{"product_id":"manga-from-the-floating-world-9780674241787","title":"Manga from the Floating World","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdam Kern offers a close reading of the vibrant popular imagination through kibyoshi, a genre of sophisticated pictorial fiction from late-eighteenth-century Japan. Illustrated with rare prints from Japanese archival collections, these entertaining works will appeal to the general reader as well as to the student of Japanese cultural history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eManga from the Floating World\u003c\/i\u003e is a treasure trove of cultural tidbits… Kern’s love of his subject is infectious; how many scholarly books can be described as a joy to read? Mirroring the contradictions embodied in his beloved \u003ci\u003ekibyoshi\u003c\/i\u003e, Kern’s seemingly effortless, flowing prose belies a Mount Fuji of thoughtfulness, planning, imagination and erudition. He writes, as was once said of Raymond Chandler, like a slumming angel—but much more engagingly. His prodigious command of sources and generosity in crediting ideas are exemplary. His deft deployment of literary and cultural theory is as masterful as it is discreet. The book generates broad questions that resonate in the reader’s mind: How does humor ‘work’? What is the social role of the bestseller? What kinds of things do urban myths really tell us? How does the concept of \u003ci\u003eau courant\u003c\/i\u003e embody the seeds of its own demise? Why do people read? Some twenty years ago I asked Henry Smith why no one tried to do for Edo what Robert Darnton accomplished for eighteenth-century France in his classic \u003ci\u003eThe Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History\u003c\/i\u003e: giving readers the gift of mental time travel. The answer was that the Japanese material is nearly impossible for any single person to retrieve on that scale. \u003ci\u003eManga from the Floating World\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that scholarship has advanced to the point that this now is possible. Kern’s book rivals Darnton’s. As one of Enjiro’s savvy cronies might have said to the author: ‘Arigatayama!’ -- Melinda Takeuchi * Impressions *\u003cbr\u003eThe present volume is a brilliant introduction to the world of \u003ci\u003ekibyoshi\u003c\/i\u003e. Taking account of very different aspects of Edo’s literary and cultural life, Kern provides a fascinating view of a long-disregarded form of Edo literature. -- Stephan Kohn * Monumenta Nipponica *\u003cbr\u003eAdam L. Kern’s stylish study demonstrates clearly the lack of any ongoing tradition: the \u003ci\u003ekibyoshi\u003c\/i\u003e were forgotten until the modern Japanese comics industry, accused of slavish imitation of America, needed to provide itself with roots, or at least with distant, childless cousins. -- Roz Kaveney * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eAn indispensable text in the fields of manga studies and the history of early modern Japanese popular culture…Kern’s work stands the test of time and amply illustrates his contention that, despite not having given rise to manga, the \u003ci\u003ekibyôshi\u003c\/i\u003e ‘offers a similarly informative, visually compelling, and perhaps even an ultimately meaningful glimpse into one of the world’s most fascinating civilizations during one of that civilization’s greatest cultural efflorescences.’ Students and scholars of manga studies, comics studies, and Japanese history will find much to reward them. -- Andrea Horbinski * Journal of Anime and Manga Studies *","brand":"Harvard University, Asia Center","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403565703511,"sku":"9780674241787","price":63.96,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780674241787.jpg?v=1730483847","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/manga-from-the-floating-world-9780674241787","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}