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Modern Japanese Novels
and the West
Japanese characters

The Japanese Novel is today coming into its own as an important part of the literature of the world. The translations which have appeared have been generously, sometimes even extravagantly praised by reviewers. Although none has yet achieved best-seller popularity, sales have been respectable. Adventuresome instructors of comparative literature have begun to include modern Japanese novels in their reading lists, and some titles are even available in lurid paperbacks at drugstores across the country. It may not be long before our critics when writing about twentieth-century fiction discover that it may be found outside Europe and America. Readers already know that the modern Japanese novel affords not merely the delights of exoticism, but the

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