Michele Marra

Kuki Shuzo (1888-1941) is best known for his interpretations of Western Continental philosophy. His works on and of poetry are less well known but equally illuminating. During his eight years studying in Europe in the 1920s, Kuki spent time in Paris, where he wrote several collections of poetry and toon meer many short poems in the tanka style. Included in this volume are the Paris poems as well as other verses that Kuki appended to a long essay on poetry, Rhymes in Japanese Poetry, written in 1931. Michael Marra also presents translations of two of Kukis major critical essays on poetry, The Genealogy of Feelings: A Guide to Poetry (1938) and The Metaphysics of Literature (1940). toon minder