Classic Fiction from Taisho Japan (1912-1926)
Explore classic fiction from Taisho-era Japan (1912-1926). Discover timeless novels and stories that defined Japanese literature during this transformative period.
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Naomi
by Junichiro Tanizaki
A hilarious story of one man’s obsession and a brilliant reckoning of a nation’s cultural confusion—from a master Japanese novelist. When twenty-eight-year-old Joji first lays eyes upon the teenage waitress Naomi, he is instantly smitten by her exotic, almost Western appearance. Determined to transform her into the perfect wife and to whisk her away from the seamy underbelly of post-World War I Tokyo, Joji adopts and ultimately marries Naomi, paying for English and music lessons that promise to mold her into his ideal companion. But as she grows older, Joji discovers that Naomi is far from the naïve girl of his fantasies. And, in Tanizaki’s masterpiece of lurid obsession, passion quickly descends into comically helpless masochism.
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Kokoro
by Bishop of Hippo Soseki
Haunted by tragic secrets, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, confessing indiscretions from his own student days that have left him reeling with guilt.
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Rough Living
by Tokuda Shusei
Humorous and poignant, Rough Living (Arakure) follows the fortunes of an ambitious young seamstress, Oshima, as she strives to survive and prosper in Meiji Japan. Written in 1915 by Tokuda Shusei (1872-1943), the great chronicler of Japan's working class, Rough Living explores the social transformations the country underwent in the early twentieth century from the perspective of a young woman who personifies the hungry, entrepreneurial spirit of the times. Through Oshima's eyes we see the formation of the structures of modern everyday life under capitalism as they evolved in Japan from the time of her birth in 1884 until the end of the novel, around 1910. An unwanted child, Oshima is adopted by a prosperous family but runs away repeatedly after refusing an arranged marriage to a young man with "the feudal mentality of a slave." Oshima endures a series of ineffectual husbands and lovers and failed business ventures but refuses to be the victim. She does not tolerate derogatory treatment by men and shocks the citizens of Tokyo by wearing Western-style dresses and riding a bicycle around the city to promote her tailoring business. Largely through her efforts, she and her common-law husband prosper, but in the end she relinquishes her hard-won success for a chance to start a new business with an attractive employee she hopes to seduce.
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Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
A stunning deluxe edition of one of Penguin Classics' most popular translations Ryünosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan's foremost stylists—a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. "Rashömon"and "In a Bamboo Grove" inspired Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as "The Nose," "O-Gin" and "Loyalty" paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as "Death Register," "The Life of a Stupid Man," and "Spinning Gears," Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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A Dark Night's Passing
by Naoya Shiga
"An autobiographicl novel tracing a young man's passage through a sequence of distrubing events to a hard-won truce with himself."--Page 4 of cover.
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Love of Mountains
by Uno Koji
Uno Koji, a literary figure of the first rank in twentieth-century Japan, was a maverick who defied literary conventions by combining the playfulness and stylistic verve of pre-Meiji literature with the often tortured self-reflection of modern fiction. Elaine Gerbert's startlingly evocative and graceful translation is preceded by an interpretive introduction that places Uno's writing in critical perspective. Here at last is a translation that makes accessible for the first time in English two of the most representative works of this acute, eccentric, and always entertaining author, whose versatility and deft control of language earned him a reputation as one of the great stylists of modern Japanese literature.
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The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories
by Yasunari Kawabata
A collection of twenty-three stories from one of the most influential figures in modern Japanese literature. Yasunari Kawabata is widely known for his innovative short stories, some called "palm-of-the-hand" stories short enough to fit into ones palm. This collection reflects Kawabata's keen perception, deceptive simplicity, and the deep melancholy that characterizes much of his work. The stories were written between 1923 and 1929, and many feature autobiographical events and themes that reflect the painful losses he experienced early in his life.