The Bear and the Paving Stone (Japanese Novellas #5)
Description
Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, three dream-like tales of memory and war: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing
A Japanese man, far from home, travels the countryside of Normandy with a friend - talking about war, literature, and everything in between. As his ideas of his life become more entangled with his personal writing, the pangs of his past and his half-forgotten memories overlap and threaten his peace.
Owing a debt to French writers from La Fontaine to Proust, the three fable-like tales in The Bear and the Paving Stone are stories of loss, memory and a longing to belong.
Praise for The Bear and the Paving Stone (Japanese Novellas #5)
"Horie weaves fables out of everyday existence in these three captivating tales of relationships and lives revisited . . . Across these ruminative stories, Horie suddenly drops in moments of piercing wisdom and revelation, revealing that, for better or worse, there is no escape from one’s memory. — Publishers Weekly
"A gentle, stirring novella of history and memory that simmers with raw emotional ferocity. . . Horie uses descriptive imagery in a distanced narrative style. His characters maintain an inner strength and Zen-like independence that wavers under the emotional weight of shared memories, which merge in unexpected ways to convey a yearning for deeper connections. The Bear and the Paving Stone adds to the bold collection of contemporary Japanese literature published by Pushkin Press." — Shelf Awareness
"It is a rather beautiful, very funny, often bitter or sadly gentle book that will entice and satisfy while leaving one thirsting for more." — Bookanista
"Whimsical stories, celebrating, language, friendship and life." — Japan Times
