She tells him seven stories of human/android interaction in order to reveal the secret behind humanity's fall. The story takes place centuries in the future, where the diminished populations of humans live uncultured lives in their own colonies. They resent the androids, who have built themselves a stable and cultural society. In this brutal time, our main character travels from colony to colony as a “storyteller,” one that speaks of the stories of the past. One day, he is abducted by Ibis, an android in the form of a young girl, and told of the stories created by humans in the ancient past.The stories that Ibis speaks of are the 7 novels about the events surrounding the announcements of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 20th to 21st centuries. At a glance, these stories do not appear to have any sort of connection, but what is the true meaning behind them? What are Ibis' real intentions?

    But an ordinary life has a way of taking an extraordinary turn. Add a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit, implicate them in a hunt for a sheep, that may or may not be running the world, and the upshot is another singular masterpiece from Haruki Murakami. "Dance Dance Dance" - High-class call girls billed to Mastercard; a psychic thirteen-year-old drop-out with a passion for Talking Heads; a hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers; a one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem; combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose and out comes "Dance Dance Dance". It is an assault on the senses, part murder mystery, part metaphysical speculation; a fable for our times as catchy as a rock song blasting from the window of a sports car.

    One in particular, an upperclassman who has been nursing a crush on her for some time, has chosen this night to make his true feelings known.Will the two come together, or will this girl just keep on walking...?

    It contains stunning new translations of such canonical texts as The Tales of the Heike as well as works and genres previously ignored by scholars and unknown to general readers.This volume includes generous selections from Man'yÿsh, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book, Kokinsh, and other classics of Japanese literature, as well as a stunning range of folk literature, epic tales of war, poetry, and no drama. The anthology offers an impressive representation of dramatic, poetic, and fictional works from both high and low culture, along with religious and secular anecdotes, literary criticism, and works written in Chinese by Japanese writers. The wealth of classical poetry, linked verse, and popular poetry is accompanied by extensive commentary.Traditional Japanese Literature is a companion volume to Columbia University Press's Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900 and part of its four-volume history of Japanese literature. Arranged by chronology and genre, the readings are insightfully introduced and placed into their political, cultural, and literary context, and the extensive bibliographies offer further study for scholars and readers. Including a wide range of classic and popular works in poetry, prose, and drama, this anthology presents a definitive overview of traditional Japanese literature and deepens our understanding of classical and medieval Japanese culture.

    

    Along with traditional prose, the editors have chosen and carefully translated short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, essays, and personal journal entries. Selected readings include writings by the public speaker Kishida Toshiko, the dramatist Hasegawa Shigure, the short-fiction writer Shimizu Shikin, the political writer Tamura Toshiko, and the novelists Miyake Kaho, Higuchi Ichiyo, Tazawa Inabune, Kitada Usurai, Nogami Yaeko, and Mizuno Senko. The volume also includes a thorough introduction to each reading, an extensive index listing historical, social, and literary concepts, and a comprehensive guide to further research.The fierce tenor and bold content of these texts refute the popular belief that women of this era were passive and silent. A vital addition to courses in women's studies and Japanese literature and history, The Modern Murasaki is a singular resource for students and scholars.

    The scholarship is superb, the writing flows beautifully, and the images from the magazines are wonderfully evocative. --Jan Bardsley, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThis important book contributes to our gendered understanding of Japanese modernity. Frederick has insightfully discerned what we need to know in order to situate the rich materials available to researchers in reprint editions of women's magazines. Because so many significant literary works made their initial appearance in women's magazines, Frederick's book allows students and scholars to appreciate as never before the context in which certain works were first read. --Sally A. Hastings, Purdue UniversityBy the early 1920s, ladies magazines (fujin zasshi) had become a distinct category in Japanese publishing. Women's periodicals increasingly influenced intellectual discourse, the literary establishment, and daily life. Turning Pages makes sense of this phenomenon through a detailed analysis of major interwar women's magazines, especially the literary journal Ladies' Review, the popular domestic periodical Housewife's Friend, and the politically radical magazine Women's Arts. Through a close examination of their literature, articles, advertising, and art, the book explores the magazines as both windows onto and actors in this vibrant period of Japanese history.Turning Pages considers the central place of representations of women for women in the culture of interwar-era Japan and our understanding of Japanese modernity. Taking a holistic approach to the texts and using tools of historical, literary, and cultural analysis, the author examines the triangular relationship among the consumers, the producers, and the texts themselves.

    This remarkable collection is full of surprises, even where predictable arguments are being made. Careful translations of writings by the familiar and the obscure, together with thought-provoking introductions and supporting apparatus, make this an indispensable text for the study of modern Japanese culture and society. --Norma M. Field, University of ChicagoOver the past thirty years translations of Japanese women's writing and biographies of women writers have enriched and expanded our understanding of modern Japanese literature. But how have women writers been received and read in Japan? To appreciate the subterfuges, strategies, and choices that the modern Japanese woman writer has faced, readers must consider the criticisms leveled against her, the expectations and admonitions that have been whispered in her ear, and pay attention to the way she herself has responded. What did it mean to be a woman writer in twentieth-century Japan? How was she defined and how did this definition limit her artistic sphere?Woman Critiqued builds on existing scholarship by offering English-language readers access to some of the more salient critiques that have been directed at women writers, on the one hand, and reactions to these by women writers, on the other. The grouping of the essays into chapters organized by theme clarifies how the discussion in Japan has been framed by certain assumptions and how women have repeatedly tried to intervene by playing with, undercutting, or attempting to exceed these assumptions. Chapter introductions contextualize the translated essays historically and draw out aspects that warrant particular scrutiny or explication.Although the translators do not cover all aspects or genres identified with women's literary endeavors in the twentieth-century, they provide a significant understanding of the evaluative systems under which Japanese women writers have worked. Woman Critiqued will be eagerly read by specialists in modern Japanese literature and those interested in comparative literature, women's studies, gender studies, and history.Featured writers: Akitsu Ei, Akiyama Shun, Hara Shiro, Hasegawa Izumi, Kobayashi Hideo, Kora Rumiko, Matsuura Rieko, Mishima Yukio, Mitsuhashi Takajo, Mizuta Noriko, Miwata Masako, Oguri Fuyo, Okuno Takeo, Ooka Makoto, Saito Minako, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, Setouchi Harumi, Takahara Eiri, Takahashi Junko, Takahashi Takako, Tanaka Miyoko, Tomioka Taeko, Tsujii Takashi, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Tsushima Yoko, Yosano Akiko.Translators: Tomoko Aoyama, Jan Bardsley, Janine Beichman, Rebecca L. Copeland, Mika Endo, Joan E. Ericson, Barbara Hartley, Maryellen Toman Mori, Yoshiko Nagaoka, Kathryn Pierce, Laurel Rasplica Rodd, Amanda Seaman, Eiji Sekine, Judy Wakabayashi.