The Funeral of a Giraffe - Seven Stories (Hardcover)

A disappointing debut collection of seven relentlessly depressive tales, the first published (in 1975) by a veteran Japanese writer renowned as one of her country's most accomplished novelists, poets, and writers of popular songs. Tomioka's typical characters, as seen here, are middle-class householders stuck in unfulfilling jobs and in entry-level marriages or affairs, vulnerable to the pangs of unrequited love ("A Dog's Eye View"), the cruelty of the aging process ("Days of Dear Death") and the dissatisfactions of impersonal sex ("Yesterday's Girl," "Time Table"). Only in the bizarre title piece - in which a young man's early death brings out the worst in an increasingly estranged mother and daughter - does any whiff of individuality arise from Tomioka's melancholy premises. Unresonant, emotionally uninvolving stories, offering no evidence of why she's considered an important writer. (Kirkus Reviews)

The first collection of short stories by award-winning scriptwriter-poet turned fiction writer, Tomioka Taeko. In an objective style reminiscent of Japanese puppet theater, Taeko deconstructs the discourse of the nuclear family and heterosexuality in gendered Japanese culture. Her stories focus on ordinary people who take life as it comes, living from day to day without the intervention of ego or rationalization, unfettered by introspection or a search for life's ultimate meaning. The stories are disturbing, moving and compelling to read.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	March 1999
First published:	2000
Authors:	Kyoko Iriye Selden • Taeko Tomioka • Noriko Mizuta
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	160
ISBN-13:	978-0-7656-0441-5
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction Books > Fiction > Special features > Short stories
LSN:	0-7656-0441-8
Barcode:	9780765604415

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