BOOKLISTS: A Thousand Cranes - Fiction by Japanese and Chinese Authors
Japanese Fiction | Chinese Fiction
Abe, Kobo. KANGAROO NOTEBOOK. 1996
The narrator wakes one morning to discover that his legs are growing radish sprouts, an ailment that repulses his doctor but provides the patient with the unusual ability to snack on himself. In short order, Abe's unraveling protagonist finds himself hurtling in a hospital bed to the very shores of hell. FICTION/ABE/KOB
Ariyoshi, Sawako. THE KABUKI DANCER. 1994
Against a backdrop of civil war, dynastic conflict, and social turmoil, Okuni, the first temple dancer to perform with jugglers and freak shows, with her companions and lovers, struggles to survive the new age. Based on fact, the novel is a turbulent love story, historical fiction, and an almost mythic representation of the miraculous moment in which an immortal art form appears. FICTION/ARIYOSHI/SAW
Endo, Shusaku. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND. 1995
A coming-of-age story in which student Yoshioka Tstomu realizes that he lacks interest in his studies but his sexual desires are overwhelming. He knows that eventually he will settle down in a career and marry the boss's niece. Yet he won't be able to set aside entirely the memory of Mitsu, a plain, naive country girl he once took callous advantage of during his college days. Can he erase her memory from his mind? FICTION/ENDO/SHU
Endo, Shusaku. THE SAMURAI. 1982
In 1613 a ship with merchants and four low-ranking samurai sailed from Japan to Mexico. Endo uses the trip to create a fictionalized account of what happened to Hasekura, one of the samurai: his journey to Mexico, Spain, and the Vatican; his adoption of the Christian faith merely for his mission; and the secret growth of that faith until his final sacrifice. FICTION/ENDO/SHU
Ikenami, Shotaro. MASTER ASSASSIN: Tales of Murder in the Shogun's City. 1992
Set in a world of corrupt feudal lords, fawning geisha and deadly ninja, Baian, an acupuncturist turned assassin, uses the tools of his trade not only for healing but also for murder and revenge. MYSTERY/IKENAMI/SHO
Kawabata, Yasunari. THE DANCING GIRL OF IZU AND OTHER STORIES. 1997
Written between 1923 and 1929, this collection of 22 stories forms a shadow biography of the author's early years. Themes of loss, longing and memory pervade these remarkable tales. The title story portrays the tender anxiety of a young man whose fascination with a pubescent girl nudges him toward adulthood. FICTION/KAWABATA/YAS
Kawabata, Yasunari. THOUSAND CRANES. 1996
Kawabata places the events of his story against the rites and symbols of the tea ceremony. The young man Kikuji becomes involved with middle-aged Mrs. Ota, a teacher of the tea ritual, who had been his late father's mistress. Kikuji's feelings of hostility and infatuation, Mrs. Ota's subsequent suicide, and Fumiko, Mrs. Ota's daughter, all serve to complicate Kikuji's life. FICTION/KAWABATA/YAS
Kita, Morio. GHOSTS. 1992
A novel about the lingering presence, in a young boy's dreams, of a mother and daughter lost in World War II. The narrator struggles to interpret the dream images that colored his whole childhood experience. FICTION/KITA/MOR
Mishima, Yukio. PATRIOTISM. 1995
Death and ecstasy become intertwined in this novella of an army officer and his wife who commit suicide. With his unique rigor and passion, Mishima homes in on the body as the great tragic stage for all we call social, ritual, and political. FICTION/MISHIMA/YUK
Murakami, Haruki. NORWEGIAN WOOD 2000
Haunted by the death of their mutual friend, Naoko and Toru find it impossible to sustain their mutual passion. Naoko withdraws into a cocoon, while Toru becomes inflamed with desire for an uninhibited and highly independent woman. A modern coming-of-age story by one of Japan's leading writers. FICTION/MURAKAMI/HAR
Murasaki, Shikibu. THE TALE OF GENJI. 2001
Of the Hesian period, this chronicle of court life centers on the career of Prince Genji. Reflecting pure Japanese traditions, the work has had tremendous influence on subsequent literature and art and is regarded unreservedly as the greatest single work in Japanese literature. Dating from the 11th century, this is recognized as the world's first novel. FICTION/MURASAKI/SHI NON FICTION PL 788.4/G4 E3
TALE OF HEIKE. 1988
An anonymous epic, first transmitted through oral tradition, then reworked in the 14th century, the story relates the decline and final defeat of the house of Taira, reporting battlefield exploits, highborn ladies and hapless victims in lyrical detail. NON FICTION PL 790/H4/E5
Tanizaki, Junichiro. THE GOURMET CLUB. 2001
Obsessed by themes of eroticism, the grotesque and the fantastically horrible, Tanizaki was revered in his native Japan. In this eclectic collection of six unclassifiable stories, presented chronologically, the reader is taken through the spasms of Tanizaki's career, from the early story "The Children" 1911, with its inflated language and mannered suspense, to the last, "Manganese Dioxide Dreams" 1955, which addresses a fixation of the author. FICTION/TANIZAKI/JUN
Tsutsui, Yasutaka. WHAT THE MAID SAW: Eight Psychic Tales. 1990
In the tradition of Stephen King's Carrie, this novel is the story-told in eight disturbing tales-of a young woman with extraordinary powers of ESP. FICTION/TSUTSUI/YAS
Yoshikawa, Eiji. MUSASHI. 1981
Made into a three-part movie by Hiroshi Inagai, this novel is a subtle and imaginative story. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety and absolute dedication to the Way of the Samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely. Full of gusto and humor, it has an epic quality and universal appeal. FICTION/YOSHIKAW/EIJ
Yoshimoto, Banana. AMRITA. 1997
Richly hued and sophisticated, the novel opens with the death of a celebrated actress in mysterious and shocking circumstances. She leaves behind an unconventional, extended family and a fiancé who embarks on a strange journey through grief and suffering, memories lost and regained, forbidden romance, redemption and recovery. FICTION/YOSHIMOT/BAN
Cao, Xueqin. THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER. 1958
Written in the 18th century, Dream of the Red Chamber has been recognized as the greatest novel produced in China for over a century and a half. The love of a boy and his cousin-a Chinese Romeo-and-Juliet love story-is the central theme of the novel, but around them is a portrait of one of the world's great civilizations.
FICTION/TSAO/HSU
Chen, Jianing. THE CORE OF CHINESE CLASSICAL FICTION. 1990
Discusses the origins of Chinese fiction and includes texts chronologically organized from 222 AD to the early 20th century. Each section includes an introduction to the time period and a timeline of important historical and literary events. FICTION/CHUNG-KUO
Gao, Xingjian. SOUL MOUNTAIN. 2000
Winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature, Soul Mountain was described by the Swedish Academy as "an odyssey in time and space through the Chinese countryside." Inspired by the author's true-life epic journey to freedom through the ancient forests of China-a five-month trek over 15,000 kilometers-Soul Mountain challenges conventions and lays bare the human condition. FICTION/GAO/XIN
Hong, Ying. SUMMER OF BETRAYAL. 1997
Initially banned in China in 1992, Ying's novel is a riveting story of betrayal, sexual liberation, and political defiance set in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Fleeing the brutal crackdown, Lin Ying struggles through the chaotic streets of Beijing to reach her apartment-only to be betrayed by her lover. Reeling from this double betrayal, she takes refuge and embraces sexuality as perhaps the last freedom left to her. FICTION/HONG/YIN
Lee, C. Y. CHINA SAGA. 1987
In 1880, Fong Tai is a young man about to be married. In 1976, his great-grandson Jimmy takes a train to Beijing, wondering if he could trace his American father. In between is a picture of one family's adventures as political turmoil determines their lives, from the Boxer Rebellion to the Cultural Revolution. FICTION/LEE/C
Li, Bihua. FAREWELL TO MY CONCUBINE. 1993
Set in the world of Peking opera, this novel traces the lives of three famous performers, from the height of their fame through the terrors of the Cultural Revolution and beyond. FICTION/LEE/LIL
Lord, Bette. THE MIDDLE HEART. 1996
From the acclaimed author of Spring Moon comes this dramatic, richly emotional story of two men and a woman who are intricately bound to one another and to the cataclysmic events that have shaped modern China. Of different backgrounds and stations in life, they form a passionate alliance to defend their country and save their people. FICTION/LORD/BET
Tsan-Hsueh. DIALOGUES IN PARADISE. 1989
A collection of 13 short stories arranged thematically, from narrative realism to fantasy, dreams, and the nightmare of life in post-Mao China with influences of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Kafka and Woolf. FICTION/TSAN-HSU/EH
Zhang, Xianliang. GETTING USED TO DYING. 1991
This autobiographical novel evaluates one man's struggle to come to terms with his past. Constructed around a series of romantic encounters during the author's travels in Europe and America, the novel intertwines themes of sexuality and love with the brutality of the time spent in China's labor reform camps. FICTION/CHANG/HSI