“Eight Dogs Part Three”

Glynne Walley, East Asian Languages and Literatures and 2023–24 OHC Ernest G. Moll Research Fellow in Literary Studies.

The 19th-century adventure novel Eight Dogs by Kyokutei Bakin is one of the most influential books in Japanese history and a key example of the spread of literary ideas and techniques across the the Sinosphere. It’s also one of the longest novels in world history. My project involves a complete annotated translation in multiple volumes, each with an introduction examining a different aspect of the work; the next introduction will look at the publishers who undertook this massive project.