Name: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
ISBN: 9780141395630

Jay Rubin

This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the great Japanese short story, from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to the remarkable works being written today. Short story writers already well-known to English-language readers are all included here - Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Yuten Sawanishi's 'Filling Up with Sugar', from 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. Curated by Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated several of the stories, and introduced by Haruki Murakami, this book will be a revelation to its readers.

The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

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 A Penguin Classics Hardcover 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.

Not done yet as this is a compilation of short stories--basically a collection of works that are clearly themed as identified by the chapters. 

Quality selection imho, but be warned that the seppuku stories are what you would expect them to be--dramatic and graphic that you can definitely feel the pain of the act as you read the words. But even in the theme being quite pointed, the diversity of stories here is something I appreciate.

Claudine

Not done yet as this is a compilation of short stories--basically a collection of works that are clearly themed as identified by the chapters. 

Quality selection imho, but be warned that the seppuku stories are what you would expect them to be--dramatic and graphic that you can definitely feel the pain of the act as you read the words. But even in the theme being quite pointed, the diversity of stories here is something I appreciate.

Gavin

All the classic contradictions - kawaii and banality, sullen obesiance and batshit intensity, mono no aware and sexual frustration.

There are five great stories (“Hell Screen”, 'Sanshirō', “American Hijiki”, “Pink”, “Mr. English”) and 10 or so enjoyable squibs (out of around 40). There aren't many great sentences, but greatness doesn't strictly need em.

  spinning slowly all in unison, and Naomi found herself joining them, looking up into the sky just as she had before, but this time she felt she was falling, and...perhaps... they could go back to before they'd twisted their bodies in wicked prayer and find some other way to free themselves from a world become a living hell, and so she vowed that once they'd wound the world back a full nineteen years, they would take it in their hands again and make it theirs at last; on and on she spun, every revolution a prayer in reverse.


Conspicuous by its absence is Shōwa fascism* - there are no positive or negative references, nor (modern German-style) defensive rightful disownment. The war is there, the terrible firestorms, the terrible hunger; but nothing of the cult (a death cult, king cult, Prussia cult, and race cult) that caused them. There is a little bit of Edo totalitarianism (a lord having a maiden burned alive to render a painting of hell more realistic) at least. 

That said, one of the great achievements of 'American Hijiki' is to show how resentment and insularity can come from other sources than hibakusha trauma or psychotic Imperial pique. 

  no Japanese can understand it, probably, if he's not my age. No Japanese who can have an ordinary conversation with an American, who can go to America and have Americans all around him without going crazy, who can see an American enter his field of vision and feel no need to brace himself, who can speak English without embarrassment, who condemns Americans, who applauds Americans, no Japanese like this can understand... what I have is an incurable disease, the Great American Allergy.



The allure and/or horror of Western things (booze, books, bodies) features in maybe half of these. It is very common for the stories to end on an inconclusive, ambiguous, middle-distance-staring notes.

I continue to see little in Mishima's lascivious, sadistic honour, though I suppose I should thus admire the portrayal of an alien outlook, which might well have overtaken the liberal-ironic-rationalist one. But Akutagawa does that better. In general I didn't see much correlation between eminence and quality (though this judgment is from behind that thick screen, translation).

Only one piece, 'Same as Always' (about harming your child) stands for Japan's powerful, distinctive kind of horror.

The Hiroshima piece is surprisingly flat, journalistic. I've cried at exhibits about the bombs before, so it ain't me.


I liked Murakami's introduction, where he admits hostility to, and ignorance of, modern Japanese fiction:

   for a long while I was convinced that, with a few exceptions, early modern and contemporary Japanese literature was simply boring. There were many reasons for this, but foremost among them may be that the novels and stories we were assigned to read in school were pretty bad. My “I-novel allergy” was also quite strong back then (these days, to be sure, it has become less intense), and since you can’t hope either to make your way through or to understand modern Japanese literature if you’re going to avoid its constitutional predisposition to producing “I novels,” I made a conscious effort while young to avoid getting anywhere near Japanese literature.



though both of his included stories are kind of dull, unaffecting.

---

* In a sense, Imperial Japan was too fascist to be fascist, since "fascism" was a filthy European idea.

---

Ranked:

• “Hell Screen” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
• 'Sanshirō' by Natsume Sōseki
• “American Hijiki” by Akiyuki Nosaka
• “Pink” by Tomoyuki Hoshino
• “Mr. English” by Keita Genji

• “In the Box” by Taeko Kōno
• “Remaining Flowers” by Kenji Nakagami
• “Hiyoriyama” by Kazumi Saeki
• “Closet LLB” by Kōji Uno
• “The Story of Tomoda and Matsunaga” by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
• “Filling Up with Sugar” by Yūten Sawanishi
• “The Silver Fifty-sen Pieces” by Yasunari Kawabata
• “The Tale of the House of Physics” by Yōko Ogawa
• “Hiroshima, City of Doom” by Yōko Ōta
• “Shoulder-Top Secretary” by Shin'ichi Hoshi
• “Cambridge Circus" by Motoyuki Shibata
• “Peaches” by Abe Akira
• “UFO in Kushiro” by Haruki Murakami

Below the cut:

• “Unforgettable People” by Doppo Kunikida
• “The Last Testament of Okitsu Yagoemon” by Ōgai Mori
• “The Great Earthquake” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
• “Patriotism” by Yukio Mishima
• “Same as Always” by Yūya Satō
• “Bee Honey” by Banana Yoshimoto
• “Dreams of Love, Etc.” by Mieko Kawakami
• “The Smile of a Mountain Witch” by Minako Ohba
• “A Bond for Two Lifetimes—Gleanings” by Fumiko Enchi
• “Planting” by Aoko Matsuda
• “Flames” by Yūko Tsushima
• “The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema” by Haruki Murakami
• “Factory Town” by Minoru Betsuyaku
• “Insects” by Yūichi Seirai
• “Kudan” by Hyakken Uchida
• “Behind the Prison” by Kafū Nagai

A major anthology of great Japanese short stories introduced by Haruki Murakami This is a celebration of the Japanese short story from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to remarkable contemporary works. It includes the most well-known Japanese writers - Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many surprising new pieces, from Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Banana Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey'. Ranging over myth, horror, love, nature, modern life, a diabolical painting, a cow with a human face and a woman who turns into sugar, The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty and comedy. Edited by Jay Rubin with an introduction by Haruki Murakami

Beatriz Baptista

5.0 ⭐️ No geral amei a experiência de ter lido este livro. É uma boa introdução à literatura japonesa e sem dúvida que me despertou o interesse por outros autores para além do Haruki Murakami (o único que já tinha lido). Acho que é impossível ler este livro e não gostar de nenhuma short story, assim como é normal não amar todas, uma vez que são bastante diferentes, não só nos temas, como no tipo de escrita de cada autor.

A negrito deixo as minhas 12 short stories preferidas como recomendação, sendo a The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema (1982) do Haruki Murakami o meu número 1, assim como a Introdução, também da sua autoria.

Curiosidade:
- A short story mais antiga é de 1898,  Unforgettable People, Doppo Kunikida e a mais recente de 2014,  Weather-Watching Hill, Kazumi Saeki, com 116 anos de diferença.

1. JAPAN AND THE WEST ----------------------------
 1. (#1) The Story of Tomoda and Matsunaga (1926) by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki: 4/5
 2. (#2) Behind The Prison (1909) by Kafū Nagai: 2/5
 3. (#3) Sanshiro (1908) by Natsume Sōseki: 4.5/5 <- 

2. LOYAL WARRIORS ----------------------------
 1. (#4) The Last Testmament of Okitsu Yagoemon (1912) by Ōgai Mori: 3/5
 2. (#5) Patriotism (1961) by Yukio Mishima: 5/5 <- 

3. MEN AND WOMEN ----------------------------
 1. (#6) Flames (1979) by Yūko Tsushima: 1.5/5
 2. (#7) In the Box (1977) by Taeko Kōno: 2/5
 3. (#8) Remaining Flowers (1988) by Kenji Nakagami: 4.5/5 <- 
 4. (#9) Bee Honey (2000) by Banana Yoshimoto: 10/5 <- 
 5. (#10) The Smile of a Mountain Witch (1976) by Minako Ohba: 3.5/5
 6. (#11) A Bond of Two Lifetimes - Gleanings (1957) by Fumiko Enchi: 2/5

4. NATURE AND MEMORY ----------------------------
 1. (#12) Peaches (1972) by Akira Abe: 3.5/5
 2. (#13) The Tale of the House of Physics (2010) by Yōko Ogawa: 5/5 <- 
 3. (#14) Unforgettable People (1898) by Doppo Kunikida: 4/5
 4. (#15) The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema (1982) by Haruki Murakami: 1000/5 <- 
 5. (#16) Cambridge Circus (2004) by Motoyuki Shibata: 3/5

5. MODERN LIFE AND OTHER NONSENSE -------------
 1. (#17) Closet LLB (1918) by Uno Kōji: 1/5
 2. (#18) Mr. English (1951) by Keita Genji: 1/5
 3. (#19) Factory Town (1973) by Minoru Betsuyaku: 4/5 <- 
 4. (#20) Dreams of Love, Etc (2011) by Mieko Kawakami: 4/5
 5. (#21) Shoulder-Top Secretary (1961) by Shinichi Hoshi: 3.5/5 <- 

6. DREAD ----------------------------
 1. (#22) Hell Screen (1918) by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: 3.5/5
 2. (#23) Filling Up with Sugar (2013) by Sawanishi Yuten: 4.5/5 <- 
 3. (#24) Kudan (1921) by Hyakken Uchida: 1/5

7. DISASTERS, NATURAL AND MAN-MADE ------------
 1. (#25) The Great Earthquake (1927) and General Kim (1924) by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: 1/5
 2. (#26) Hiroshima, City of Doom (1948) by Ota Yoko: 3.5/5
 3. (#27) Insects (2005) by Yuichi Seirai: 100/5 <- 
 4. (#28) The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces (1946) by Yasunari Kawabata: 4/5
 5. (#29) American Hijiki (1967) by Akiyuki Nosaka: 2/5
  6. (#30) Pink (2014) by Tomoyuki Hoshino: 100/5 <- 
 7. (#31) UFO in Kushiro (1999) by Haruki Murakami: 4.5/5
 8. (#32) Weather-Watching Hill (2014) by Kazumi Saeki: 4/5
 9. (#33) Planting (2011) by Aoko Matsuda: 3.5/5
 10. (#34) Same as Always (2012) by Yūya Satō: 5/5 <-

Zoë Schaefer

I tried so hard to like this, but the majority of the stories were either nonsensical or just revolting to read. It gave me an introduction to some Japanese authors that I might want to look into in the future, but as it stands alone, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Despite there being sections ("Men and Women," "Nature and Memory," "Dread," etc.), the entire work felt disjointed and felt more like a paycheck project than a passion one. From the stories themselves, to how the editor decided to put them together (and choose them), to even the bored introduction Murakami handed over, it's definitely not something I'm going to ever go back to.

The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

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