472 pages, 6 3/25 x 9 1/4
Paperback
Release Date:01 Feb 1984
ISBN:9780824808730
Hardcover
Release Date:01 Jun 2016
ISBN:9780824859220
The Floating World by novelist James A. Michener is a classic work on the Japanese print of the Edo period (1615-1868). Mr. Michener shows how the Japanese printmakers, cut off from revivifying contacts with the art of the rest of the world and hampered by their own governmental restrictions, were able to keep their art vital for two centuries through their vigor and determination.
For this new edition, Howard A. Link updates the scholarship and expands on many theoretical aspects introduced in Michener’s study.
Mr. Michener here turns to the field of Japanese prints—and explores it with an unusual mixture of erudition and sheer ebullience. His approach is far from pedantic, and he tends to treat the subject chiefly as a human interest story.
As writer and novelist, reporter and enthusiast on subjects Japanese, James A. Michener is well qualified for his task. The Floating World consequently is not only a vivid and lively history of the Japanese print which should appeal to anyone who has ever looked at and enjoyed a print, but it also has value to scholars.
Packed with pertinent information gathered from many sources and written in a lively style which makes fascinating reading
