Like photographers, writers who stick at their trade long enough may find themselves in possession, without having realized it, of a substantial body of work, one that has accumulated silently like a snowdrift. Donald Richie's book reviews of Japanese literature, many of which have appeared in this newspaper, were not written as a preconceived body of work but, through the persistence of time, became one.
It may seem odd to be reviewing a collection of reviews, but there are exceptions to everything, and Richie's work is nothing if not exceptional. Reading this book, it is easy to forget that Richie is not primarily a scholar-critic, but an artist whose range of interests and devotions have included filmmaking and criticism, biography, social commentary, several works of fiction including novels, short stories and Noh plays, and travel pieces. The short form required of book reviewing suits Richie well, a writer who, like Susan Sontag, is an accomplished miniaturist. Many of the reviews in fact, read like carefully crafted essays. Richie, we realize, is a classicist.
Richie resolutely refuses to kowtow or pander to received opinions and tastes in these assessments. On the subject of a new translation of the "Hagakure," a manual on the conduct most required to follow the way of the samurai, Richie writes: "There remains the question as to why such a silly book as this should merit four translations in as many years." In this very personal journey through Japanese literature from its earliest to latest offerings, Richie negotiates a number of forms, from novels and plays, to historical biographies, literary diaries, and the unique poetic structures of the senryu and haiku.