The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories

The Showa Anthology is the first comprehensive collection of Japanese short stories to appear in English translation in over eight years. These twenty-five stories, most of them newly translated for these two volumes, were composed during the size decades of the Showa period (from 1926 to the present day) by some of the finest Japanese writers of this century. The variety and scope of these works attest both to the tenacity of Japanese literary tradition and to the ability of the Japanese writer to absorb and adapt contemporary literary techniques. Most of all, they are vivid artistic responses to what may well be the most turbulent, challenging era in modern Japanese history.