American Haiku, Eastern Philosophies, and Modernist Poetics

by Yoshinobu Hakutani Kent State University

Overview

American Haiku, Eastern Philosophies, and Modernist Poetics traces the genesis and development of haiku in Japan as it transformed over the years and eventually made its way to the Western world. Yoshinobu Hakutani analyzes the prominent Eastern philosophies expressed through haiku, such as Confucianism and Zen, and the aesthetic principles of yugen, sabi, and wabi. Hakutani discusses several reinventions of haiku, from Matsuo Basho’s transformation of the classic haiku, to Masaoka Shiki’s modernist perspectives expressing subjective thoughts and feelings, and eventually to Yone Noguchi’s introduction of haiku to the Western world through W. B. Yeats and Ezra Pound. Hakutani argues that the adoption and transformation of haiku is one of the most popular East-West artistic, cultural, and literary exchanges to have taken place in modern and postmodern times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793634504
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	10/29/2020
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.35(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.97(d)

About the Author

Yoshinobu Hakutani is professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar at Kent State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Genesis and Development of Haiku in Japan

Chapter 2: Classic Haiku Tradition

Chapter 3: Modernist Haiku Poetics

Chapter 4: Ezra Pound, Imagism, and Haiku

Chapter 5: Richard Wright’s Haiku and Modernist Poetics

Chapter 6: Wright’s Haiku, Zen, and the African “Primal Outlook upon Life”

Chapter 7: Jack Kerouac’s Haiku and Classic Haiku Poetics

Chapter 8: Kerouac’s Haiku and Beat Poetics

Chapter 9: Kerouac’s Haiku and The Dharma Bums

Chapter 10: Sonia Sanchez’s Haiku and Blues Poetics

Chapter 11: James Emanuel’s Jazz Haiku

Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

This comprehensive study sheds new light on the development of modernism, especially in Japanese, American, and African American haiku poetry. Hakutani’s discussion of Yone Noguchi’s influence on Ezra Pound significantly revises our understanding of how Imagism emerged, and he persuasively demonstrates Richard Wright’s engagement with classic haiku poets as well as modernists such as Masaoka Shiki and T. S. Eliot. Hakutani’s deep knowledge of Buddhist and Confucian philosophies, and of the aesthetics of haiku, the blues, and jazz, makes him an indispensable guide to the cross-cultural poetic achievements of W. B. Yeats, Jack Kerouac, Sonia Sanchez, James Emanuel, and others.

Anita Patterson