Adaptions of Western Literature in Meiji Japan

J. Miller

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9780230107557
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Literaturkritik

This book examines three examples of late nineteenth-century Japanese adaptations of Western literature: a biography of U.S. Grant recasting him as a Japanese warrior, a Victorian novel reset as oral performance, and an American melodrama redone as a serialized novel promoting the reform of Japanese theater. Written from a comparative perspective, it argues that adaptation (hon'an) was a valid form of contemporary Japanese translation that fostered creative appropriation across many genres and among a diverse group of writers and artists. In addition, it invites readers to reconsider adaptation in the context of translation theory.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter I: Toward a Theory of Adaptation: Hon'an in Meiji Japan
• Chapter II: More Romance than Reality: Ulysses S. Grant as Japanese Warrior
• Chapter III: From Madness to Murder: Victorian Novel as Ninjôbanashi
• Chapter IV: A Visible Poetics: American Dime Novel as Paradigm for Theater Reform
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index