Guide to Bibliographical Resources for Modern Japanese Literature

by Christopher Hill The resources available in English for readers and teachers interested in modern Japanese literature are more extensive than many would suspect. This guide is only an introduction; many of the resources below will offer leads to others.

Some of the online indexes listed here can only be accessed through a subscribing library. Many college and university libraries, and large public libraries, subscribe to these databases.

Major Anthologies:

J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel, ed., Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press), 2 vols.

Donald Keene, ed., Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology (New York: Grove).

Howard Hibbett, ed., Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945 (New York: Knopf).

Ivan Morris, ed., Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology (Rutland and Tokyo: Tuttle).

Van C. Gessel and Tomone Matsumoto, ed., The Shôwa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories (New York: Kodansha International).

Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden, ed., Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe).

Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson, ed., From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry (Seattle: University of Washington Press).

Japan Playwrights Association, ed., Half a Century of Japanese Theater (Tokyo: Kinokuniya).

Basic background:

The Japanese Studies Resources page of Yale's East Asia Library provides a helpful introduction to English- and Japanese-language resources for the study of Japan.

Donald Keene, Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern Era (New York: Henry Holt). A reliable starting point for information on authors and literary movements, aimed at the general reader. Volume one treats fiction; volume two, poetry, drama, and criticism.

Joshua S. Mostow, et al., ed., The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature (New York: Columbia University Press). Two- to four-page articles on major authors and movements.

Rimer, J. Thomas., ed., Modern Japanese Fiction and its Traditions: An Introduction (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

Rimer, J. Thomas., ed., A reader's guide to Japanese literature (New York : Kodansha International).

Sen'ichi Hisamatsu, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Literature (Tokyo: Kodansha International).

Sachiko Schierbeck, Japanese Women Novelists in the 20th Century: 104 biographies, 1900-1993 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press).

Carol Fairbanks ed., Japanese Women Fiction Writers, Their Culture and Society, 1890s to 1990s: English Language Sources (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press).

Historical Background:

Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Mikiso Hane, Modern Japan: A Historical Survey (Boulder: Westview Press).

Online Indexes:

Bibliography of Asian Studies. The essential database for Western-language articles on Asian history and culture. Look here for critical studies of authors and movements. Note: indexes single-author books only up to 1991. For books published after 1991, consult a library catalog. (Chapters in multi-author anthologies published after 1991 are included in the BAS.) (Access through subscribing library only.)

MLA Bibliography. More limited than the BAS in its treatment of Japanese literature, but indexes periodicals that the BAS does not. (Access through subscribing library only.)

Google Scholar. Useful and versatile; links are to journal articles and other reliable sources. Much better than just Googling.

Many English-language journal articles can now be found online through JSTOR and other databases. (Access through subscribing library only.)

Finding Translations:

Japanese Literature in Translation. Searchable online database created by the Japan Foundation.

Japanese literature in foreign languages 1945-1990 (Tokyo: Japan P.E.N. Club).

Modern Japanese Literature in Translation: A Bibliography (Tokyo: Kodansha International).

Prepared by Christopher Hill, Yale University