Still Life and Other Stories (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) [Paperback]

Junzo Shono (Author), Wayne P. Lammers (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 1880656027 | ISBN-13: 978-1880656020 | Edition: 1st

Delicate tales reveal the flow of life in the modern Japanese family, the accidental pleasures and the unexplained misfortunes. Shono's unique "snapshot" technique?the layering of commonplace events, images, and conversations?is like haiku poetry crossed with an Ozu-style film drama.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first translation into English of a penetrating collection of stories by one of Japan's preeminent postwar writers focuses on the small events and revelations of domestic life. In one story, a straying young husband and his unhappy wife attempt to construct their lives around the growing void between them. Another tells of a bureaucrat fired from his job for embezzlement who still leaves the house every day so his children won't know about his predicament. The other 11 pieces form a sort of novella dealing exclusively with the Yomogida family. Shono is particularly adept at capturing close family moments, such as an intense game of cards played every night before a daughter's upcoming wedding--an unconscious effort to stave off the imminent breakup of the family circle. In another moving story Shono describes Mr. Yomogida taking homemade sushi to a widower friend. Shono conveys both intimacy and distance, tranquility and tension, as he explores the shifting relations between husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister. Lammers's excellent translation keeps the dialogue and language deceptively simple yet nuanced and subtle; he makes the family Japanese and universal at the same time.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Shono conveys both intimacy and distance, tranquility and tension, as he explores the shifting relations between husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister." -Publishers Weekly -- Review

"These stories are so artful... they seem like the artless productions of life itself." -Kenyon College Book Review -- Kenyon College Book Review

"This collection should be sipped and savored like warm sake." -Small Press -- Small Press

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press; 1st edition (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656027
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656020
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,536,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic look into the human experience., April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Still Life and Other Stories (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) (Paperback)

Nothing can be said or written about life but this book certainly comes close. Not only it captured the reader realization of the subtle life we might experience, this book will make you think about what important to one's life.