A House in the Bamboo Thicket

The life of the Japanese prose writer, translator, essayist, and literary critic Ango Sakaguchi became a mirror of 20th century Japan. He became known in the thirties, but true recognition came only after the war. In his work, post-war Japan found its voice, standing at that moment on the ruins of its own identity. The experience of the war years, the fascination with the work of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and immersion in European existentialism — all of this shaped the unique perspective that allowed Ango Sakaguchi to become one of the pioneers of new Japanese literature. This collection includes selected works of the writer and his 'Autobiography on the Palm' — a virtuoso example of ironic self-reflection. 'The Village of Kurotani,' 'A House in the Bamboo Thicket,' 'In the Forest Under the Blooming Cherry Blossom,' as well as the artistic-historical chronicle 'The Bet — Life,' dedicated to the history of the last missionaries in Japan during the period of isolation, allow us to see Japan in all its paradoxicality and intrinsic value.