Traditional Japanese literature : an anthology, beginnings to 1600 /

This abridged edition of Traditional Japanese Literature, also edited by Shirane (CH, Oct'07, 45-0705), contains about 45 percent of the material from the original anthology. There are no detectable changes, only omissions, but all the texts an instructor would want to cover in a survey course are still included, and the range of genre represented is still broad: myth, didactic anecdotes, prose fiction, memoir, historical narrative, folk tales, poetry, and so on. Thanks to the skillful translations and erudite but clear and concise introductory essays, this volume will undoubtedly displace earlier anthologies (Donald Keene's Anthology of Japanese Literature, ed. by Donald Keene, 1955, since reprinted, and Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology, compiled and ed. by Helen McCullough, 1990). Libraries that own the unabridged will not need to acquire this abridged edition, but at a weight of 1 lb 12 oz, it is suitable for carrying to class. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates; general readers. M. H. Childs