[.ca] Salamander And Other Stories (ISBN 0870114581)

precious short stories...:
When I first heard Masuji Ibuse's name, it was in association with his best known work, _Black Rain_, regarding the Hiroshima bombing and aftermath. This _Salamander and other Stories_ is a collection of short stories, and it is well worthwhile. The stories here are about ordinary people doing everyday things; Ibuse's craftsman's touch and his personal insight into everyday behaviours are what make this collection so special. One story concerns a rural elderly man's obsession with his prize-winning bulls, and what happens when they disappear. Another regards a bizarre military tragedy, and the title story is about a salamander who becomes too large to leave his cave. All the stories are significantly different and special to make them memorable to me; the place names and character names are Japanese, but the style itself doesn't have "Japanese" stamped all over it. The stories strike a universal chord. Anyone who loves short stories, be they contemporary Japanese, contemporary American, or by one of Europe's masters of Modernism (think Joyce's _Dubliners_, the stories of Kafka, or the stories of Thomas Mann), should at least give Ibuse's _Salamander and other Stories_ a try. I think it's well worth it...