The Old Woman, the Wife and the Archer Three Modern Japanese Short Novels

Three short novels by contemporary authors whose themes stem from the days before the westernization of Japan. The Songs of Oak Mountain: Based on a legend with a modern message of cheerful fortitude in a situation of unique horror. Ohan: A psychological study of a marriage and in particular of the submissive, inarticulate, self-sacrificing wife who was the ideal. It is the first extensive piece of fiction by a modern Japanese woman writer to be published in this country. Asters: Set in the thirteenth century, it introduces the reader to a world of magic and to a hero fascinated with cruelty and death.