The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories: Penguin Classics by Jay Rubin (Editor, Translator)

Product Description

A major new collection of Japanese short stories, many appearing in English for the first time, with an introduction by Haruki Murakami, author of Killing Commendatore



This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the art of the Japanese short story, from its origins in the nineteenth century to the remarkable practitioners writing today. Edited by acclaimed translator Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated some of the stories, and with an introduction by Haruki Murakami, this book is a revelation.

Stories by writers already well known to English-language readers are included--like Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata, and Yoshimoto--as well as many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's "Flames" to Yuten Sawanishi's "Filling Up with Sugar" to Shin'ichi Hoshi's "Shoulder-Top Secretary" to Banana Yoshimoto's "Bee Honey," The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty, and comedy.

Review

Brilliant, startling, a goldmine ... unfolds like an idiosyncratic mixtape, compiled with expert zeal by veteran translator Jay Rubin ... incredibly varied. Horror and mythology jostle with character comedies, domestic dramas and Proustian reveries ... it challenges notions of what translated literature should be (Alex Dudok de Wit Daily Telegraph)

A feast of literature, a smorgasbord of over 30 widely varied modern Japanese writers ... Each lodges itself in memory ... Penguin's new anthology is a literature lover's dream, page after page of memorable writing, stories that leave a lasting impression yet can be fully absorbed in one sitting (Kris Kosaka Japan Times)

An exhilarating glimpse into Japanese literature (Patti Smith)

Product details

Paperback: 576 pages

Publisher: Penguin Classics (4 April 2019)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 024131190X

ISBN-13: 978-0241311905

Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm

About the Author

Jay Rubin is an American translator and academic. He is the translator of several of Haruki Murakami's major works, including Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Natsume Soseki's The Miner and Sanshiro and Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories. He is the author of Making Sense of Japanese, Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words and a novel, The Sun Gods. Haruki Murakami is one of Japan's most admired and widely read novelists. His most recent novel is Killing Commendatore.