When Japan sent its first delegation to the United States in 1860, the diplomats were honored in New York with a Broadway parade. Among the spectators that day was Walt Whitman, whose poem hailing the "nobles of Niphon" subsequently appeared in The New York Times.
It was a half century later, however, that the Far East was "discovered" by American Modernist writers, who incorporated elements of Japanese and Chinese art, philosophy and literature into their own works. One of the most famous examples of this is Ezra Pound's 1913 haiku "In a Station of the Metro," which reads:
"The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet black bough."
The influence of the Far East on a generation of American writers is traced in a new exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, titled "Petals on a Wet Black Bough" after Pound's haiku. The display includes correspondence, literary works, sketches and paintings, memorabilia and photographs of such American Modernists as H.D., Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Amy Lowell, e.e. cummings, Marianne Moore, Gertrude Stein, Thornton Wilder, Eugene O'Neill and, of course, Pound.
The exhibit, which will be on view Oct. 18-Dec. 23, was organized by Patricia C. Willis, curator of the Yale Collection of American Literature. Coinciding with the opening of the exhibit will be a conference on "Modernism and the Orient" cosponsored by the Beinecke Library and the Whitney Humanities Center. See below.
The American fascination with the Far East began with the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1853. Accompanying Perry on the journey was Bayard Taylor, one of the most widely read journalists of his time, who published his impressions of the trip and lectured about it in nearly 100 U.S. cities and towns.
At the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Americans could see first-hand fine and decorative arts from the Far East on display in a Japanese Pavilion. The following year, former president Ulysses S. Grant met with the emperor of Japan and the Chinese prime regent, each in his own palace. This unprecedented trip inspired others to travel to the Orient to observe the nation's customs, nature, religion, education and art. Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese themes inundated fiction and theater in such works as "The Mikado" and "Madame Butterfly."
Among the highlights of the Beinecke exhibit are memorabilia of Grant's trip to the Orient, a copy of Whitman's poem "A Broadway Pageant" and a first edition of "The Mikado." Also on display are 19th-century children's books popularizing knowledge of the Orient; a print showing the New Haven Railroad Station in 1851, complete with a pagoda-like tower; books on Japan by astronomer Percival Lowell, brother of Amy Lowell, and Lafcadio Hearn that were best- sellers in their day; manuscripts by Ernest Fenollosa, an authority on Japanese art whose works inspired Pound; and artwork by cummings.
The Beinecke Library, located at 121 Wall St., is open for exhibition viewing 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
"Modernism and the Orient"
The keynote speaker at the conference on "Modernism and the Orient," being held Oct. 18-19, will be Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History, an authority on the history of China since the 16th century. His topic will be "Whose Modernism? The View from China." The talk will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, in Sudler Hall of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. , enter on College Street south of Sprague Hall.
The following day, there will be presentations on topics ranging from W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens and Chinese art, Gertrude Stein, pre-Modernist Orientalism, Ezra Pound and Confucius, and John Gould Fletcher. This session will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.
The conference is free and open to the public. For further information, call 432-2963.