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| Collections that contain Murakami's stort stories |
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The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford Books of Prose) (Paperback) Paperback: 496 pages This collection of short stories, including many new translations, is the first to span the whole of Japan's modern era from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. Beginning with the first writings to assimilate and rework Western literary traditions, through the flourishing of the short story genre in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Taisho era, to the new breed of writers produced under the constraints of literary censorship, and the current writings reflecting the pitfalls and paradoxes of modern life, this anthology offers a stimulating survey of the development of the Japanese short story. Various indigenous traditions, in addition to those drawn from the West, recur throughout the stories: stories of the self, of the Water Trade (Tokyo's nightlife of geishas and prostitutes), of social comment, love and obsession, legends and fairytales. This collection includes the work of two Nobel prize-winners: Kawabata and Oe, the talented women writers Hirabayashi, Euchi, Okamoto, and Hayashi, together with the acclaimed Tanizaki, Mishima, and Murakami. The introduction by Theodore Goossen gives insight into these exotic and enigmatic, sometimes disturbing stories, derived from the lyrical roots of Japanese literature with its distinctive stress on atmosphere and beauty. Monkey Brain Sushi Paperback: 305 pp As translator and editor Birnbaum aptly points out in his stylish introduction, ``Originality--as distinct from creativity--has never been a Japanese obsession; the society works best within found forms.'' Accordingly, the collection reflects what may seem to Westerners an almost decadent interest in pastiche, in literary appropriation and in the flouting of tradition for its own sake. Hipper than thou, most of the 11 young writers represented here appear out to shock an easily titillated society. Amy Yamada, Japan's answer to Mary Gaitskill, dishes up the words of a ``queen'' employed at an S & M club; in a piece by Masahiko Shimada, described as ``a parody for which there is no original,'' the narrator announces early on, ``My genitals were made for masturbation. Masturbation, my genitals, and my room form a fatal triangle.'' Other contributions are slightly effete: Gen'ichiro Takahashi, for example, serves up a witty deconstructionist critique. Satire reigns supreme, and the most successful and ``original'' entry is by the best-known contributor, Haruki Murakami, who uses mass-media images to deflate the life of an ad man. Edited by Alfred Birnbaum Contains "T.V. People" by Haruki Murakami Books of The Times; Tales From Japan's Postwar Generation By Herbert Mitgang
New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction from Japan Paperback: 175 pages Refuting the popular belief that literature in Japan is "dead," novelist McInerney states that current fiction there shows "the hybrid vigor of the traditional and the modern." While certainly vigorous, these 12 stories, all by prizewinning writers, are less "hybrid" than cutting-edge cosmopolitan: although primarily set in Japan, they seem products of a pure universe in which Kafka and the Divine Comedy are common points of reference; in which Helen Keller is so well known that an anecdote describing her progress need identify her only by first name. Mitsios, a professor of English, assembles an impressive range of literary ambassadors, from Sei Takekawa's sophisticated horror tale "On a Moonless Night" to Genichiro Takahashi's baseball story "The Imitation of Leibniz" and Eimi Yamada's erotic "X-Rated Blanket." Among the more poignant entries is Shiina Makoto's "Swallowtails," in which a teacher tells a struggling young couple that a classmate has accused their son of stealing, while perhaps the most comic is "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," by Tamio Kageyama, about an obese student at a scuba-diving school. This anthology should firmly resolve debates about the vitality of Japanese fiction. Books of The Times; Tales From Japan's Postwar Generation By Herbert Mitgang |
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