Word: englishes
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...1950s, with Japanese cities still pocked by wartime bombing, Keene published an English-language anthology of Japanese literature that gave the world glimpses of an astoundingly rich literary tradition. An 1899 history of Japanese literature was the only reference available in English at that time. Keene's feat was stupendous. Just over a decade into his study of the language, he navigated more than a millennium of its finest compositions - the creation myths of Japan's oldest book, the 7th century Kojiki; early poetry from the 8th century collection Manyoshu; the sublime socio-psychological epics by the legendary 11th century...
...book is not without its flaws: originally serialized in an English-language newspaper in Japan, it occasionally repeats itself. Some may also dislike Keene's refusal to share more of his life outside academic or literary circles - particularly as he stresses literature's importance in conveying the communality of our deepest thoughts and emotions. But the history is fascinating, and the literary life Keene has doggedly carved out of it, remarkable...
...Nonami, 47, is the latest in a small group of tremendously popular contemporary female Japanese mystery writers to be translated into English. Their lurid fiction is anchored in ostensibly mundane domestic affairs - far cries from the hard-boiled yakuza netherworld of conventional Japanese crime fiction, where women mostly inhabit peripheral positions as prostitutes or femmes fatales. Like Natsuo Kirino, whose best-selling 1997 novel Out chronicles a band of disaffected middle-aged bento-box factory workers who moonlight as murderesses, Nonami places women at the center of her work. As the author of some 50 books, she is more prolific...
...Middle East are more interested than ever in understanding Arab societies, and many of them are becoming devotees of Al Aswany's writing. Last fall, a translation of Chicago became an immediate best seller in France, where Al Aswany was paid front-page homage by Le Monde. The English translation, published by the American University of Cairo Press, will hit international bookshelves this month, and editions in nine other languages are in the works...
...truths in defense of human dignity. His writing tackles the most pressing issues facing Egyptian society today, from dictatorship and corruption to economic inequality and Islamic extremism. "The greatest role of literature is its human message," said the gregarious, barrel-chested author at the recent launch of Chicago's English translation. "Literature teaches us how to be more tolerant...