Scan barcode
A review by ben_smitty
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories by Jay Rubin
4.0
I decided to pick up this anthology after realizing I knew next to nothing about Japanese literature even though I did my thesis on Shusaku Endo.
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is a thematic anthology of mostly modern Japanese short stories. Themes include "Japan and the West", "Loyal Warriors", "Men and Women", "Nature and Memory", "Modern Life and Other Nonsense", "Dread", and "Disasters, Natural and Man-made," which are all important themes in Japanese literature. A couple of the stories stuck out as impressionable, but most were hit or miss. Still, I could clearly see how these important themes found themselves in Endo's works, especially the stories written post-WWII.
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is a thematic anthology of mostly modern Japanese short stories. Themes include "Japan and the West", "Loyal Warriors", "Men and Women", "Nature and Memory", "Modern Life and Other Nonsense", "Dread", and "Disasters, Natural and Man-made," which are all important themes in Japanese literature. A couple of the stories stuck out as impressionable, but most were hit or miss. Still, I could clearly see how these important themes found themselves in Endo's works, especially the stories written post-WWII.