Let Those Who Appear (New Directions Books) [Paperback]

Kazuko Shiraishi (Author), Yumiko Tsumura (Translator), Samuel Grolmes (Translator)

Book Description

Series: New Directions Books | Publication Date: April 2002

Over twenty-five years ago New Directions, at the urging of Kenneth Rexroth, published Seasons of Sacred Lust, a selection of poems by a young Japanese writer, Kazuko Shiraishi. Since then the book has gone through several printings and toured around the world, accompanying Ms. Shiraishi to almost any country one can think of, places where she gave readings and participated in various poetry events. Indeed, because of Shiraishi's travels, Seasons is probably one of the most widely-distributed books in the New Directions catalog. However, by now Seasons has become dated. It has been followed by more than fifteen new collections and Shiraishi has matured beyond her early Beat-related work; her poetry has developed an impressive range and depth. Let Those Who Appear contains selections from various recently-published books as carefully translated by Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes. The title poem is from Shiraishi's 1996 book which received three prestigious awards in Japan—the Yomiuri Literature Award, the Takami Jun Poetry Award, and the Purple Ribbon Medal from the Emperor of Japan.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Championed by Kenneth Rexroth, who inspired her early work, poet Kazuko Shiraishi has won numerous awards in Japan since she began publishing in the 1950s. Let Those Who Appear is the first English-language volume of her work to appear in over 25 years. Translated by Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes, professors of Japanese at California's Foothill College and the College of San Mateo, respectively, the book contains selections from several of Shiraishi's recent books. Born in Canada but moving to Japan in childhood, the now septuagenarian Shiraishi writes loose, whimsical, often witty verse ("The antibiotic of the Amazon bee has the smell of hashish It's a good smell!"), but many of the poems have serious undertones as she addresses environmental destruction, poverty and social injustice.

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Review

An accurate and respectable English rendering of the poems of Shiraishi...one of the great artist-performer poets of our time. -- Manoa, Taylor Mignon, Summer 2003

One of Japan's most important voices in modern poetry. One can hear the music of her lines even in translation. -- The Antioch Review, Spring 2003

Shiraishi is the Allen Ginsberg of Japan. -- Donald Keene

There's that wonderful sense of irreverence...and of possibility. It's no wonder that Shiraishi developed a following. -- Pacific Reader, John Bradley, Winter 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811215105
• ISBN-13: 978-0811215107
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,298,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True to Appearances, November 7, 2006

By 

Crazy Fox (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Those Who Appear (New Directions Books) (Paperback)

For the record, I am not a big fan of contemporary poetry generally speaking, so I picked up this book partly out of curiosity and partly just to cultivate my general knowledge of Japanese literature (also, the strange oblong shape of the book caught my eye). I was then somewhat pleasantly surprised by this thin, flat little book of poetry--I found myself enjoying the strange imagery and jazzy "cafe poetry reading" rhythms of Shiraishi's poems despite myself. This is not to claim that I always "got" what she was talking about, for the imagery is indeed strange, surreal, and elusive for all that it's earthy and sensual (in the sense of appealing very concretely to the five senses). Certainly the poems are informed by beatnik attitudes or the echoes thereof (the poems all date from the 1980's to 2001), along with the concomitant environmentalist ethic and critique of modern urban life alloyed with Keruoacian whimsy--the latter saving the whole thing from getting kind of overbearing or preachy. Some might say this message is dated, but it all seems pretty relevant on a rickety bus barreling through Chicago, let me tell you.

The translators have worked hard in conjunction with the poet to render these poems into English, and I suspect they've done a fine job of capturing their tone and musicality. Still, the book suffers just a bit, I think, in being something of a random sample thrown together from seven different poetry books spanning two decades or so. Even if the poems are representative ones, as they seem to be here, any context and sense of development is lost in the shuffle (a handy key to the original sources of the poems is provided in the back for those inspired to explore further). Naturally this also makes for an unassuming size, inviting a no-risk perusal. Go ahead, give this book a chance. What do you have to lose?