MONKEY New Writing from Japan

Ted Goosen teaches Japanese literature and film at York University in Toronto. He is the editor of The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories. He translated Haruki Murakami’s Wind/Pinball and The Strange Library, and co-translated (with Philip Gabriel) Men Without Women and Killing Commendatore. His translations of Hiromi Kawakami’s People from My Neighbourhood (Granta Books) and Naoya Shiga’s Reconciliation (Canongate) were published in 2020.Motoyuki Shibata translates American literature and runs the Japanese literary journal MONKEY. He has translated Paul Auster, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek, Steve Erickson, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, and Richard Powers, among others. His translation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a bestseller in Japan in 2018. Among his recent translations is Eric McCormack’s Cloud.

• CONTENTSSea Horse, a story by Hiromi KawakamiA woman hears an announcement on the radio that war has broken out, relatives arrive at her house seeking refuge, when the war ends they leave, then a civil war breaks out: a story by Tomoka ShibasakiThe Overcoat, a graphic story by Satoshi KitamuraHell, a story by Kikuko TsumuraSeeing, a poem by Mieko KawakamiThe Decline of the Aliens + Sheep After Sheep, from City of Ears by Hideo Furukawa----------------------------------------------------------------Travel: A Monkey’s Dozen The Dugong, a chapter from Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko ShibusawaJogging in Southern Europe, an essay by Haruki MurakamiWhale Leg, a story by Laird HuntKurozuka: A Noh Play, from the modern Japanese translation by Seikō ItōThe Trail, a story by Eric McCormackFive Modern Poets on Travel, selected and translated by Andrew CampanaItō Goes on a Road Trip, Making a Pilgrimage to Yuda Hot Springs, a chapter from The Thorn Puller by Hiromi ItōToad, a story by Barry YourgrauEvery Reading, Every Sound, Every Sight, a travel essay by Jun’ichi KonumaMy First Trip, essays by Mikako Brady, Hirokazu Koreeda, Miwa Nishikawa, Yui Tanizaki, and UtamaruA Report on Travel, a story by Brian Evenson----------------------------------------------------------------Along the Embankment, a story by Hiroko OyamadaFrom the Northern Sea, a story by Yasunari KawabataThe Lake, a story by Kyōhei SakaguchiCardboard Boxes and Their Uses, a story by Taki MonmaFlying Squirrels, an excerpt from a novella by Yūko TsushimaThe Most Boring Red on Earth, a story by Aoko MatsudaI can't translate this! Remarks from twelve translatorsContributorsCredits

“MONKEY is more fun than anything called literature has a right to be. Some of the most imaginative writing in the world just so happens to hail from Japan.”—Roland Kelts, Nikkei Asia“An astonishment, by turns playful and profound, that makes you wish it were monthly.”—Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao“MONKEY is full of deep, funny, wild, scary, fabulous, moving, surprising, brilliant work.”—Laird Hunt, author of Neverhome