The Floating World: The Story of Japanese Prints

by James A. Michener, Howard A. Link

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.

Genres: Art, Japan, Historical Fiction

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[Rosanne Bartlett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish. Too much of a slow reader. His newer works are better.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very dense reading. It took a long time but I think better in small bits. I would be very smart if I could remember everything that was in this book.

[Kay Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Non-Fiction Textbook by Michener about Japanese Art.

[Mary Gizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful edition for any library

[Ellis Vener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Using Japan's wood block printing as a lens, it's a non-fiction study of how art, cultures, and societies develop, stagnate, and (sometimes by force of economics) find new forms. This is a rare non-fiction book by Michener but is still a well told tale, and Michener obviously loves the art work itself for it's vitality and beauty.

[Ciocoiu Iulia]

i didn`t find how to read it....:|

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-fiction, history of Japanese prints. Excellent.