If someone asked you about Japanese literature, the best-selling author Haruki Murakami would likely come to mind; more experienced readers might be familiar with other great Japanese authors like Sayaka Murata, Yoko Ogawa, Osamu Dazai, or Junichiro Tanizaki. But with only an extremely small percentage of Japanese literature translated into English, these authors are just the tip of the iceberg of what Japan has to offer.
“Gensen: Selected Stories in Modern Japanese Literature: Volume 2” is the second volume in a series that aims to showcase a variety of unique, creative, and thought-provoking Japanese authors, including those you may have heard of, as well as hidden gems which have rarely, if ever, been translated to English before.
This volume contains fiction pieces by Mimei Ogawa (a founding figure of modern Japanese children’s literature), Teruko Okura (the first female Japanese detective story author to publish a standalone book of stories), and Haruo Sato (an award-winning author who was friends with Tanizaki Jun’ichirō and influenced Osamu Dazai), among others.
A woman visiting a hot spring resort to recuperate from a serious illness is shocked to discover a strange man secretly watching her; a talkative parrot gradually reveals the unfortunate tale of the family that raised him; a couple visiting a small northern town on vacation witnesses an unforgettable freak accident…these stories and others will lead you off the beaten path of Japanese literature and into unexpected places within its diverse landscape.
A mini-biography accompanies each piece to give important contextual information about the author. For those learning Japanese, the second half of the book contains the same stories in parallel English / Japanese format. In terms of difficulty, the stories in this volume can be considered as being from easy to moderately difficult.
Stories included:
“Circus Boy” by Mimei Ogawa
“Mother” by Haruo Sato
“Cactus Rose” by Nogitaro Yamamoto
“Acala the Immovable” by Soto Tachibana
“Devil Woman” by Teruko Okura
