Description
Book SynopsisFor readers who love Haruki Murakami and want to be introduced to other exciting contemporary Japanese writers, especially women writers.
MONKEY New Writing from Japan is an annual anthology that showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature. Volume 2 celebrates TRAVEL -- we may not be able to travel much during this second year of the pandemic, but we can travel in our imaginations. MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hideo Furukawa, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and Kyohei Sakaguchi; new translations of modern classics; a graphic narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from American writers such as Brian Evenson and Laird Hunt.
Trade Review“MONKEY is more fun than anything called literature has a right to be. Some of the most imaginative writing in the world just so happens to hail from Japan.” --Roland Kelts, Nikkei Asia
“An astonishment, by turns playful and profound, that makes you wish it were monthly.” --Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“MONKEY is full of deep, funny, wild, scary, fabulous, moving, surprising, brilliant work.” --Laird Hunt, author of Neverhome
Table of ContentsCONTENTS
Sea Horse, a story by Hiromi Kawakami
A woman hears an announcement on the radio that war has broken out, relatives arrive at her house seeking refuge, when the war ends they leave, then a civil war breaks out: a story by Tomoka Shibasaki
The Overcoat, a graphic story by Satoshi Kitamura
Hell, a story by Kikuko Tsumura
Seeing, a poem by Mieko Kawakami
The Decline of the Aliens + Sheep After Sheep, from City of Ears by Hideo Furukawa
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Travel: A Monkey’s Dozen
The Dugong, a chapter from Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa
Jogging in Southern Europe, an essay by Haruki Murakami
Whale Leg, a story by Laird Hunt
Kurozuka: A Noh Play, from the modern Japanese translation by Seikō Itō
The Trail, a story by Eric McCormack
Five Modern Poets on Travel, selected and translated by Andrew Campana
Itō Goes on a Road Trip, Making a Pilgrimage to Yuda Hot Springs, a chapter from The Thorn Puller by Hiromi Itō
Toad, a story by Barry Yourgrau
Every Reading, Every Sound, Every Sight, a travel essay by Jun’ichi Konuma
My First Trip, essays by Mikako Brady, Hirokazu Koreeda, Miwa Nishikawa, Yui Tanizaki, and Utamaru
A Report on Travel, a story by Brian Evenson
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Along the Embankment, a story by Hiroko Oyamada
From the Northern Sea, a story by Yasunari Kawabata
The Lake, a story by Kyōhei Sakaguchi
Cardboard Boxes and Their Uses, a story by Taki Monma
Flying Squirrels, an excerpt from a novella by Yūko Tsushima
The Most Boring Red on Earth, a story by Aoko Matsuda
I can't translate this! Remarks from twelve translators
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