Scorpions
$32.95
Unit price
per
Author: Kurahashi, Yumiko
Yumiko Kurahashi’s 1963 novella 'Scorpions' takes the form of a transcript of a one-sided interview with L following the arrest and institutionalisation of her twin brother K. The two have played a role in a series of horrifying deaths culminating in the murder of their mother. 'Scorpions' remains a shockingly transgressive text. It bears allegiance to the most radical French fiction of its time, particularly the work of Jean Genet whose own novels explored the sanctification of criminal behaviour.Through a first-person narrative that varies in tone from scientifically clinical to darkly humorous, mingling together references to the Bible and Greek mythology, odd bits of dialogue and obtuse descriptions, we learn of K and L’s shocking crimes, as well as the professional and personal entanglement of L and an older man they call the Red Pig, their mother’s former lover. Yumiko Kurahashi (1935–2005) was an influential Japanese writer of experimental fiction. She was nominated early in her career for the Akutagawa prize and later won the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature for her anti-utopian work 'Journey to Amanon'.
ISBN 9781962728102. Wakefield Press. pb. 72 pages. 17.8 x 11.5 cm.
not yet published
Yumiko Kurahashi’s 1963 novella 'Scorpions' takes the form of a transcript of a one-sided interview with L following the arrest and institutionalisation of her twin brother K. The two have played a role in a series of horrifying deaths culminating in the murder of their mother. 'Scorpions' remains a shockingly transgressive text. It bears allegiance to the most radical French fiction of its time, particularly the work of Jean Genet whose own novels explored the sanctification of criminal behaviour.Through a first-person narrative that varies in tone from scientifically clinical to darkly humorous, mingling together references to the Bible and Greek mythology, odd bits of dialogue and obtuse descriptions, we learn of K and L’s shocking crimes, as well as the professional and personal entanglement of L and an older man they call the Red Pig, their mother’s former lover. Yumiko Kurahashi (1935–2005) was an influential Japanese writer of experimental fiction. She was nominated early in her career for the Akutagawa prize and later won the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature for her anti-utopian work 'Journey to Amanon'.
ISBN 9781962728102. Wakefield Press. pb. 72 pages. 17.8 x 11.5 cm.
not yet published