ISBN The Oxford of Japanese Short Stories book 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.