Tokyo Stories: A Literary Stroll (Voices from Asia)

Book Overview

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; to an unsettling tale of high politics and possible blackmail by the ever-popular Mishima Yukio. The 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. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520217861
• ISBN13: 9780520217867
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Recommended

This anthology of short stories is a brilliantly selected set of works. I was introduced to this novel because it was a required text for Rogers-sensei's Japanese Literature class. I opened the novel and was immediately intrigued; for every short story, Rogers includes an introduction that is very helpful in understanding the text. Rogers includes well-known authors such as Kawabata Yasunari and Ihara Saikaku, but also...

Sensei is brilliant.

I read this book before I enrolled in any classes with Dr. Rogers, before I ever moved to Hilo, Hawai'i to persue a Japanese Studies major. My opinion may still be biased, but I was highly enamoured from the very beginning, before even meeting or talking to him. I really love the selection of authors. Some are well-known, although these pieces are not. Others are not well-known, at least in America. Sensei chose material...