In the seventeenth century, Japanese popular prose flourished as waves
of newly literate readers gained access to the printed word. Commercial
publishers released vast numbers of titles in response to readers'
hunger for books that promised them potent knowledge. However,
traditional literary histories of this period position the writings of
Ihara Saikaku at center stage, largely neglecting the breadth of popular
prose.
In the first comprehensive study of the birth of Japanese commercial
publishing, Laura Moretti investigates the vibrant world of vernacular
popular literature. She marshals new data on the magnitude of the
seventeenth-century publishing business and highlights the diversity and
porosity of its publishing genres. Moretti explores how booksellers
sparked interest among readers across the spectrum of literacies and
demonstrates how they tantalized consumers with vital ethical,
religious, societal, and interpersonal knowledge. She recasts books as
tools for knowledge making, arguing that popular prose engaged its
audience cognitively as well as aesthetically and emotionally to satisfy
a burgeoning curiosity about the world. Crucially, Moretti shows,
readers experienced entertainment within the didactic, finding pleasure
in the profit gained from acquiring knowledge by interacting with
transformative literature. Drawing on a rich variety of archival
materials to present a vivid portrait of seventeenth-century Japanese
publishing, Pleasure in Profit also speaks to broader conversations
about the category of the literary by offering a new view of popular
prose that celebrates plurality.
