Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Bakumatsu era/Boshin War/Meiji Restoration

Post Reply
Psychoblue
Scribbler
Posts: 16
Joined: December 2011

Bakumatsu era/Boshin War/Meiji Restoration

Post by Psychoblue » Fri December 30th, 2011, 3:27 am

Has anyone noticed that there is a dire lack of literature for this particular era of history? This era usually gets lost in the shuffle as a lot of other things were going on in the world during the 1850s-1860s, but I find this to be a really fascinating era in the 19th century. This was also one of the United States' first major overseas campaigns for political relations with countries outside of Europe, and was a very rapid shift in culture for Japan.

I have my own piece of literature I wrote on this that I'll share later, but in the meantime can anyone recommend literature set in this era? Right now it seems the only format to foray into this is a handful of manga (Rurouni Kenshin being the most popular).

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Fri December 30th, 2011, 4:13 pm

Lian Hearn's Blossoms and Shadows is set around around the Meiji Revolution There's a useful bibliography associated with the book on Gillian Rubenstein's website -Lian Hearn is the pseudonym she uses for her adult fiction. Although semi-fantasy, her Tales of the Otori series is also very well done.

Psychoblue
Scribbler
Posts: 16
Joined: December 2011

Post by Psychoblue » Fri December 30th, 2011, 4:18 pm

[quote=""annis""]Lian Hearn's Blossoms and Shadows is set around around the Meiji Revolution There's a useful bibliography associated with the book on Gillian Rubenstein's website -Lian Hearn is the pseudonym she uses for her adult fiction. Although semi-fantasy, her Tales of the Otori series is also very well done.[/quote]
I will check this out! My own story has a lot of fantasy elements in it, as well, so I'm eager to compare what other people before me did. Thank you!

Rhunt
Scribbler
Posts: 10
Joined: April 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA

Post by Rhunt » Sat May 26th, 2012, 7:18 pm

I highly recommend "Shades of the Past: Or, Indiscreet Tales of Japan" by Harold S. Williams.

This is a collection of accounts about Americans and others first coming to Japan at the end of the Tokugawa era -- it's not a continuous historical narrative, but it is centered on the period you're interested in, and it gives an excellent view of Japanese culture and the Japanese reaction to foreigners (and vice versa) at the time.

History on a human scale, you might say. And, despite the rather curious title, it isn't centered on anything prurient (it's an unfortunate choice of title, actually). It's mostly swords, politics, trade, culture shock on both sides (sometimes violent), and even popular legends of the time caused by the meeting of the closed Japanese society and the outside world.

Edit: I realized that this is non-fiction, but it's still a useful resource, in my opinion, if you're interested in the period or writing about it.
Last edited by Rhunt on Sat May 26th, 2012, 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Wanted to add a note about it being non-fiction.
Rhian Hunt

Now Available: The Six Expressions of Death A murder mystery set in 16th century Japan.
Coming Late 2012: Man of the Bow and Spear Continuation of the series.

The Six Expressions of Death

Post Reply

Return to “By Era”