Strange tales from Edo : rewriting Chinese fiction in early modern Japan / William D. Fleming

"Paints a sweeping picture of Japan's engagement with Chinese fiction in the early modern period (1600-1868). Large-scale analyses of the full historical and bibliographical record-the first of their kind-document in detail the wholesale importation of Chinese fiction, the market for imported books and domestic reprint editions, and the critical role of manuscript practices in the circulation of Chinese texts among Japanese readers and writers. Fleming also traces the journey of Pu Songling's "Liaozhai zhiyi" (Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio). An immediate favorite of readers on the continent, Liaozhai was long thought to have been virtually unknown in Japan until the modern period. Yet beneath this surface of apparent neglect lies a rich hidden history of engagement and rewriting-hand-copying, annotation, criticism, translation, and adaptation-that opens up new perspectives on both the Chinese strange tale and its Japanese counterparts."--.