Mad Wives and Island Dreams
Shimao Toshio and the Margins of Japanese Literature
Hailed as the noted critic Karatani Kojin as a more important and lasting writer than Mishima, Shimao Toshio (1917-1986) remains almost unknown in the West.
Several of his short stories have appeared in English translation, yet it is only now, with the publication of Philip Gabriel's comprehensive and searching study, that Shimao's work is being introduced to a worldwide audience it deserves.
Shimao's fiction covers a wide range of topics:
- the war and its aftermath,
- the unconscious
- the nuclear family
- madness
- the position of women
- the culture of Japan's southern islands
Shimao's experiences as a survivor of a 'kamikaze' unit underscore much of his literature and resulted in a series of compelling short stories unique in modern fiction.
In Mad Wives and Island Dreams, Gabriel succeeds in linking all the seemingly disparete strands within Shimao's oeuvre
- the war stories
- the byosaimono
- the dream stories
the Yaponesia writings
categories all too often discussed in isolation.
CONDITION:Soft cover, New with minor damage from shipping and storage. Bumping to corners and a minor spatter from publishing process to front cover.
