Nagai Kafu is one of the greatest modern Japanese writers, but until now his classic collection, American Stories, based on his sojourn from Japan to Washington State, Michigan, and New York City in the early years of the twentieth century, has never been available in English. Here, with a detailed and insightful introduction, is an elegant translation of Kafu's perceptive and lyrical account. Like de Tocqueville a century before, Kafu casts a fresh, keen eye on vibrant and varied America--world fairs, concert halls, and college campuses; saloons, the immigrant underclass, and...
Nagai Kafu is one of the greatest modern Japanese writers, but until now his classic collection, American Stories, based on his sojourn from J...
Nagai Kafu (1879-1959) is best known for his evocative descriptions of Tokyo and its people, especially the kept women, geisha, and prostitutes. These two novellas, which appear here in English for the first time, are set in the Tokyo of the 1930's. During the Rains (1931) is the story of the vicissitudes of an amiable and lascivious Ginza cafe girl. The hero of Flowers in the Shade (1934), kept by a wealthy woman in his student days, ends up in his 40's being supported by a prostitute.
Nagai Kafu (1879-1959) is best known for his evocative descriptions of Tokyo and its people, especially the kept women, geisha, and prostitutes. These...