Forest of Eyes: Selected Poems of Tada Chimako

by Tada Chimako, Jeffrey Angles (Translator), Jeffrey Angles (Introduction)

Overview

One of Japan’s most important modern poets, Tada Chimako (1930–2003) gained prominence in her native country for her sensual, frequently surreal poetry and fantastic imagery. Although Tada’s writing is an essential part of postwar Japanese poetry, her use of themes and motifs from European, Near Eastern, and Mediterranean history, mythology, and literature, as well as her sensitive explorations of women’s inner lives make her very much a poet of the world. Forest of Eyes offers English-language readers their first opportunity to read a wide selection from Tada’s extraordinary oeuvre, including nontraditional free verse, poems in the traditional forms of tanka and haiku, and prose poems. Translator Jeffrey Angles introduces this collection with an incisive essay that situates Tada as a poet, explores her unique style, and analyzes her contribution to the representation of women in postwar Japanese literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520260504
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/17/2010
Edition description:	First Edition, Translated from the Japanese
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	754,903
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

The writing of Tada Chimako (1930-2003) is crucial to understanding modern Japanese poetry although her work is situated outside the poetic mainstream. A solitary visionary, Tada is uniquely admired in Japan for her poems, essays, and translations. Withdrawing to Kobe after the publication of her first collection, she spent most of her life close to nature, far from Tokyo, Japan’s literary epicenter. Writing poetry in both traditional Japanese forms and Western free verse and prose poetry, Tada is known as a poet of intellect and erudition but also as one of sensuality and emotion. Jeffrey Angles is Associate Professor at Western Michigan University. He is coeditor, with J. Thomas Rimer, of Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. He has won translation grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the PEN Club of America.

Table of Contents

Translator’s Acknowledgments
Note on the Translation

Introduction

From Fireworks (1956)
From The Gladiator’s Arena (1960)
From Universe of the Rose (1964)
From The Town of Mirrors, or Forest of Eyes (1968)
From A False Record of Ages (1971)
From The Four-Faced Path (1975)
From A Spray of Water: Tanka (1975)
From Lotophagi (1980)
From Ceremonial Fire (1986)
From Along the Riverbank (1998)
From The Land of the Long River (2)
From A Souvenir of Wind: Haiku (2003)
From Upon Breaking the Seal (2004)
From Person of the Playful Sta: Tanka (2005)

Translator’s Notes
Chronology
Selected Works
Index of Titles and First Lines

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"At its best, literary translation offers something that was not there before. Angles has given readers a major poet not previously apparent in English. His translation will have the honor of leading a generation of new readers to discover the work of Tada Chimako."—American Poet

"A unique and most welcome publication."—Japanese Studies

"Chimako's extraordinary imagery is reflected in this wide-ranging collection of her work, which explores women's sensuality and emotion. This is the first English translation of her work and includes translated and traditional Japanese versions of haiku and tanka."—Foreword Footnotes

"The three [volumes] together form the finale to a singular body of poetry that has been finely chosen, sensitively introduced and admirably translated by Jeffrey Angles in this selection."—Japan Times

"All in all this book provides a well-rounded look at an important modern Japanese poet."—Translation Review

Editorial Reviews

A unique and most welcome publication.

Japanese Studies - Yasuko Claremont

All in all this book provides a well-rounded look at an important modern Japanese poet.

Translation Review

With its careful annotations and notes, this work should serve scholars of contemporary literature very well, but it should also appeal to a wider audience of poetry lovers everywhere”.

Journal Of Asian Stds

The three [volumes] together form the finale to a singular body of poetry that has been finely chosen, sensitively introduced and admirably translated by Jeffrey Angles in this selection.

Japan Times

Chimako’s extraordinary imagery is reflected in this wide-ranging collection of her work, which explores women’s sensuality and emotion. This is the first English translation of her work and includes translated and traditional Japanese versions of haiku and tanka.

Foreword Footnotes

At its best, literary translation offers something that was not there before. Angles has given readers a major poet not previously apparent in English. His translation will have the honor of leading a generation of new readers to discover the work of Tada Chimako.

Charles Martinn Poet

“At its best, literary translation offers something that was not there before. Angles has given readers a major poet not previously apparent in English. His translation will have the honor of leading a generation of new readers to discover the work of Tada Chimako.

American Poet - Charles Martin