{"title":"Junnosuke Yoshiyuki","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"fair-dalliance-book-junnosuke-yoshiyuki-9784902075397","title":"Fair Dalliance","description":"\u003cp\u003eYoshiyuki Junnosuke was a sensual writer, whose style is reminiscent of that of novelists such as Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Nagai Kafu. His works deal with the possibility of emotional purity in the relationships between men and women. Often, the relationship is examined through the agency of the protagonist's association with prostitutes.\u003cbr\u003e This collection brings together a selection of many of his finest stories, examining human relationships to reveal new aspects of ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the preface to \u003cem\u003eNew Writing in Japan\u003c\/em\u003e, Mishima Yukio says of Yoshiyuki: The delicacy of Yoshiyuki's language and sensibility is probably more subtle and sophisticated than that of any Japanese writer since the war.The idee fixe of Japanese youth today--that love is impossible and impracticable--lies deep at the root of Yoshiyuki's thinking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis elegant prose style is often likened to that of Albert Camus. Howard Hibbett said of Yoshiyuki (in \u003cem\u003eContemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film and Other Writing Since 1945\u003c\/em\u003e): The cool, polished surface of his fiction faithfully reflects a world of mingled frivolity and futility.The urbane refinement of his astringent prose style is much admired.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50403440689425,"sku":"CIN4902075393G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51065507807505,"sku":"NIN9784902075397","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/4902075393.jpg?v=1750870984"},{"product_id":"dark-room-book-junnosuke-yoshiyuki-9780870113611","title":"The Dark Room","description":"A middle-aged man revels in a free and easy life of casual sex, until he finds himself hovering on the edge of commitment and love which loom like a dark room.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50499154411793,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50499154641169,"sku":"GOR003605132","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53573636686097,"sku":"GOR011494137","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0870113615.jpg?v=1751077114"},{"product_id":"toward-dusk-and-other-stories-book-junnosuke-yoshiyuki-9784902075175","title":"Toward Dusk and Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eYoshiyuki Junnosuke was a sensual writer, whose style is reminiscent of that of novelists such as Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Nagai Kafu. His works deal with the possibility of emotional purity in the relationships between men and women. Often, the relationship is examined through the agency of the protagonist's association with prostitutes.\u003cbr\u003e In the preface to \u003cem\u003eNew Writing in Japan\u003c\/em\u003e, Mishima Yukio says of Yoshiyuki: The delicacy of Yoshiyuki's language and sensibility is probably more subtle and sophisticated than that of any Japanese writer since the war.The id e fixe of Japanese youth today-that love is impossible and impracticable-lies deep at the root of Yoshiyuki's thinking.\u003cbr\u003e His elegant prose style is often likened to that of Albert Camus. Howard Hibbett said of Yoshiyuki (in \u003cem\u003eContemporary Japanese Literature: an Anthology of Fiction, Film and Other Writing Since 1945)\u003c\/em\u003e The cool, polished surface of his fiction faithfully reflects a world of mingled frivolity and futility.The urbane refinement of his astringent prose style is much admired.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eToward Dusk\u003c\/em\u003e, which in 1978 won the Noma Prize, Japan's highest literary award, is considered to be Yoshiyuki's best work in the \u003cem\u003erensaku\u003c\/em\u003e form: a series of stories or chapters bound by common theme.\u003cbr\u003e The story ostensibly revolves around Sasa, the middle-aged protagonist, his fascination with virginity and, in particular, his obsessive quest for an emotional purity in his mistress, Sugiko. In many ways, the main theme is similar to that in \u003cem\u003eThe Dark Room\u003c\/em\u003e (winner of the prestigious Tanizaki Prize; translated into English by John Bester). As the critic James Kirkup pointed out, The postwar mood of disillusionment made Yoshiyuki see the love lives of men and women as fragile and unreliable, fleeting, irresponsible. Like Nakata in \u003cem\u003eThe Dark Room\u003c\/em\u003e, Sasa also lives for his assignations. And, although (unlike Nakata) he is married with a daughter, his family life is empty and meaningless and his home simply somewhere to stay when he is not seeing his mistresses.\u003cbr\u003e Sasa wished to keep his relationships casual, at arms' length, and he arranges them to suit himself. But, ultimately, he realizes that he and Sugiko must go their separate ways, and that nothing lasts forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eToward Dusk\u003c\/em\u003e is joined here by a selection of some of his finest short stories, and all of the pieces in this collection are published here for the first time in English.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51065066127633,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51065067962641,"sku":"NIN9784902075175","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/4902075172.jpg?v=1751000519"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-junnosuke-yoshiyuki.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}