The Sad Father and Other Stories

A young poet in a damp Tokyo lodging house cannot bear to see goldfish, because they remind him of the little son he has left in the country. A penniless writer is told by his successful friends that he is a "freak case," past helping. A father wanders the summer streets with two children and nowhere to sleep. A garbled telegram announces the death of a father who is very much alive.

Kasai Zenzō (1887–1928), called the "god of the I-novel," turned his own poverty, drinking, illness and family troubles into fiction of startling honesty and bleak, self-mocking comedy. These seven stories, written between 1912 and 1923, run from his first published work to the death of his father, and form a continuous, unflattering self-portrait.

This collection contains The Sad Father, A Freak Case, With the Children in Tow, The Cursed Hand, Adrift, Father Leaves Home, and Father's Funeral. Each is translated complete and unabridged from Japanese, with a translator's note, brief endnotes, and source information.