In summarizing his life by recounting the various occupations he had pursued, Tsubouchi Shy once said that he had been first "a pathetic novelist, then I became an instructor of English literature, then a middle school director of moral education, next a scriptwriter promoting theater reform. After that, a proponent for new musical drama in Japan." Yet he also could have added two more hats to this hat rack that defines the course of his career--those of literary critic and Shakespeare translator. The characteristically modest tone Shy uses to list his diverse contributions to modern Japanese letters belies his significance and widespread importance, but behind Shy's modesty is also his awareness that his literary works--both narrative and dramatic--failed to reach the high critical standards that he proposed. Yet his bold, articulate critical writings, combined with his encouragement of budding novelists, first redefined and then reformed Japanese literature at...