A Bridge of Words

Views across America and Japan

Hiroaki Sato, Geoffrey O'Brien

$44.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Stone Bridge Press
31 January 2023

Cultural studies; Fashion & society

Prolific, award-winning translator of classical and modern Japanese poetry Hiroaki Sato recorded his thoughts on American society in mainly two columns across 30-plus years, collected here for the first time.

This anthology of over 60 of Sato's commentaries reflect the writer's wide-ranging erudition and his unsentimental views of both his native Japan and his adopted American homeland. Broadly he looks at the Pacific War and its aftermath and at war (and our love of it) in general, at the quirks and curiosities of the natural world exhibited by birds and other creatures, at friends and mentors who surprised and inspired, and finally at other writers and their works, many of them familiar-the Beats and John Ashbery, for example, and Mishima-but many others whose introduction is welcome.

Sato is neither cheerleader nor angry expatriate. Remarkably clear-eyed and engaged with American culture, he is in the business of critical appraisal and translation, of taking words seriously, and of observing how well others write and speak to convey their own truths and ambitions.

By: Hiroaki Sato
Foreword by: Geoffrey O'Brien
Imprint: Stone Bridge Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
ISBN: 9781611720785
ISBN 10: 1611720788
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 31 January 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Table of Contents Author’s Note Part I: Wars & Consequences Part II: Birds and Animals Part III: Teachers and Friends Part IV: Talking about Books and Such

"Hiroaki Sato is a prolific, award-winning translator of classical and modern Japanese poetry into English. American poet Gary Snyder has called Sato"" perhaps the finest translator of contemporary Japanese poetry into American English."" Hiroaki Sato has received several translation prizes. Among them are the PEN America prize, with Burton Watson, for From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1981); the Japan-United States Friendship Commission translation prize for Breeze Through Bamboo: Kanshi of Ema Saik (1997) and for The Silver Spoon (2015). He has written columns for a dozen publications, among them The Mainichi Daily News (""Here and Now-in New York"") from 1984 to 1989 and for The Japan Times (""The View from New York"") from 2000 to 2017."

Reviews for A Bridge of Words: Views across America and Japan

Sato skewers the world's received ideas about Japan with glee, irony and humor, not sparing Japan's shibboleths about itself. A thought-provoking read from a perceptive poet. --Liza Dalby, anthropologist, author, and scroll-mounter Review for On Haiku Sato's extraordinary collection of essays is at once a literary history, a scrupulous examination of the vicissitudes of translation, a discussion of haiku in America, and a series of introductions to lesser- known masters. Sato conveys encyclopedic knowledge in a lively, modest, occasionally self-deprecating tone, busting myths along the way. An expert illumination of a poetic form, to read and reread. --Michael Autrey, Booklist (starred) Review for Forty-Seven Samurai Over the last four decades, English-speaking aficionados of modern Japanese literature have delighted in the numerous translations, both of prose and poetry, undertaken by the masterful hand of translator, essayist, and poet Hiroaki Sato. --Meera Viswanatha