Short Stories in Japanese New Penguin Parallel Text [Paperback]

A dual-language edition of Japanese stories—many appearing in English for the first time
 
This volume of eight short stories, with parallel translations, offers students at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature without having constantly to refer back to a dictionary.
 
The stories—many of which appear here in English for the first time—are by well-known writers like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, as well as emerging voices like Abe Kazushige, Ishii Shinji, and Kawakami Hiromi. From the orthodox to the cutting-edge, they represent a range of styles and themes, showcasing the diversity of Japanese fiction over the past few decades in a collection that is equally rewarding for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of English or Japanese.
 
Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.Michael Emmerich(editor/translator/introducer) is an associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has translated from Japanese more than a dozen books of both fiction and nonfiction, including Kawakami Hiromi’sManazuru; Matsuura Rieko’sThe Apprenticeship of Big Toe P;Takahashi Gen’ichirō’sSayonara, Gangsters; Yoshimoto Banana’sHardboiled & Hard Luck,There Is No Lid on the Sea,Moonlight Shadow,Goodbye Tsugumi, andAsleep; and Kawabata Yasunari’sFirst Snow on Fuji.Table of Contents
 
Introduction
 
“Concerning the Sound of a Train Whistle in the NightorOn the Efficacy of Fiction” —Murakami Haruki (b. 1949), translated by Michael Emmerich
 
“A Little Darkness” —Yoshimoto Banana (b. 1964), translated by Michael Emmerich
 
“Genjitsu House” —Koike Msayo (b. 195ló[