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(★)(Its Essential Nature, History, and Possibilities in English, with Selected Examples)(The Haiku, a highly compact, evocative verse-form crystallized by the Japanese poetic genius, embodies a direct, intuitive penetration into nature and life that is at once simple and baffling. Many Western poets, Ezra Pound to cite but one, have attempted it in English, but most have failed to capture its deceptive simplicity, its packed, vibrant imagery and lightning flashes of intuition. Western critics have subjected the haiku to gross misinterpretation --one, for example, labeling it an ´epigram´ and thus relegating it to the very fringe of legitimate poetry. But far from being merely a deft aphorism, esoteric, purely Japanese in form, and incomprehensive to the West, it actually occupies an eminent place in the common poetic heritage of mankind-- a fact which has escaped past attempts at evaluation by men who, in their intellectual sophistication, neglected to view the haiku with the simple straightforward act of identification that it demands. Here for the first time in English the subtle nature and beauty of the haiku is revealed in lucid commentary that emphasizes its rightful place in the realm of poetry. ´Remove the wings from a red dragonfly, and you have made a pepper pod,´ said a Japanese apprentice poet. ´No,´ replied Basho, the famous seventeenth-century haiku master, ´you have killed the dragonfly. Say : ´To a pepper pod add wings, and you have made a dragonfly.´´ This warm, positive feeling toward life is only one of the qualities of the ´haiku attitude´ presented here with fresh penetration. Informative discussion and carefully selected examples, along with quotations from Japanese thinkers and poets contrasted with those of Occidental poets, critics, and philosophers --T.S. Eliot, Allen Tate, John Dewey, Benedetto Croce, to name but a few-- illuminate the fascinating character of the Japanese poetic mind and its vital contribution to the poetic tradition of the world. Intriguing analyses of the possibilities of the haiku for poetic expression in English and a concise, informative history of the development of haiku will interest both the general reader and the student of poetry and Japanese culture as well. Richly illustrative are modern original haiku in English and many superb translations of well-known Japanese originals. ◆Kenneth Yasuda, an American of Japanese descent, has been Emeritus Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University since 1984. A graduate of the University of Washington, he has also done research at Columbia University, and was the first American to receive a Doctor of Literature degree in Japanese literature from Tokyo University. Dr. Yasuda´s other publications include ´A Pepper Pod, a collection of original haiku and translations in English´ ; ´A Lacquer Box, a collection of tanka translations´ ; ´Poem Cards, a translation of a well-known collection of one hundred tanka´ ; ´a translation of the first volume of the Manyoshu´ ; and ´a translation of the Minase Sangin Hyakuin, the most famous collections of ´renga´ linked poetry.´ In 1974, he was awarded the Japanese Imperial Decoration of the Sacred Treasure, Third Order.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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