The Hunting Gun

A lover, her daughter and the abandoned wife: three letters by three women tell the story of a love affair's tragic consequences. First Shoko, who finds out about the infidelity through reading her mother's diary; then Midori, the wife who has always known but never told; and finally the beautiful Saiko, the woman who has betrayed her best friend. Yasushi Inoue's poised, unsentimental novella is a powerful tale with universal resonance. Written from three different points of view, the story explores the impact of forbidden passion. Love, death, truth and loneliness are all intertwined in this masterpiece from one of Japan's greatest writers.

About the Author :
YASUSHI INOUE (1907-1991) worked as a journalist and literary editor for many years, beginning his prolific career as an author in 1949 with the novel Bullfight. He went on to publish fifty novels and 150 short stories, both historical and contemporary, becoming one of Japan's major literary figures. In 1976 Inoue was presented with the Order of Culture, the highest honour granted for artistic merit in Japan. MICHAEL EMMERICH (b. 1975) is a translator, editor and assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His many translations include works by Yasunari Kawabata, Genichiro Takahashi and Banana Yoshimoto.

Review :
A modern Japanese master... Inoue's humane and searching world view is there to be explored and these two novellas reward the effort -- (on Bullfight and The Hunting Gun) Spectator Three intertwined voices, three broken lives and the same bitterness underlie this cruel, cold, destructive and implacable narrative. Inoue writes hand-in-hand with Death, with a finger on the trigger Lire Concise and artful Spiegel Such is his empathy at times that he transforms the study of human nature into profound art... [he] never wastes words. He knows how to make the smallest detail speak volumes... outstanding Irish Times Both of these novellas are delightfully reminiscent of the works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa... Inoue and Akutagawa were both intellectuals who managed to restrain over-intellectualisation in their writings. They wrote compassionately, but without a hint of sentimentality -- (Praise for Bullfight and the Hunting Gun) Times Literary Supplement Delicate and powerful... a haunting, sensitive meditation on memory as well as a wonderful introduction to a master sorely underappreciated in the West Music and Literature The Hunting Gun retains a timeless and universal relevance, reflecting on the delicate balance that truth, love and death play in all human relationships... timeless, elegiac and masterful Shelf Awareness Miraculous... [a] poignant cautionary tale -- Eileen Battersby Irish Times (Books of the Year) Two graceful new translations [of The Hunting Gun and Life of a Counterfeiter] should help expand [Inoue's] audience in English ... These elegant new editions of Inoue's work are in keeping with his masterfully understated prose New York Times Book Review Each image leaves you wondering if the characters will turn around. Similarly, reading each letter is like watching the back of someone close to you, wondering if they'll turn toward you, or move further away Bento Box Magazine This slim, controlled title is testimony to the power of words on the page - to assuage, to enlighten, to devastate American Book Review