Best of
Asian-Literature

2011

The Garden of Evening Mists


Tan Twan Eng - 2011
    After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child.

May Day Eve and Other Stories


Nick Joaquín - 2011
    It features the title story “May Day Eve” as well as “Three Generations,” “Doña Jeronima,” “The Legend of the Dying Wanton,” and “Guardia de Honor.”Set during the Spanish colonial period, these narratives tap into the qualities of magic realism, romance, and historical fiction, as only the master Nick Joaquin can.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Megan Backus Summary & Study Guide


BookRags - 2011
    26 pages of summaries and analysis on Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

My Dear Bomb


Yohji Yamamoto - 2011
    In October 2009, after a series of bad investments, Yamamoto Inc. went bankrupt; by the end of that year the designer had inaugurated a new business and a complete reevaluation of his direction. My Dear Bomb is an outcome of this transition moment. Coauthored with Ai Mitsuda, this carefully and beautifully written autobiography (with biographical interpolations by friends and collaborators) seamlessly combines extended meditations on clothing and life with Yamamoto's memories and anecdotes, in short, concise paragraphs. Throughout its pages, we encounter Yamamoto as a tough realist unburdened by disingenuousness ("I am, in fact, a man who may turn heartless in an instant; I desire only to settle each and every score immediately"); and, of course, as a great designer blessed with unerring instinct for his materials ("how does the cloth want to drape, to sway, to fall? If one keeps these things in mind and looks very carefully, the fabric itself begins to speak"). Illustrated with drawings by Yamamoto, this open-hearted meditation offers a take on the autobiography form as imaginative as the designer's fashion wear.

Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Vol. 1


Yu Godai - 2011
    Six tribes battle in the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a grim world of demons and evil powers that block entrance to the promised land, Nirvana.

Con-nerd


Oliver Phommavanh - 2011
    Mama tells me I'm gifted and talented. But I know the truth. I'm just a nerd.Kids call me Con-nerd - half Connor and all nerd.I'm supposed to become a doctor but i have this deep, dark secret:  I want to be a cartoonist.And all of a sudden my mega-cool comics are getting noticed at school - I might even get into a special art class . That would sure impress this girl I'm keen on . . . and it might just be my chance to show the world my true destiny. But I'm not sure Mama will see it quite that way . . . Full of the signature laugh-out-loud humour seen in his fabulously funny Thai-riffic!, OLIVER PHOMMAVANH has produced yet another totally engaging and hilarious story about finding your own special talents and having the confidence to use them.

5 Centimeters per Second: one more side


Makoto Shinkai - 2011
    Indeed, he just might be one of the most powerful bards of romantic longing and thwarted love working today in any medium. This official novelization narrates from the other side—for instance, from the point-of-view of the girl rather than the boy in the legendary first segment, “Cherry Blossoms”—to tell a story that is both deeply engaging for first-timers and astonishingly fresh for fans of the film. The author of fantasy novels based on the Shining videogame series, Arata Kanoh is best known for his imaginative prose adaptations of the masterpieces of Japan’s hottest animator. Most recently, his take on Your Name was the #1 Kindle bestseller at Amazon Japan.

Ai Weiwei's Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009


Weiwei Ai - 2011
    For more than three years, Ai Weiwei turned out a steady stream of scathing social commentary, criticism of government policy, thoughts on art and architecture, and autobiographical writings. He wrote about the Sichuan earthquake (and posted a list of the schoolchildren who died because of the government's "tofu-dregs engineering"), reminisced about Andy Warhol and the East Village art scene, described the irony of being investigated for "fraud" by the Ministry of Public Security, made a modest proposal for tax collection. Then, on June 1, 2009, Chinese authorities shut down the blog. This book offers a collection of Ai's notorious online writings translated into English--the most complete, public documentation of the original Chinese blog available in any language.The New York Times called Ai "a figure of Warholian celebrity." He is a leading figure on the international art scene, a regular in museums and biennials, but in China he is a manifold and controversial presence: artist, architect, curator, social critic, justice-seeker. He was a consultant on the design of the famous "Bird's Nest" stadium but called for an Olympic boycott; he received a Chinese Contemporary Art "lifetime achievement award" in 2008 but was beaten by the police in connection with his "citizen investigation" of earthquake casualties in 2009. Ai Weiwei's Blog documents Ai's passion, his genius, his hubris, his righteous anger, and his vision for China.

Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook


James W. Heisig - 2011
    Leading scholars in the field have translated selections from the writings of more than a hundred philosophical thinkers from all eras and schools of thought, many of them available in English for the first time.The Sourcebook editors have set out to represent the entire Japanese philosophical tradition--not only the broad spectrum of academic philosophy dating from the introduction of Western philosophy in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but also the philosophical ideas of major Japanese traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The philosophical significance of each tradition is laid out in an extensive overview, and each selection is accompanied by a brief biographical sketch of its author and helpful information on placing the work in its proper context. The bulk of the supporting material, which comprises nearly a quarter of the volume, is given to original interpretive essays on topics not explicitly covered in other chapters: cultural identity, samurai thought, women philosophers, aesthetics, bioethics.An introductory chapter provides a historical overview of Japanese philosophy and a discussion of the Japanese debate over defining the idea of philosophy, both of which help explain the rationale behind the design of the Sourcebook. An exhaustive glossary of technical terminology, a chronology of authors, and a thematic index are appended. Specialists will find information related to original sources and sinographs for Japanese names and terms in a comprehensive bibliography and general index.Handsomely presented and clearly organized for ease of use, Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook will be a cornerstone in Japanese studies for decades to come. It will be an essential reference for anyone interested in traditional or contemporary Japanese culture and the way it has shaped and been shaped by its great thinkers over the centuries.

Pakistan: Beyond the 'Crisis State'


Maleeha Lodhi - 2011
    Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic studies at American University, and Munir Akram, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United Nations, provide critical perspectives on Pakistan's future. Additional essays capture the complex interplay between domestic and external pressures, such as the variety of powers that continue to manipulate the country's behavior and outcomes. The contributors gathered here ultimately conclude that Pakistan is capable of transitioning into a stable modern Muslim state, though bold reforms are necessary. Offering a detailed and balanced agenda for such reform, "Pakistan "takes a bold step in reeling the country back from the brink of crisis.

My Conspiracy Theory


Bo Sánchez - 2011
    

What have you done to our ears to make us hear echoes?


Arlene Kim - 2011
    Juxtaposing formal choices and dreamlike details, Kim explores the entangled myths that accompany the experience of immigration—the abandoned country known only through stories, the new country into which the immigrant family must wander ever deeper, and the numerous points where these narratives intertwine.Sharing ground with Randall Jarrell’s later poems, and drawing on a dizzying array of sources—including Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Korean folklore, Turkish proverbs, Paul Celan, Anna Akhmatova, Antonin Dvorak’s letters, and the numerous fictions we script across the inscrutabilities of the natural world—Kim reveals how a homesickness for the self is universal. It is this persistent and incurable longing that drives us as we make our way through the dark woods of our lives, following what might or might not be a trail of breadcrumbs, discovering, finally, that “we are the only path.”

Intikhab-e-Kalam: Faiz Ahmed Faiz


Faiz Ahmad Faiz - 2011
    Faiz was a Founder of the Progressive Writers Movement but enlisted in the British Indian Army during World War II. In Pakistan he became a journalist and trade union leader and since he was indicted in the 1951 Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, he spent a number of terms in jail. He was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. Faiz struggled to promote liberal and secular ideals. The lyrical quality of his poems was high and has been compared to that of Hafiz the Persian Master. This selection was published on the poet’s birth centenary.

The Catcher in the Loft


Ch'ŏn Un-yŏng - 2011
    Rewriting that history as a daughter’s tale, Ch’ŏn’s searing novel forces a confrontation with the fundamental nature of political violence and gendered power. The novel’s haunting reflections on atonement and forgiveness, timely today given the political climates around the world, will prove timeless in time.” — Youngju Ryu, University of MichiganCh’ŏn Un-yŏng is a South Korean writer. The Catcher in the Loft is her first book of fiction to appear in English translation. Bruce Fulton is the inaugural holder of the Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia. Together Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton are the translators of numerous volumes of modern Korean fiction.

Swayanjatha


සමරවීර විජයසිංහ - 2011
    Samaraweera Wijayasinghe creates a realistic, heart-warming picture of the lives of the villagers who are exposed to Westernization and the spread of the Christian faith.Swayanjatha won the Swarna Pusthaka (Golden Book Award) of the Sri Lanka Book Publishers 2008.The tele film based on Swayanjatha, produced by Serenity Publishing and directed by Sudath Rohana was broadcast over the Independent television Network in 2010.

Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial India


Rupika Chawla - 2011
    An account of painter Ravi Varma's traditional background and environment and how they related to the modernization of colonial India, as well as his profession as an aristocratic itinerant painter.

A History of the Korean Language


Ki-Moon Lee - 2011
    It traces the origin, formation, and various historical stages through which the language has passed, from Old Korean through to the present day. Each chapter begins with an account of the historical and cultural background. A comprehensive list of the literature of each period is then provided and the textual record described, along with the script or scripts used to write it. Finally, each stage of the language is analyzed, offering new details supplementing what is known about its phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. The extraordinary alphabetic materials of the 15th and 16th centuries are given special attention, and are used to shed light on earlier, pre-alphabetic periods.

The Water Margin


Christine Sun - 2011
    But Song is in trouble. A series of unfortunate incidents have led to him being arrested, and his political enemies are keen to see him sentenced to death. There is still hope, however. One hundred and eight brave bandits from Mount Liang have heard of Song s good name they are willing to rescue him as long as Song will lead them in rebelling against the corrupt government. Will Song agree to become an outlaw? Will he be able to tread the narrow path between right and wrong? Will justice eventually prevail over corruption and the misuse of power? Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world s greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.