The magic of Miyazawa’s tales reaches out to people of all ages and lands. The sophisticated reader can savor them consciously as literature, while the younger reader can delight in them as imaginative stories that comment on and deepen his own experience. The underlying themes are universal, but the forms and treatment can be appreciated at many levels and vary subtly from piece to piece. The sheer storytelling skill is most evident in pieces like the joyful, innocent “Wildcat and the Acorns,” or in a classic cautionary tale like “The Restaurant of Many Orders.” But even a superficially whimsical tale like “the Earth-god and the Fox” can in a short span construct a genuinely moving little tragedy. “The Last Deer Dance,” a fanciful account of the origins of a well-known folk dance, works its gentle way to a climax of pure poetry. “Tokkobe Torako” makes folk superstitions the basis for a piece of amusing farce in a historical setting.
| notes: | Contents: The Earthgod and the Fox, General Son Ba-yu, Ozbel and the Elephant, The First Deer Dance, The Bears of Nametoko, Wildcat and the Acorns, Gorsch the Cellist, Tokkobe Torako, A Stem of Lilies, The Restaurant of Many Orders, The Man of the Hills, The Police Chief, The Spider, the Slug, and the Raccoon, The Red Blanket, The Dahlias and the Crane, The Thirty Frogs, The Ungrateful Rat, Night of the Festival, The Fire Stone, March by Moonlight, Kenju’s Wood, The Wild Pear, Down in the Wood, The Nighthawk Star. |
| subjects: | Short stories, Japanese, Translations into English |
| genre: | Fiction |
| ISBN: | 9784770017802 |
| OCLC number: | 32311100 |
| publisher: | Kodansha International, 1993, 1995, 1997 |
| publication place: | New York, Tokyo |
| english publication date: | 1993 |
| document type: | Book |
| description: | xiv, 273 p. ; 24 cm. |