Review of: Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō

A quarter of a century ago William LaFleur published his book on Saigyō, Mirror for the Moon, which the present work, Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō, thoughtfully and masterfully supersedes. In the first part of the book, The Life and Times of Saigyō, the author succinctly incorporates many of these findings and relates Saigyo\u27s poems both to historical events and to his personal life experience (pp. 1-70). The second half of the book contains LaFleur\u27s translation of over 150 poems by Saigyō, all of which appear to be taken from his earlier book