Sunday 29 July 2012

Forthcoming novels, books and future readings.

There seems to be a good number of novels forthcoming in English translation to be looking forward to, two novels in particular that I'm looking forward to and are hopefully appearing before the end of the year, firstly the novel from Hideo Furukawa and also the translation of an early work, (1926), by Edogawa Rampo which is definitely something I'll be keen to read, a provisional list of titles due to appear over the next few months might look something like this -

We, the Children of Cats by Tomoyuki Hoshino, due August 2012, PM Press
Botchan - by Natsume Soseki, (new translation), due October 2012, Penguin Classics
3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, due November 2012, One Peace Books
Belka, Why Don't You Bark by Hideo Furukawa, due November 2012, Haikasoru
Body - Asa Nonami, due November 2012, Vertical Inc
Edge - Suzuki Koji, due November 2012, Vertical Inc
Strange Tale of Panorama Island - Edogawa Rampo, due December 2012, Hawaii University Press
Virus - Sakyo Komatsu, due December 2012, Haikasoru
The Gate - Natsume Soseki, due December 2012, New York Review Books Classics
Death By Choice - Masahiko Shimada, due December 2012, Thames River Press
God's Boat - Kaori Ekuni, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Jasmine - Noboru Tsujihara, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Mandala Road - Masako Bando, due December 2012, Thames River Press
A Thousand Strands of Black Hair - Seiko Tanabe, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Gray Men - Tomotake Ishikawa - due December 2012, Vertical Inc

2013 ~

The Tale of Heike - translated by Royall Tyler, due January 2013, Penguin Books
Revenge - Yoko Ogawa, due January 2013, Picador in the U.S, Harvill Secker in the U.K
Kiku's Prayer - A Novel - Shusaku Endo, due January 2013, Columbia University Press
Salvation of a  Saint - Keigo Higashino, due February 2013, Little Brown
The Goddess Chronicle - Natsuo Kirino, due February 2013, Canongate Myths
Botchan - Natsume Soseki, due February 2013, One Peace Books, (a new translation by Glenn Anderson)
The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle - Kobayashi Takiji, due March 2013, Hawai'i University Press
Death-Tech - Kei Urahama, due March 2013, Lantis Media
Sun at Midnight: Poems and Letters - Musō Soseki, due April 2013, Copper Canyon Press
Self-Reference ENGINE - Enjoe Toh, due April 2013, Haikasoru
From the Fatherland with Love - Murakami Ryu, due May 2013, Pushkin Press,
Wasabi For Breakfast - Kometani Fumiko, due May 2013, Dalkey Archive Press
A Cappella - Koike Mariko, due May 2013, Thames River Press
In Pursuit of Lavender - Itoyama Akiko, due May 2013, Thames River Press
New Tales of Tono - Inoue Hisashi, due June 2013, Merwin Asia Publishing
Tokyo Seven Roses, vols. 1 and 2 - Inoue Hisashi, due May 2013, Thames River Press
Day in the Life - Kuroi Senji, due June 2013, Dalkey Archive Press
Evil and the Mask - Fuminori Nakamura, due June 2013, Soho Press
Lizard Telepathy, Fox Telepathy - Yoshinori Henguchi, due June 2013, Chin Music Press
Tales From a Mountain Cave: Stories from Japan's North East - Inoue Hisashi, due September 2013, Thames River Press
Portrait of a Tongue - Yoko Tawada, due September 2013, University of Ottawa Press
Bullfight - Inoue Yasushi - due September 2013, Pushkin Press
Tales of the Ghost Sword - Kikuchi Hideyuki - due September 2013, Thames River Press
The Case of the Sharaku Murders - Katsuhiko Takahashi - due September 2013, Thames River Press
Lost Souls, Sacred Creatures - Four Stories - Nishimura Juko, due September, Thames River Press
The Crimson Thread of Abandon:Stories - Terayama Shuji - due October 2013, Merwin Asia Publishing
Don't Lose Heart - Toyo Shibata - due October 2013, Pighog Press
A True Novel - Minae Mizumura - due November 2013, Other Press
The Book of Tokyo - Short Stories from Urban Japan, edited by Jim Hinks - due November 2013, Comma Press
Light and Dark - Soseki Natsume,  translation by John Nathan, Weatherhead, Columbia University, due November 2013
Night on the Galactic Railroad and Other Stories from Ihatov - Kenji Miyazawa, One Peace Books, due December 2013

Another title that I'm sure will garner a lot of attention is the rather mammoth biography of Yukio Mishima by Inose Naoki, translated by Sato Hiroaki entitled: Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima, which is published by Stonebridge Press in November 2012. The biography was originally published in Japan back in 1995, but as the description of the book mentions this is the first biography of Mishima to appear in English for nearly forty years, I'm sure it will be widely reviewed. 3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa Ryunosuke looks like it will contain a story from 1920 that has not appeared in English before, (The God of Aguni/Aguni no Kami). Also before the year is out there's a reissue of Mutsuo Takahashi's Poems of a Penisist, which is also translated by Hiroaki Sato, along with this in November is Jeffrey Angles, (internationaldateline.tumblr.com), translation of Takahashi's 1970 memoir Twelve Views from the Distance, excerpts of which can be read at the excellent Cerise Press, alongside with the original in Japanese, both of these published by Minnesota University Press. Many times it seemed that I missed the opportunity of visiting Ryokan's hut, nr. Tsubame City in Niigata, he's a poet I've been meaning to read for a long time, there's so many editions and translations of his work available, (any advice on which one would be greatly appreciated), but I think I'll seek out a copy of Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi which is due out any day from Shambhala. Another poetry book which looks like it will make essential reading is the anthology, 101 Modern Japanese Poems compiled by Makoto Ooka and translated by Paul McCarthy, a title that appeared through the now sadly defunct JLPP, published by Thames River PressGenga - Original Pictures - a book that came out back in July collects drawings from Otomo Katsuhiro taken from a recent exhibition is a title I'd like to have a look through, published by PIE Books. Lastly a novel that appeared at the beginning of the year that I think I'd definitely like to catch up with is Domesday by Kei Urahama, translated by Mika Deguichi and John Cairns and published by Lantis Media, a sci-fi novel that received the 2000 Komatsu Sakyo Prize, looks interesting. I'm hoping that there might be more that may appear in the meantime.

Another two older titles to add, both originally published by Kodansha International, which are being republished by Kurodahan Press - Blue Bamboo by Osamu Dazai, translated by Ralph F. McCarthy and also Citadel in Spring by Agawa Hiroyuki, translated by Lawrence Rogers.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, so many goodies here! I'm definitely super excited about the Natsuo Kirino in particular, though. Do you know who's going to be doing the translation? I thought Stephen Snyder's translation of Out was really great, so my fingers are crossed that he's at the helm on this one too.

me. said...

Looks like I could make a few additions to this!*, the dangers of posting late at night. Looks like the translation is by Philip Gabriel.I've still not read my copy of Out, Kirino is an author I want to catch up with.

* Natsuo Kirino's The Goddess Chronicle is also due in February published as part of the Canongate myth series and is translated by Rebecca Copeland.

Will said...

I can always count on you to find small press stuff/ stuff published in the UK and not the US. Looks I've got some books to add to my List!

me. said...

There's a few titles from your list that I've forgot to mention, Speculative Japan 3 being one, and also from Kurodahan the collection Tales of the Metropolis-Kaiki:Uncanny Tales from Japan, Vol.3 looks very interesting too, and of course I've forgot to include Self-Reference ENGINE, which looks like it might appear for January 2013. Looks like this post may well be edited a little bit..

@parridhlantern said...

great post, loving the 101 Modern Japanese Poems compiled by the great Makoto Ooka, one you may be aware of already but which is of interest to me is
Tanikawa Shuntaro, The Art of Being Alone: Poems 1952-2009. thanks for multiplying my wishlist as per usual.

me. said...

I've been meaning to track out a copy of The Art of Being Alone for a while, although I've not checked but I'm guessing that the paperback must be due out very soon. 101 Modern Japanese Poems looks to be an essential edition.

me. said...

Updated again with Body - a collection of stories by Asa Nonami and also New Tales of Tono a collection by Inoue Hisashi due out in March 2013

Unknown said...

Lots of good stuff here - especially looking forward to the Ogawa :)

me. said...

I think it was due for publication this year but was put back which is a pity, think I'm going to re-read The Diving Pool in the mean time!.