The publication of Dawn to the West... will do even more to establish modern Japanese literature as one of the major literatures of the world.

Hailed in the New York Times Book Review as "the century's leading expert on Japanese literature, as well as its most indefatigable translator," Donald Keene is Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. He is the author, editor, or translator of over thirty books of criticism and works of literature, including No and Bunraku, Twenty Plays of the No Theater, Major Plays of Chikamatsu, The Pleasures of Japanese Literature, Three Plays by Kobo Abe, Modern Japanese Diaries, Essays in Idleness, andTravelers of a Hundred Ages (all published by Columbia).

Preface
Poetry in Traditional Forms
Introduction
The Modern Tanka
The Modern Haiku
Poetry in New Forms
Introduction
The Meiji Period (1868-1912)
The Taisho Period (1912-1926)
The Showa Period (from 1927)
The Modern Drama
Introduction
The Literature of Modern Kabuki
The Litearture of Shimpa and Shingeki
Modern Criticism
Introduction
The Meiji Period (1868-1912)
The Taisho Period (1912-1926)
The Showa Period (from 1927)
Glossary
Selected List of Translations into English
Index