction to Japanese literature throughout history. But I had a hard time with the fact that there were very few Japanese translators, mostly a bunch of old white academics, whom I daresay were without the cultural context of what many of these pieces were apart. Which leads me to my final criticism, I was disappointed with the brief introductions for the pieces, as an historical context would have provided a better reading experience.