Asian

May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She's been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda.

Classic writings from the great Zen master in exquisite versions by Thomas Merton, with a preface by his holiness the Dalai Lama, now in audio for the first time....

Written over the course of 1904-1906, Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments...

The Republic poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? Find out....

Ramayana must rank as one of the most loved and revered books of all time. A part of India's ancient Vedas, it is a beautiful story of romance and adventure....

The Water Margin is one of the most popular classics of early Chinese literature. It tells the vigorous story of 108 characters who, falling foul of the established state authorities, are forced to become outlaws....

This volume offers a complete translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, the third of the four great collections in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pāli Canon. The Saṃyutta Nikāya consists of 56 chapters, each governed by a unifying theme that binds together...

This book offers a complete translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, or Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, one of the major collections of texts in the Pāli Canon, the authorised scriptures of Theravada Buddhism....

For those looking for the real story behind the fictionalized movie account of the 47 Ronin story, this is the definitive, fascinating account of this unforgettable tale of a band of samurai who defied the Emperor to avenge the disgrace and death of their master, and faced certain death as a...

210 BC, China. The most powerful emperor China has ever known is on the brink of death. In desperation, he sends his most gifted alchemist and sorcerer on a quest for the mythical elixir of life. His fleet never returned....

An NYRB Classics Original A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned, following years of exile and misfortune, to the bitter consequences of having married without their families' consent, and unable to have children of their own, Sosuke and...

Grand Expectations weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate....

In a radically new translation and interpretation of the I Ching, David Hinton strips this ancient Chinese masterwork of the usual apparatus....

Few novels have made a more shattering impact on their society than El Filibusterismo - and its predecessor, Noli Me Tangere, by Jose Rizal. And surely no writer has paid a higher penalty for self-expression....

Living each day fully and serenely is the ideal we aspire to, without really believing in it. Reaching our goals can seem impossible, and even pursuing them feels challenging.

The Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki are two of the best-loved works of their kind, famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition....

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Shaheen Khan. This definitive recording includes an introduction by J. D. Smith, read by Sagar Arya. The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is of immense importance to the culture of the Indian...

Japanese culture and animation scholar Susan Napier explores the life and art of extraordinary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, including his significant impact on Japan and the world, to provide a definitive account of his oeuvre....

Nordic Tales is a collection of 16 traditional tales from the enchanting world of Nordic folklore. Translated and transcribed by folklorists in the 19th century, these stories are at once magical, hilarious, cozy, and chilling. Welcome to a world of mystical adventure—where trolls haunt the...

In A Personal Matter, Oe has chosen a difficult, complex though universal subject: how does one face and react to the birth of an abnormal child....

Yokoi Kenji retoma en este libro historias legendarias del Japón para, al final, hacer breves comentarios a manera de conclusiones sobre la vida de hoy. Historias de monjes y fábulas dan pie para reflexiones sobre el comportamiento humano.

Omar Sharif leads an all-Egyptian cast in this three-part drama, recorded entirely in Egypt's capital. Adapted from the novels of Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, this gripping family saga chronicles the life of a downwardly-mobile middle class family as Egypt emerges from colonialism...

Think you know urban legends? Think again. Perhaps you’ve heard of Kuchisake-onna, the slit-mouthed woman who cuts your mouth from ear to ear? How about Sugisawa, the cursed village that damns all who stumble upon it?

Set in modern-day Tokyo, The Butterfly Café tells the story of American Jessie Yamada. When her emotionally abusive husband suddenly dies in a traffic accident, she is overcome with guilt....

Tras la catástrofe económica y humana del Gran Salto Adelante, un Mao envejecido diseñó un ambicioso plan para afianzar su liderazgo y su legado: la llamada Revolución Cultural, cuyo objetivo declarado era la purga definitiva de los burgueses infiltrados en el gobierno y la sociedad para minar el...

金国内での政争を粘罕が制し、漢人を推戴した傀儡国家・斉が中原に建国された。李富が操る南宋では、趙構が『抗金』の檄を飛ばし、皇太子にしんを冊立する。一方、梁山泊は西域との交易を順調に続け、さらに富を増やし始めていた。

夏目漱石が身辺のことなどを書き綴った文字通りの小品集です 内容は家庭の事から英国留学時代のことまで多岐にわたっていますが、いずれも漱石の人となりを知るうえで興味の尽きない「小品」が集められています。

短編ですが見事な作品です。短い作品の中にたくさんのキーワードがちりばめられています。一度聞き流しただけではこの作品の見事さがわかりません。聴けば聴くほど、この作品の見事さが理解できます。

ちょっとザワっとさせられる山川方夫の作品。心当たりのある方はこの作品を知らないままお過ごしください。最後に仕掛けが用意されているのはお馴染みの山川ワールドです。

煙草とチョコレート。それを口にしながら殺害した死体の処理方法を考える「私」。最後のチョコレートを口に放り込むと、部屋の蒸し暑さがかえってきた。

代表作の「夏の葬列」に共通した心理ミステリー作品です。山川作品の淡々とした筆致で、しかしどんどんと物語は展開していきます。そして一気に迎えるラスト。あなたはこの作品に孤独を感じるでしょうか、それとも？

1962年の作品です。山川独特の淡々とした調子で物語は進んでいきます。しかし、最後の35秒で、あなたは唸ることでしょう。やっぱり山川方夫だ、と。

作者は「三田文学」を編集し、自らも筆を執って文壇を牽引するなど将来を嘱望されたが、交通事故により34歳で急逝した短編の名手。この作品は理屈抜きにラストが面白く確実に聴き手を唸らせる。

山川方夫、23歳の時に「三田文学」に発表した作品。後に発表されるショートショートのミステリー作品とは内容を異にした作品だが、さらりと聴いてしまうと若者の恋愛物語で終わってしまう。作品の中に描かれている「色」をキーワードに聴いてほしい作品です。

怖い、話かどうかは個人差がありますが、ひんやりするショートであることは確かです。最後の彼女のセリフが何を物語っているのか、もう一度、ご自分の心と向きあってみてはいかがでしょうか。