“The night was deep, the stars were out, and I felt like the only person left in the world.” Hardboiled The first novella follows an unnamed woman who […]
Japanese literature
The Briefcase
“Time passes, people move. Like a river’s flow, it never ends.” Chapter 1: An Unexpected Reunion The novel opens with Tsukiko, a single woman in her late thirties, […]
Japanese literature
The Changeling
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — Kenzaburō Ōe, The Changeling Part 1: The Mysterious Tape The novel opens with Kogito Choko, a renowned writer […]
Japanese literature
The Sea of Fertility
“Man is a being in search of meaning.” Spring Snow (1969) The first novel in the tetralogy, Spring Snow, is set in 1912 during Japan’s Taishō era. It […]
German literature
The Death of Virgil
“For the poet, death is the final metamorphosis, the last transformation into the eternal.” Part One: Water – The Arrival The novel opens with the dying Roman poet […]
German literature
Agnes
“You said you would make up a story about me. I said you didn’t know enough about me. You said that was the point.” Chapter 1: The Meeting […]
German literature
Amerika
“He was looking out of the window, and the sight of the people in the street made him feel even more lonely.” Chapter 1: The Stoker Karl Rossmann, […]
German literature
The Castle
“No one can really be called a stranger in the Castle; we are all the Castle’s people.” The Castle follows K., a land surveyor who arrives in a […]
Russian literature
The Return
“A man returns home, but home is no longer the same—nor is he.” Chapter 1: The Homecoming Alexei Ivanov, a Soviet soldier, returns to his village after years […]
Russian literature
Soul
“A man is alive as long as his soul is alive—even if his body is already dead.” Soul (also known as Dzhan) by Andrei Platonov follows the journey […]