An excellent representative sampling of modern Japanese drama and a substantial contribution not only to Japanese literature in translation but also to the body of Japanese scripts available in English for Western theater artists.
Kevin J. Wetmore Jr., Loyola Marymount University Few anthologies are as comprehensive as this one, and the translators have done an admirable job in capturing ... Read morethe language and tone of each of the playwrights mentioned. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama will open up much of modern and contemporary Japanese theater work to a wider audience.
David Jortner, Baylor University This anthology is extremely important, as its chronological span illustrates the drastic transition of Japanese theater in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Yoko Shioya, artistic director, Japan Society The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama affords rich and detailed insights into the development of modern drama and provides an intimate sense of how theater contributes to Japan's modern history, culture, and self-identity. Thoroughly researched and beautifully presented, it will be an essential companion to the study of theater in Japan in the twentieth century.
Peter Eckersall, the Graduate Center, City University of New York While not shunning canonical works, The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama promotes lesser-known-and exciting-dramatic texts, even dedicating a special chapter to 'popular theater.' In doing so, the volume fills gaps in the scholarship of drama literature from Japan. It is backed by informative introductions and essays that display fine and up-to-date scholarship in the field.
Stanca Scholz-Cionca, University of Trier As well as providing definitive translations of a great range of works rarely published in the West, this Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama also interprets, explains, and analyzes the often misunderstood and complex journey Japanese drama has taken since the fall of the Tokugawa regime, creating, by the end, a strong argument for the uniqueness and importance of Japanese theater.
Claire Hazelton Times Literary Supplement Show Less