Cat Town

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Modernist poet Sakutaro Hagiwara's first published book, Howling at the Moon, shattered conventional verse forms and transformed the poetic landscape of Japan. Two of its poems were removed on order of the Ministry of the Interior for "disturbing social customs." Along with the entirety of Howling, this volume includes all of Blue Cat, Hagiwara's second major collection, together with Cat Town, a prose-poem novella, and a substantial selection of verse from the rest of his books, giving readers the full breadth and depth of this pioneering poet's extraordinary work.

Reviews

Sakutaro Hagiwara is the ultimate modern Japanese poet-the first to perfect the use of colloquial language as a medium for poetic expression. Always rhythmic, his poetry represents a scintillating verbal and spiritual adventure, particularly in the lucid and elegant translations created by Hiroaki Sato. J. Thomas Rimer Sakutaro Hagiwara is not just the most influential poet of his generation-his body of radically expressive work inspires the most innovative Japanese poets writing today. He is the big cheese, and Hiroaki Sato, the master translator, has the gifts necessary to render his incomparably sharp taste. Forrest Gander

Author Bio

Sakutaro Hagiwara (1886 - 1942) was a Japanese poet and writer of free verse. He published several poetry anthologies and co-founded the literary magazine Kanjo, which focused on modern Japanese poetry's departure from traditional rules and structural constraints. He taught at Meiji University from 1934 until his death in 1942. Hiroaki Sato is a prolific translator of Japanese literature and a columnist for The Japan Times since 2000. He has won several prizes for his translations, including the PEN Translation Prize. He lives in New York City.