UNESCO collection of representative works

On Krishna and Rādhā, Hindu deities.

The story of an artist who retreats to a country resort hotel and becomes involved in a series of mysterious encounters.

The anxieties and desires of an old man, Shingo, who lives with his family in a suburb of Tokyo, are shown. He hears "the sound of the mountain", the faint rumble in the hills that is a muffled hint of unknown occurrences and a foreboding of death. The affection he feels for his daughter-in-law, the increasing tensions of his relations with his wife, son and daughter are also muffled, yet disturbingly powerful.

巷に跋扈する異界の者たちを呼び寄せる深い闇の世界を、卓抜した筆致で描ききった短篇怪異小説集。秋成壮年の傑作。崇徳院が眠る白峯の御陵を訪ねた西行の前に現れたのは Based on the first woodblock edition of 1776 with illustrations and an introduction for Western readers. Translated and edited by Leon M. Zolbrod 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, Ueda Akinari, 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 extensive anthology includes excerpts from plays and novels plus stories, fairy tales, and many poems.

Versified translation of Persian work of a national poet of Pakistan.

A novel on pre-World War I Hungary and Romania featuring two aristocratic cousins, one a playboy, the other a defender of peasant rights. First volume in a trilogy.

"Premchand is the most famous Hindi novelist, and Godaan is Premchand's most celebrated novel. Economic and social conflict in a north Indian village are brilliantly captured in the story of Hori, a poor farmer, and his family's struggle for survival and self-respect. Hori does everything he can to fulfill his life's desire: to own a cow, the peasant's measure of wealth and well-being. Like many Hindus of his time, he believes that making the gift of a cow to a Brahman before he dies will help him achieve salvation. An engaging introduction to India before Independence, Godaan is at once village ethnography, moving human document, and insightful colonial history. Out of print for many years, this translation is regarded as a classic in itself."--BOOK JACKET.

"Benedetto Croce is one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. His work in aesthetics and historiography has been controversial, but enduring. When the first edition of Aesthetic appeared in 1902, Croce was seen as foremost in reasserting an idealistic philosophy, which, despite its source in continental idealists from Descartes to Hegel, offers a system that attempts to account for the emergence of scientific systems. Croce thus combines scientific and metaphysical thought into a dynamic aesthetic." "Croce regards aesthetics not merely as a branch of philosophy, but as a fundamental human activity. It is inseparable from historical, psychological, political, economic, and moral considerations, no less than a unique frame of artistic reference. Aesthetic is composed of two parts: Part One concentrates on aesthetic theory and practice. Among the topics it covers are: intuition and expression, art and philosophy, historicism and intellectualism, and beauty in nature and in art. Part Two is devoted to the history of aesthetics. Croce analyzes such subjects as: aesthetic ideas in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Giambattista Vico's contribution to aesthetics, the philosophy of language, and aesthetic psychologism." "In his new introduction to a classic translation, John McCormick reviews Croce's impact in the fields of aesthetic theory and historiography. He notes that the republication of this work is an overdue appreciation of a singular effort to resolve the classic question of the philosophy of art: art for its own sake or art as a social enterprise. Both find a place in Croce's system."--Jacket.

The son of a poor rural priest becomes an acolyte at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Mizoguchi had built up an image of ideal beauty in his mind based on this Golden Pavilion; this ideal image causes him to feel disappointed in any supposed form of beauty, even the actual physical Golden Pavilion. He comes under the influence of Kashiwagi, a fellow student with a very bitter view of life.

Richly allegorical and delightfully readable, I Am a Cat is the chronicle of an unloved, unwanted, wandering kitten who spends all his time observing human nature - from the dramas of businessmen and schoolteachers to the foibles of priests and potentates. From this unique perfective, author Sōseki Natsume offers a biting commentary - shaped by his training in Chinese philosophy - on the social upheaval of the Meiji era.

The popularity of the Chinese storyteller goes back to the marketplace of the T'ang dynasty, but the familiar figure came into its own in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This selection of stories from Feng Menglong's collection, Stories Old and New (originally published in 1624), includes representative types of the storyteller's traditional art. "The Pearl-Sewn Shirt" is a cautionary romance describing the tragedy of a broken marriage; the heroic biography, which depicts a neglected man of high worth gradually receiving recognition, is represented by "Wine and Dumplings"; an authentic twelfth-century forerunner of the detective story is found in "The Canary Murders." The other tales concern traffic in the supernatural, didactic admonitions to observe morality in sex and loyalty in friendship, and realistic accounts of the meanness and corruption of official life. Also includes "The Lady Who Was a Beggar," "The Journey of the Corpse," "The Story of Wu Pao-an," and "The Fairy's Rescue."

"China's most important love comedy, Wang Shifu's Xixiangji, or The Story of the Western Wing, is a rollicking play that chronicles the adventures of the star-crossed lovers Oriole and Student Zhang. Since its appearance in the thirteenth century, it has enjoyed unparalleled popularity. The play has given rise to innumerable sequels, parodies, and rewritings it has influenced countless later plays, short stories, and novels and has played a crucial role in the development of drama criticism. This translation of the full and complete text of the earliest extant version is available in paperback for the first time. The editors' introduction will inform students of Chinese cultural and literary traditions." -- Publisher description.

'Pather Panchali' or 'Song of the Road' is a book wonderful beyond words & a must read for children as well as adults. Renowned Bengali author Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay portrays his own childhood days through the life of Apu, the lead character. The book is all about Apu's boyhood, his innocence, his amazement at every unknown flower growing by the country side, his indifference at his family's immense poverty, his days filled with childish imaginations, his friendship and fights with elder sister, Durga, his world of his own and his days of growing up. Bengal's natural beauty is captured by the author's unmatchable style of writing. His strong yet subdued choice of words brings alive every minute details only to leave the reader craving for more. preview by- Srutiparna Ghosh

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) wrote some 130 plays, chiefly for the puppet theater, many of which are still performed today by puppet operators and Kabuki actors. Chikamatsu is thought to have written the first major tragedies about the common man. This edition of four of his most important plays includes three popular domestic dramas and one history play. Chikamatsu's domestic dramas are accurate reflections of Japanese society at the time: his characters are samurai, farmers, merchants, and prostitutes who speak colloquially, and who people the shops, streets, teahouses, and brothels that constituted their daily environment. The heroes and heroines of these plays gain their tragic stature from their conflicts with society. "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" and "The Love Suicides at Amijima" became so popular that they actually initiated a vogue for love suicides, both in life and onstage. Donald Keene's translation of the original text is presented here with an introduction and a new preface to aid readers in their comprehension and enjoyment of the plays.

Translation with critical notes.

A Puppet Play; translated by Donald Keene; Prepared for the Columbia College of Translations from the Oriental Classics. Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), also known as the story of the Forty-Six (or Forty-Seven) Ronin, is the most famous and perenially popular of all Japanese dramas. Written around 1748 as a puppet play, it is now better know in Kabuki performances. In the twentieth century, cinema and television versions have been equally successful. Donald Keene here presents a complete translation of the original text, with notes and an introduction that increase the reader's comprehension and enjoyment of the play. The introduction also elucidates the idea of loyalty. This traditional virtue, as exemplified in Chushingura, has never completely lost its hold on audiences, in spite of twentieth-century changes in Japanese society and moral ideas. Moreover, as Professor Keene points out, the excitement, color and violence expressed in the play may be considered the counterpoint to the austere restraint and understatement which are more commonly thought to be "traditionally" Japanese. Table of Contents: - Foreword, by Wm. Theodore de Bary - Preface - Introduction - 'Chushingura' - Works Consulted

Text, with commentary, on Kavitāvalī, verse work on Rāma (Hindu deity).

A murder mystery in a provincial town in Belgium, featuring a seven-year-old boy who fancies himself at once Jesus Christ and Clint Eastwood, his single mother, and the village headmaster with whom the mother is having an affair. The events are seen through the eyes of the boy.

"This frank autobiographical diary reveals two tempestuous decades of the author's unhappy marriage and her growing indignation at rival wives and mistresses. Too impetuous to be satisfied as a subsidiary wife, this beautiful noblewoman of the Heian dynasty protests the marriage system of her time in one of Japanese literature's earliest attempts to portray difficult elements of the predominant social hierarchy. A classic work of early Japanese prose."--Cover.