The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories

As the editor of this collection notes regarding Mishima's images- they could be bloody and disturbing or they could be delicate and nuanced. It's this odd juxtaposition that partly attracts me to Japanese literature. Added to that, no doubt some sense of 'exoticism' and a sense of the uncanny which comes to fruition in Murakami. This is a varied collection from the modern era with a good representation of women writers. Some authors were familiar while others were entirely unknown to me but just as impressive as the Tanazakis and Dazais. I hadn't read Akutagawa's 'In A Grove' and was amazed at how expertly balanced were his accounts from different points-of-view of the murder. There are too many stories to choose favourites from but I show more enjoyed Abe's Kafkaesque 'The Bet' and Mishima's delicate portrait of the Kabuki Theatre and the affections and machinations of its occupants. Several stories encouraged me to look up their authors: Enchi's 'Flower-Eating Crone' was intriguing while Higuchi's 'Separate Ways', while one of the older pieces was moving and vivid in a poignant story of diverging fates. 'Desert Dolphin' was a post-modern take on two angels descending to earth and was highly stimulating and unpredictable. Less interesting but still pleasant to read were Yoshimoto and Tsushima. I've only read a couple of Yoshimoto stories but it seems to me she's not too substantial while Tsushima kind of promises more than she delivers here. Despite that this is a very good introduction for the newbie to Japanese lit. show less

An excellent selection of stories, with the exception of a few with pedophilic themes or overtones. Perhaps that makes the edition complete, in the view of an editor, but it makes an otherwise delightful book unsuitable for middle school or high school students, and distasteful for me.

This volume contains an amazing slice of contemporary (and slightly less than contemporary) Japanese writers. This book is the perfect intro to Japanese literature for those unfamiliar; the short stories within are good representations of their respective author's general style. It's a darn entertaining read, too; I loved nearly every story and and have reread several of them many times.

mixed bag, feel like some of the translations have a lot to be desired but the first story especially was very emotional. interesting overall

Useful for including more contemporary stories than
Keene's modern Japanese Literature anthology