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'What is the life of a human being - a drop of dew, a flash of
lightning? This is so sad, so sad.' Autobiographical stories from
one of Japan's masters of modernist story-telling. Introducing
Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little
Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin
Classics, with books from around the world and across many
centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London
to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to
16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories
lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and
inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927). Akutagawa's Rashomon and Seventeen
Other Stories is also available in Penguin Classics.
When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.
This hand-picked selection from The Penguin Book of Japanese Short
Stories celebrates the best literature to emerge from Japan since
the twentieth century. From a surreal fairy tale to a heart-rending
evocation of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, this vibrant
collection provides unique cultural insight and literary
inspiration for language learners. Includes works from beloved
authors such as Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Haruki Murakami and more.
Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.
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Hell Screen (Hardcover)
Ryunosuke Akutagawa; Translated by Jay Rubin
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R300
R245
Discovery Miles 2 450
Save R55 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions
of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest
writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take
us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England
to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on
the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and
printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile
cloth and stamped with foil. Akutagawa was one of the towering
figures of modern Japanese literature, and is considered the father
of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection, which
includes the stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film
Rashomon, showcases the terrible beauty, cynicism, sublime pain and
absurd humour of his writing. 'One never tires of reading and
re-reading his best works. The elegantly spare style has a truly
spine-tingling brilliance' - Haruki Murakami
When a man's favourite elephant vanishes, the balance of his whole life is subtly upset; a couple's midnight hunger pangs drive them to hold up a McDonald's; a woman finds she is irresistible to a small green monster that burrows through her front garden; an insomniac wife wakes up to a twilight world of semi-consciousness in which anything seems possible - even death. In every one of the stories that make up The Elephant Vanishes, Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal. He has a deadpan genius for dislocating realities to uncover the surreal in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Combat films have long been a staple in the history of American
cinema. This critical text offers a behind-the-scenes look at some
of the most important American war films of the last 60 years.
Based on original interviews, archival research and featuring rare
photographs, this book covers films that are considered unusually
realistic for the genre. The original edition covered war films
through World War II, while the updated version includes seven new
chapters, which address the Civil War, the American gunboat
presence in China in the 1920s, the Korean War, the Vietnam War,
the fighting in Mogadishu in 1993 and the war in Iraq. Coverage
goes through The Hurt Locker (2009).
A major anthology of great Japanese short stories introduced by
Haruki Murakami This is a celebration of the Japanese short story
from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to remarkable
contemporary works. It includes the most well-known Japanese
writers - Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many
surprising new pieces, from Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Banana
Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey'. Ranging over myth, horror, love, nature,
modern life, a diabolical painting, a cow with a human face and a
woman who turns into sugar, The Penguin Book of Japanese Short
Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty and comedy. Edited by
Jay Rubin with an introduction by Haruki Murakami
An intimate conversation about music and creativity, between the
internationally bestselling writer Haruki Murakami and world-class
conductor, Seiji Ozawa. Haruki Murakami's passion for music runs
deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in
Tokyo, and the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates
every one of his much-loved books. Now, in Absolutely on Music,
Murakami fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend,
acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk about their shared
interest. They discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from
Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up
orchestras, and much more. 'Absolutely on Music is an unprecedented
treasure... Talking about music is like dancing about architecture,
it's often said, but what joy to watch these two friends dance.'
Guardian
A rich, fact-filled collectible, packed with vibrant history, amazing trivia, and rare photographs, The Twilight Zone: Encyclopedia, assembled with the full cooperation of the Rod Serling estate, includes biographies of every principal actor involved in the series and hundreds who toiled behind the scenes—producers, writers, and directors.
It is an exhaustive and engrossing guide, a compendium of credits, plot synopses, anecdotes, production details, never-before-seen images, and interviews with nearly everyone still alive who was associated with the show.
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The Miner (Paperback)
Natsume Soseki; Introduction by Haruki Murakami; Translated by Jay Rubin
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R330
R269
Discovery Miles 2 690
Save R61 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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From the great Meiji writer Natsume Soseki, The Miner is an
absurdist tale about the indeterminate nature of human personality.
'It makes me very happy that I can read this novel written over a
hundred years ago as if it were contemporary and be deeply affected
by it. It cannot and should not be overlooked. It is one of my
favorites' Haruki Murakami The Miner is the most daringly
experimental and least well-known novel of Japanese writer Natsume
Soseki. An absurdist tale written in 1908, it was in many ways a
precursor to the work of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. Translated
by Jay Rubin, and with an introduction from Haruki Murakami, this
is bound to appeal to fans of Japanese literature.
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Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
Ryunosuke Akutagawa; Introduction by Haruki Murakami; Translated by Jay Rubin
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R692
R532
Discovery Miles 5 320
Save R160 (23%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan's foremost stylists
- a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly
original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. 'Rashoemon' 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.
When Mouschi the cat goes with his boy, Peter, to a secret annex,
he meets a girl named Anne. Bright, kind and loving, Anne dreams of
freedom and of becoming a writer whose words change the world. But
Mouschi, along with Anne and her family and friends, must stay
hidden, hoping for the war to end and for a better future. Told
from the perspective of the cat who actually lived with Anne Frank
in the famous Amsterdam annex, this poignant book paints a picture
of a young girl who wistfully dreams of a better life for herself
and her friends, tentatively wonders what mark she might leave on
the world, and, above all, adamantly believes in the goodness of
people. Accompanied by beautiful, vivid art, this book is a perfect
introduction to a serious topic for younger readers, especially at
a time when respect and inclusion are so important.
A major new anthology of great Japanese short stories introduced by
Haruki Murakami This fantastically varied and exciting collection
celebrates the great Japanese short story, from its modern origins
in the nineteenth century to the remarkable examples being written
today. Curated by Jay Rubin (who has himself freshly translated
several of the stories) and introduced by Haruki Murakami, this is
a book which will be a revelation to many of its readers. Short
story writers already well-known to English-language readers are
all included - Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata -
but also many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames'
to Yuten Sawanishi's 'Filling Up with Sugar', from Shin'ichi
Hoshi's 'Shoulder-Top Secretary' to Banana Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey',
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear,
charm, beauty and comedy.
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Sanshiro (Paperback)
Natsume Soseki; Introduction by Haruki Murakami; Translated by Jay Rubin
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R298
R243
Discovery Miles 2 430
Save R55 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Natsume Soseki's only coming-of-age novel, "Sanshiro" depicts the
eponymous twenty-three-year-old protagonist as he leaves the sleepy
countryside to attend a university in the constantly moving "real
world" of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics,
and-most of all-the women, Sanshiro must find his way among the
sophisticates that fill his new life. An incisive social and
cultural commentary, "Sanshiro" is also a subtle portrait of first
love, tradition, and modernization, and the idealism of youth
against the cynicism of middle age.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan's foremost stylists
- a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly
original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. 'Rashoemon' 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.
Making Sense of Japanese is the fruit of one foolhardy American's
thirty-year struggle to learn and teach the Language of the
Infinite. Previously known as Gone Fishin', this book has brought
Jay Rubin more feedback than any of his literary translations or
scholarly tomes, even if, he says, you discount the hate mail from
spin-casters and the stray gill-netter.
To convey his conviction that the Japanese language is not vague,
Rubin has dared to explain how some of the most challenging
Japanese grammatical forms work in terms of everyday English.
Reached recently at a recuperative center in the hills north of
Kyoto, Rubin declared, I'm still pretty sure that Japanese is not
vague. Or at least, it's not as vague as it used to be. Probably.
The notorious subjectless sentence of Japanese comes under close
scrutiny in Part One. A sentence can't be a sentence without a
subject, so even in cases where the subject seems to be lost or
hiding, the author provides the tools to help you find it. Some
attention is paid as well to the rest of the sentence, known
technically to grammarians as the rest of the sentence.
Part Two tackles a number of expressions that have baffled students
of Japanese over the decades, and concludes with Rubin's patented
technique of analyzing upside-down Japanese sentences right-side
up, which, he claims, is far more restful than the traditional way,
inside-out.
The scholar, according to the great Japanese novelist Soseki
Natsume, is one who specializes in making the comprehensible
incomprehensible. Despite his best scholarly efforts, Rubin seems
to have done just the opposite.
Previously published in the Power Japanese series under the same
title and originally as Gone Fishin' in the same series.
A comprehensive guide to managing stage fright, at work, school, in
your life.
As a young man, Haruki Murakami played records and mixed drinks at
his Tokyo Jazz club, Peter Cat, then wrote at the kitchen table
until the sun came up. He loves music of all kinds - jazz,
classical, folk, rock - and has more than six thousand records at
home. And when he writes, his words have a music all their own,
much of it learned from jazz. The author, a self-confessed fan, has
written a title for other fans who want to know more about this
reclusive writer. He reveals the autobiographical elements in
Murakami's fiction, and explains how he developed a distinctive new
style in Japanese writing. In tracing Murakami's career, he uses
interviews he conducted with the author between 1993 and 2001, and
draws on insights and observations gathered from over ten years of
collaborating with Murakami on translations of his works.
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