With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan opened itd doors to the West and underwent remarkable political, social, and cultual cahnges as it sought to become a modern nation. Newspapers,
novels, poems, and plays were soon adapted and translated into Japanese. The combination of Japan's rich storytelling tradition and the realism and modenism of the West produced some of the
greatest literature of the contemporary age.
The A to Z of Moden Japanese Literature and Theater presents a broad perspective of the development and history of literature in modern Japan. It offers a chronology, introduction,
bibliography, and more than 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts that played a central role in the evolution of
modern Japanese literatuer and theater.
