20th century
anthology of japanese short stories
bars
bombing
Category=DNT
Category=FYB
city of tokyo
citys various districts
department stores
eighteen stories
engaging
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
evocative
homes
iconic
japanese writers
literary sketches to popular fiction
modernization
nightclubs
translated
urbanization
war
working class neighborhoods
Product details
- ISBN 9780520217881
- Weight: 408g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 27 Jun 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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This anthology of translated short stories by Japanese writers captures the city of Tokyo through most of the twentieth century - a period of war, bombing, urbanization, and modernization, in short, constant change that has altered and continues to alter the very geography of the city. The eighteen stories, varying from literary sketches to popular fiction, picture everyday life in different parts of the city - in its nightclubs, department stores, bars, homes, and working-class neighborhoods. For the tourist, armchair traveler, or long-time resident, this book is a literary excursion into Tokyo illuminated by the evocative, and often ironic, words of its writers. These expertly translated stories range from reflections on deaths in his family by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the venerated master of the short story, written just before his own suicide; to a story of an all-too-brief affair in the old part of Tokyo by Hayashi Fumiko; and, to an unsettling tale of high politics and possible blackmail by the ever-popular Mishima Yukio. This volume also introduces the work of Ikeda Michiko and Inaba Mayumi, who have never been translated into English before.
Lawrence Rogers's introduction leads us on an intimate meditative stroll through the city's various districts - from the marble and mahogany of the business district to the skid row of San'ya - describing each in delightful vignettes. As an introduction to Tokyo and to the literary imaginations it has inspired, this engaging book will reveal something new about the nature of Japan's capital to all who wander through its pages.
Lawrence Rogers is Professor of Japanese at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and translator of the novel Citadel in Spring (Haru no Shiro) by Agawa Hiroyuki.
