Edward Mack: Manufacturing Modern Japanese Literature: Publishing, Prizes, and The Ascription of Literary Prizes

Pub Res Q (2011) 27:9395
DOI 10.1007/s12109-010-9193-0
Edward Mack: Manufacturing Modern Japanese

Literature: Publishing, Prizes, and the Ascription
of Literary Prizes
Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 2010, 320 pp, Hardcover,
$84.95, ISBN 978-0-8223-4660-9, Paperback $23.95,
ISBN 978-0-8223-4672-2
Naoko Maeda Rodolitz
Published online: 4 January 2011
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
In the late Nineteen to early Twentieth century, the Japanese publishing industry
made a dramatic leap and built up its literary value in the society. The author
Edward Mack who is the current Associate Professor of Japanese at the University
of Washington describes how the Japanese modern literature was created at the time
from the perspective of the writing, production, events, works, prizes, and the
society.
Mack focuses on three points in this book which he considers to be the key
factors in the modernization of Japanese literature: the capital of the publishing
industry moving from Kansai (Osaka and Kyoto) to Tokyo and the great earthquake
in Tokyo; the influences of the multivolume anthologies such as the Gendai Nihon
bungaku zenshu (Complete Works of Contemporary Japanese Literature); and the
creation of the Akutagawa prize which became the most prestigious literary award.
Mack gives us insight into the strong influence that Tokyo had on shaping
modern Japanese literature. He explains how the print capital in Japan used to be in
Kyoto which was also where the emperor was located but in the late eighteenth
century, Edo (Tokyo) came to dominate the commercial publishing industry. The
distribution systems Tokyo set up made it possible for publishers to mass market
popular literature and culture all over Japan which allowed for a generalized
awareness and understanding of modern literature to develop in Japan.
We learn from Mack that a natural disaster that occurred in Tokyo, the great
earthquake in 1923, actually helped strengthen Tokyos publishing industry instead
of hurting it. On September 1, 1923, one of the greatest earthquakes in Japans
history struck Tokyo and surrounding area, and approximately forty-four percent of
Tokyo had burned and was damaged. Many of the people in the industry including
Kikuchi Kan felt that was the end for Tokyo. Kikuchi was even quoted by a
N. M. Rodolitz (&)
107 Anderson Avenue, Scarsdale, NY 10583, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
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Pub Res Q (2011) 27:9395
newspaper reporter as saying, Tokyos culture is finished. From now on, cultural
institutions are going to move to Osaka.
Despite this disaster though, people in the publishing industry responded quickly
to help such as Noma Seiji, the president of Kodansha, a magazine and book
publisher. Just 10 days after the earthquake, he urged members of the Magazine
Association and representatives of the major distributors to have a meeting. He
encouraged them to publish October issues of their existing magazines and made a
date for distribution. He also personally handled much of the work necessary to
publish a book about the earthquake soon after named Taisho daishinsai daikasai
(The Great Taisho Earthquake and Configuration) including the effort to find paper
supplies, send employees around the country to collect advance orders, and he made
arrangements to distribute the book. Mr. Noma Seiji developed ways to advertise
and print the book. His quick response and large efforts to recover from the disaster
insured the success of the book, which sold four hundred thousand copies that
brought much needed cash into bookstores and helped the industry to survive.
The second factor Mack sees as having a huge influence in shaping modern
Japanese literature was the multivolume anthologies named the Complete Works of
Contemporary Japanese Literature, published between 1926 and 1931. The series
was the most important publication for allowing consumers to read a variety of
authors contemporary literature at an affordable price. The publisher, Kaizosha,
sold the book for just one-yen per volume and sold the series by only subscription
which attracted at least 340,000 subscribers and made this unique collection of
contemporary literature a tremendous success. The series that gathered various
authors under a single imprint included prose fiction, verse, essays on a variety of
subjects, translations, diaries and many other forms. This kind of coverage
completely shaped what the Japanese public knew as modern Japanese literature.
Other publishing companies also started to sell one-yen books following the
Complete Works of Contemporary Japanese Literature from the late 1800s and
caused a one-yen book boom in the industry. The effect of the boom was the
mass market consumer or readers received a symbol of education and social status.
The authors contained in these series received one-yen book Nouveaux riches
overnight and could build homes using their royalties, such as Tanizaki Junichiro,
Koda Rohan, and Sato Haruo. This helped encourage more authors to strive to be
included in these publications.
The third factor is a literary prize named the Akutagawa prize, the most wellknown literary award in Japan. The award had been created for works, authors and
literature itself, and has had an important role in the industry since 1935. The unique
point of the Akutagawa prize unlike other literary awards of the time is that it is only
given for pure literature and the works had to already have been published in
magazines or newspapers. Macks view is that the literature awarded this prize
shaped the future of Japanese modern literature, even changing what the public
considered Japanese modern literature. Mack also explains how difficult it was for
the people involved to come to a decision. Not everyone in the panel agreed on the
winner and there was much debate over what was pure literature versus
popular literature.
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This book is a must read book for people who are studying about Japanese
literature or people interested to know more about the birth of the modern Japanese
publishing industry. The author researched the subject thoroughly and gives us deep
understanding of how the Japanese modern literature was born. It is academic in its
approach but his writing style flows nicely, so it is very enjoyable to read. Even each
footnote is packed with insightful details that give more vivid picture of the
manufacturing process of modern literature. It is an excellent and unique English
language resource for an important period of Japans literature history.
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Pub Res Q (2011) 27:9395

Edward Mack: Manufacturing Modern Japanese

Pub Res Q (2011) 27:9395

Pub Res Q (2011) 27:9395

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