{"product_id":"the-bear-and-the-paving-stone-isbn-9781782274377","title":"The Bear and the Paving Stone","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, three dream-like tales of memory and war: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Japanese man, far from home, travels the countryside of Normandy with a friend - talking about war, literature, and everything in between. As his ideas of his life become more entangled with his personal writing, the pangs of his past and his half-forgotten memories overlap and threaten his peace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOwing a debt to French writers from La Fontaine to Proust, the three fable-like tales in \u003ci\u003eThe Bear and the Paving Stone\u003c\/i\u003e are stories of loss, memory and a longing to belong.\"Horie weaves fables out of everyday existence in these three captivating tales of relationships and lives revisited . . . Across these ruminative stories, Horie suddenly drops in moments of piercing wisdom and revelation, revealing that, for better or worse, there is no escape from one’s memory.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e — Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A gentle, stirring novella of history and memory that simmers with raw emotional ferocity. . . Horie uses descriptive imagery in a distanced narrative style. His characters maintain an inner strength and Zen-like independence that wavers under the emotional weight of shared memories, which merge in unexpected ways to convey a yearning for deeper connections. \u003ci\u003eThe Bear and the Paving Stone\u003c\/i\u003e adds to the bold collection of contemporary Japanese literature published by Pushkin Press.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e — Shelf Awareness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is a rather beautiful, very funny, often bitter or sadly gentle book that will entice and satisfy while leaving one thirsting for more.\" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e— Bookanista\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Whimsical stories, celebrating, language, friendship and life.\"\u003cb\u003e — \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eJapan Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eToshiyuki Horie (born 1964) is a scholar of French literature and a professor at Waseda University. He has won many literary prizes, including the Mishima Yukio Prize, Akutagawa Prize (for \u003ci\u003eThe Bear and the Paving Stone\u003c\/i\u003e), the Kawabata Yasunari Prize, the Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Prize and the Yomiuri Prize for Literature (twice).","brand":"Pushkin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299980169445,"sku":"NP9781782274377","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781782274377.jpg?v=1767738279","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-bear-and-the-paving-stone-isbn-9781782274377","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}