Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Good Japanese-themed short stories. Well edited and translated.

I am a huge Japanophile and a lover of dark tales of mystery and I found that this book is the best of both worlds. After reading these stories, I pulled out my dusty old collection of Poe stories and started reading them all over. The translations are excellent (despite a few questionable spellings) and the overall feel of the novel is very Poe-esque (undoubtedly because Edogawa Ranpo, himself, assisted the translator in the creation of this collection). While a few reviewers have criticized Edogawa Ranpo for his stories lacking Poe's feel for the dark horror novel, one must know that Edogawa Ranpo is regarded as the father of the Japanese MYSTERY novel, not horror. So, for anyone hoping to get a good scare from this book, you will be let down. But, with that said, the stories are wonderful and I, quite honestly, would have forgotten that the stories were set in Japan if not for character names. A beautiful collection of dark mysteries that would please fans of Poe's "The Purloined Letter" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," but not necessarily fans of "The Pit and the Pendulum." I highly recommend this book to fans of Japanese literature, those who like the "Kindaichi Case Files" (Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo) and fans of a good mystery.

I've long been interested in Japan, living there 4 years and intrigued by king running Case Closed (meitantei Conan) anime detective series who takes inspiration from this true founder of Japanese mystery writing in the 20th century. Ranpo was further honored by being a literary aviator character in recent anime Bungo Stray Dogs as their primary detective. It's really hard to get copies of his stories in English, and most use the 1950s singular collection that the author co-translated with an American interpreter. This rare republication gives an insight to a brilliant genre defining author who clearly took inspiration from Pie, Doyle and Agatha Christie in these shorter works. No doubt the longer novels will be excellent too.

Thoroughly enjoyable read if you like anything written by Edgar Allan Poe or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Tarō Hirai, the actual author of the book, was a great admirer of Poe (along with Doyle) and used 'Edogawa Rampo' as his pen name and nod towards the famous western author. The tales within this book incorporate the very same elements of mystery, intrigue, the bizarre, and the grotesque commonly found in Poe's works. If you enjoy stories of this nature the you'll love this collection. 'The Human Chair' is one of my favourites!

It has some of his best short stories, The Human Chair, The Caterpillar. Erotica,grotesque nonsense, is a great Era of literature for Japan that arose in the decades following WW2. It is Definitely worth a read for the stories as well as a glimpse into where literature was in Postwar Japan.

I can't put into words how great this book is. It's literally just so intriguing, you wouldn't want to put it down till you finish one story. 10/10 for sure.

perfect condition. got it for class

Stories are about crime plotting. Except for one, the plots are childish or, simply, unbelievable..That said, the one that stands out makes reading the collection worthwhile! With so many crime novels being published everyday, creating (or, should I say discovering) a new way to kill and not be blamed, is quite a success.

Llegó en el tiempo esperado, la forma de empaquetarlo fue detallada y ayudó a que llegara en perfectas condiciones. El contenido es excelente, verdaderas historias de misterio que te atrapan desde el inicio.

Some great tales

Ich habe schon lange nach einem Buch gesucht, das sich von anderen unterscheidet und Edogawa Rampo hat es geschafft. Sein Schreibstil ist so gut und die Geschichten übertreffen die Vorstellungen, the human chair geht mir bis heute nicht aus dem Kopf. Also wer komische/merkwürdige Sachen mag sowie mysteriöses ... das Buch erfüllt alles.

Es un libro de relatos cortos muy entretenido y fácil de leer para aquellos a los que les guste leer y la cultura japonesa.

Nice fun read! Bought it for my daughter who's a Bungo Stray Dogs fan.