Paulownia: Seven Stories from Contemporary Japanese Writers

Written by Ogai Mori

Narrated by Availle

Paulownia is a collection of seven stories by three Japanese authors from the late 19th and early 20th century.

Mori Ogai was an army surgeon who was sent to study in Germany, where he developed an interest in Western literature. His most famous work is The Wild Geese (Gan). This collection contains his short stories Takase Bune, Hanako, and The Pier.

Nagai Kafu's writings center mostly around the entertainment districts of Tokyo with their geisha and prostitutes. Here, his stories The bill-collecting and Ukiyo-e are presented.

Shimazaki Toson was one of the representatives of Japanese naturalism, which we can see in his stories A Domestic Animal and Tsugaru Strait.

Taketomo Torao, the editor and translator of this volume, translated many Western works into Japanese, for example the Rubayat, the Divine Comedy, and works by Shakespeare. He was also a writer in his own right.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Ogai Mori

Born in 1862 in modern-day Simane prefecture, Mori was born to a family of doctors to the Feudal lord in the area. With the Meiji Revolution, the family relocated to Tokyo, where Ogai was to study medicine and the German language. He enlisted in the army and spent four years in Germany. Upon returning to Japan he started his own literary journal and medical journal, both of which were highly influential. Considered, along with Soseki Natsume, the preeminent Meiji-era writer of Japan, Mori's romantic, dense style exerted a powerful influence over following generations of writers.