Jay Rubin: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

Sam talks to the distinguished scholar of Japanese literature Jay Rubin, editor of the new Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. 

Many of us in the West know little of Japanese literature beyond, perhaps, Haruki Murakami, Yukio Mishima and perhaps Banana Yoshimoto and Kenzaburo Oe. Jay fills in the blanks. Did you know the Japanese novel got going centuries before Don Quixote? That Japanese novelists were producing pitiless self-portraits decades before Knausgaard's voguish 'auto-fictions'? All this, plus the story of Japanese women's writing and the place of manga in the culture.

Produced by Connor O'Hara.

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.

For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts

Contact us: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.