Oh, Tama!

Note, this book was released in Japan in 2014 by Kurodahan Press but never distributed to the trade outside Japan.

The Translation Market

• this book will be of interest to readers of Japanese literature in translation, especially those looking for a "new voice"; there are 103 programs offering degrees in Japanese literature in the US
• the market for translation is growing: in Y2015, 23 Japanese lit titles were published, out of 600 (up from 340 in 2010) (source Three Percent)
• Amazon is the largest single publisher of translation (having invested $10 million in development in 2015); this increases visibility and demand for works in translation

The work of a leading contemporary author. In Japan, Mieko Kanai has a large following and is respected for her acute observational skills and her fluency in poetry, fiction, and criticism. Oh, Tama! is part of her signature "Mejiro" series of novels that probe the lives of modern Japanese who seem almost inhumanly witty and are both self-absorbed and enthralled by modern theories of art, film, and photography (the author's passions).

Award-winning author. Among the author's numerous writing awards in Japan are the 1979 Izumi Kyoka Prize andfor Oh, Tama!the 1988 Women's Literature Prize. This year, 2018, Kanai was awarded the prestigious Art Encouragement Prize by Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Such awards are not so common in the West, but in Japan are highly valued, a mark of popular acceptance, literary merit, and commercial appeal.

Life in Tokyo as it is today, or maybe isn't. Kanai's characters are decidedly quirky, and impossible coincidences bring them and their lives crashing together in unexpected ways. The book is richly humorous and whimsical, a pleasure to read, but serious themes of abandonment and disconnectedness are lurking beneath the surface.

Translations are booming. American readers are embracing foreign works as never before, and here's a great candidate to give readers a new taste that is accessible, clever, and engaging. Perfect commuter reading!

Reminds one of . . . Yumiko Kurahashi and Yoko Tawada, while the urbane scenes and good-for-nothing kind of protagonists are definitely Murakamian.

Cats! 'Nuff said. The star of the show.

Dettagli