Ugetsu Monogatari or Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Routledge Revivals)

Ugetsu Monogatari, or Tales of Moonlight and Rain numbers among the best-loved Japanese classics. These nine illustrated tales of the supernatural from eighteenth-century Osaka combine popular appeal with a high literary standard. The author expressed his complex views on human life and society in simple yet poetic language. Akinari questioned the prevailing moral values and standards of his age whilst entertaining his readers with mystery and other-worldly occurrences. This is a reissue of Leon Zolbrod's definitive English translation of the work, first published in 1974.

Translator's Foreword INTRODUCTION I9 I Meaning of the Title 2 Biographical Sketch of Ueda Akinari 3 Reading Books 4 The Romance of Travel and the Poetry of Place 5 Historical Background 6 Philosophy and Religion 7 The Art of Fiction 8 World of the Supernatural 9 Literary Style 10 Chinese Influence 11 Influence of Japanese Classics 12 Structure 13 Akinari's Legacy 14 The Present Edition UGETSU MONOGATARI VOLUME ONE I White Peak (Shiramine) II Chrysanthemum Tryst (Kikuka no chigiri) VOLUME TWO III The House Amid the Thickets (Asaji ga yado) V The Carp That Came to My Dream (Muo no rigyo) VOLUME THREE V Bird of Paradise (Bupp s ) VI The Caldron of Kibitsu (Kibitsu no kama) VOLUME FOUR VII The Lust of the White Serpent (Jasei no in) VOLUME FIVE VIII The Blue Hood (Aozukin) IX Wealth and Poverty (Himpuku-ron)