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Title: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo, James B. Harris ISBN: 0-8048-0319-6 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: July, 1956 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: An Oriental Poe, without the Poe Punch
Comment: One of the hallmarks of Japanese civilization has been its propensity for adopting foreign ideas, improving them slightly, and then remarketing them competitively with brutal efficiency: from Japanese ideograms to corporate inventory systems to economy and luxury cars, this cultural tactic has served the island nation well.
It is unfortunate, then, that Hirai Taro, who adopted the pen-name Edogawa Rampo (a play on the Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allen Poe's name, which James Harris's boring introduction spends far too much time on) was not able to draw on that distinctly Japanese capacity to modify and improve with his "Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination", inspired by his love affair with the works of that Godfather of the American horror tale, Edgar Allen Poe.
There are some sleek, black little slivers of grue in this collection, to be sure, and the book is highly recommended for horror completists and those who are interested in what is certainly a literary curiosity. For instance, there is "The Chair", a nasty little shocker about a deformed and lonely chairmaker who gives in to his fantasy of being sealed up in a chair of his own making: at first to steal from the hotel in which the chair is placed, and then, by degrees, to derive his own pleasure from the sensation of being so close, separated only by cloth and leather, from the bodies of those who sit in the chair.
There are two other stories in this little volume that approach the raw grue of "The Chair": "Two Crippled Men", a tale of somnambulism and trickery, and "Caterpillar", a nasty, perverse little story about a woman and her horribly maimed husband, a veteran with no limbs and no ability to hear or speak; this last story resembles in form and in tone the classic French 'contes-cruelles', where the greatest of horror is found, not in the supernatural, but in the perversities and nastiness that men practice on their neighbors, friends, and lovers.
The other tales in the book are variations on the same theme: committing the perfect crime. These are typically well staged, slightly eerie, and all make good use of their Japanese settings, but ultimately the redundancy becomes tiresome, and the stories lack that nasty final bite that characterizes the true tale of terror. Even with the stunning "Chair", Rampo manages to undermine his own ending, sapping the tale's initial unsettling power.
"The Chair" is unique; it is hard to imagine a similar horror tale that manages to creep under the skin so effectively; for that reason, I give Rampo's little volume 3 stars. If you're intrigued by the prospect of "The Chair" and "The Caterpillar", then by all means buy the book, but don't expect Rampo's other tales to have the pungency of evil and the thrill of these first two stories.
Rating: 5
Summary: weird...
Comment: I've just finished reading this book today and let me tell you that it was quite a ride. I use to read horror fiction quite often, but as I got older I kind of let it fall to the wayside. But for my modern Japanese literature class we had to read this book, and Let me tell you that it really, really was something else. I don't want to go into any details about the short stories, because one should experience them for oneself. Some of you out there might remember a film about Edogawa that was released a few years ago. Well, if you liked that film I am pretty sure that you will enjoy this book also.
Rating: 5
Summary: Strange prose psychodramas
Comment: Edogawa Rampo (a pen name based on the Japanese phonetic rendering of "Edgar Allan Poe") wrote stories featuring bizarre plot twists, keen insight into human nature (usually the dark side), and dreamlike imagery. Rampo was truly a brilliant writer, way ahead of his time, and this excellent translation is a pleasure to read. Many of these stories continue to haunt me long after I read them, and I've enjoyed reading them again and again--and sharing them with friends.
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Title: Japanese Gothic Tales by Kyoka Izumi, Charles Shiro Inouye, Izumi Kyoka ISBN: 0824817893 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Woman With the Flying Head: And Other Stories (Japanese Women Writers in Translation) by Yumiko Kurahashi, Atsuko Sakaki, Kurahashi Yumiko ISBN: 0765601583 Publisher: M.E.Sharpe Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title:The Mystery of Rampo ASIN: B0000YEEOE Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pub. Date: 10 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $16.98 |
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Title: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0679743464 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 02 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan (Penguin Classics) by Ivan Morris, Lady Sarashina ISBN: 0140442820 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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