'One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works. Akutagawa was a born short-story writer' Haruki Murakami

The stories in this fantastical, unconventional collection are subtly wrought depictions of the darkness of our desires. From an isolated bamboo grove, to a lantern festival in Tokyo, to the Emperor's court, they offer glimpses into moments of madness, murder, and obsession. Vividly translated by Bryan Karetnyk, they unfold in elegant, sometimes laconic, always gripping prose.

Akutagawa's stories are characterised by their stylish originality; they are stories to be read again and again.

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Alif is a middle-aged, mild-mannered history teacher, living in contemporary Delhi, at a time in Indiaâs history when Muslims are seen either as hapless victims or live threats. Though his life's passion is the history he teaches, it's the present that presses down on him: his wife is set on a bigger house and a better car while trying to ace her MBA exams; his teenage son wants to quit school to get rich; his supercilious colleagues are suspicious of a Muslim teaching India's history; and his old friend Ganesh has just reconnected with a childhood sweetheart with whom Alif was always rather enamored himself. And then the unthinkable happens. While Alif is leading a school field trip, a student goads him, and in a fit of anger, Alif twists his ear. His job suddenly on the line, Alif finds his life rapidly descending into chaos. Meanwhile, his home city, too, darkens under the spreading shadow of violence.

In this darkly funny, sharply observed, and shockingly moving novel, Anjum Hasan deftly and delicately explores the life of Muslims in India and the force and consequence of remembering your peopleâs history in an increasingly indifferent milieu.

'Hasan's eye is sharp and her aim is unerring. This is a work of sublime elegance' SHRUTI SWAMY, author of The Archer 'Told in a subdued, sad, ironical tenor, it is compassionate without being sentimental' GEETANJALI SHREE, author of the International Booker Prize-winning Tomb of Sand

'Extremely timely â¦ History's Angel helps us view the erasures of the past through a living lens with sensitivity and nuance' DAISY ROCKWELL
- Paperback : 288
- Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.3

Murder in the Age of Enlightenment : Essential Stories

Designer: Bloomsbury

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