Translation Works
To Japanese
The 2nd Selected Works
TITLE
Post-World War II Japanese Short Stories, Volume 1
(Sengo tanpen shosetsu saihakken 1: Seishun no hikari to kage)
AUTHOR
Translator
FRENCH / Jean-Jacques Tschudin & Pascal Simon
Originally Published by:
Kodansha (2001) (pb)
KEY POINTS
  • Short stories that offer fresh portrayals of the aspects of young people that do not change with the times
SYNOPSIS
A tapestry of light and shadow that weaves together the pain, overflowing energies, hopes, and fears of youth
 
Living in Tokyo's Shinjuku district after World War II, we go to the Wakamatsuya bar once every three days. We drink till we drop on the second floor of the establishment and end up sleeping together in a huddle. The Wakamatsuya's roughly 20-year-old maid, Toshi-chan, loves novels more than anything else. For this reason and because I am a writer, she is interested in my group, and she finds ways to strike up conversations with us. We find her irksome and call her "Bizan" behind her back. (Osamu Dazai, "Bizan")
Akio, a young man who has long dreamed of "breaking up" with a lover, loves a girl called Masako, or pretends to love her purely so that he can experience his first break up, and he has made all the necessary preparations for it. In a coffee shop, Akio says, "let's break up," in a voice that seems muffled by a lump of phlegm in his throat, but it is clear that the words have reached Masako's ears, because the eyes on her expressionless face immediately begin pouring out tears. Masako's tears continue for so long that Akio begins feeling self-conscious about the stares of other people in the shop. He leads Masako out into the rain and they go to a fountain in a park. (Yukio Mishima, "Fountains in the Rain")
Noriko works as a secretary at a foreign-based consulting company and is engaged to television newscaster Yuichiro. While Yuichiro is away on an overseas business trip, Noriko goes to have a meal with an old lover, Katsuhiko, and they end up have a good time. Because her fiancé has been sent away on work to a distant foreign place, Noriko's heart has begun to waver. (Yasuo Tanaka, "Seems Like Old Times")
This collection includes 11 masterpiece short stories about youth.
 
GENRE: Youth fiction
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