About this book
Overview
"A poet who devoted his entire being to poetry." --Mikiro Sasaki, editor of Chuya's complete works
Chuya Nakahara is widely regarded as Japan's most important modernist poet. A relentless experimenter in form, sound and imagery, he pushed traditional poetic forms toward the freer, more colloquial style that has come to define modern Japanese poetry in the decades since his death.
This new translation of Chuya's two major collections, Goat Songs and Songs of Bygone Days, presents the original Japanese poems alongside English translations by Christian Nagle. A poet and musician himself, Nagle captures with great sensitivity beloved poems such as "Voice of Life":
I'm in search of something, constantly in search of
something. [...]
Sometimes I ask, as though kidding myself,
Is it a woman? Something sweet? Or is it honor?
Then my heart screams, It isn't that! It isn't this! It's
neither that nor this!
Then is it a song of the sky--a sky song that echoes,
mornings, through the stratosphere?
This volume includes a detailed introduction to Chuya's life and work by the translator and a foreword by leading Chuya scholar Mikiro Sasaki, along with rare archival photos and extensive notes. It will be treasured by all those interested in Chuya's groundbreaking work and in modern literature generally.
Chuya Nakahara is widely regarded as Japan's most important modernist poet. A relentless experimenter in form, sound and imagery, he pushed traditional poetic forms toward the freer, more colloquial style that has come to define modern Japanese poetry in the decades since his death.
This new translation of Chuya's two major collections, Goat Songs and Songs of Bygone Days, presents the original Japanese poems alongside English translations by Christian Nagle. A poet and musician himself, Nagle captures with great sensitivity beloved poems such as "Voice of Life":
I'm in search of something, constantly in search of
something. [...]
Sometimes I ask, as though kidding myself,
Is it a woman? Something sweet? Or is it honor?
Then my heart screams, It isn't that! It isn't this! It's
neither that nor this!
Then is it a song of the sky--a sky song that echoes,
mornings, through the stratosphere?
This volume includes a detailed introduction to Chuya's life and work by the translator and a foreword by leading Chuya scholar Mikiro Sasaki, along with rare archival photos and extensive notes. It will be treasured by all those interested in Chuya's groundbreaking work and in modern literature generally.
