Life of a Counterfeiter

3 perfectly balanced stories of love lost and hopes disappointed, from one of Japan's greatest authors.

“A masterly meditation on fate and obscurity... This haunting, elegiac trio makes clear Inoue's position as a Japanese literary master.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review

A master forger lives in obscurity and disappointment, oppressed by the shadow of the artist whose work he copies. Once Onuki and Hosen were friends – but the gap in talent between them becomes an insurmountable gulf when Hosen cannot resist the temptation to imitate his more successful peer. A young man embarks on an investigation into his family’s past, prompted by a newspaper clipping and a vague memory of a beautiful young woman. And another young narrator is consumed with curiosity about his grandfather’s mistress – and why she cherishes an old pair of gloves, given to her by a visiting Englishman.

Unglamorous, unadorned lives such as this form the focus of Yasushi Inoue's tenderly observed, elegantly distilled short stories - 2 of which are appearing in English for the first time. With a haunting emotional intensity, they offer glimpses of love lost and lives wasted. Asking how we place value, what counts as real, and where the struggle for acceptance will lead us, each story is a perfectly balanced exploration of regret.

Inoue’s reputation in Japan is the equal of Tanizaki’s or Kawabata’s, and these 3 luminous, compassionate tales showcase the mastery and exquisite talent that have made him such a beloved writer.

Yasushi Inoue was born in 1907 and worked as a journalist and literary editor for many years, only beginning his prolific career as an author in 1949 with Bullfight. He went on to publish 50 novels and 150 short stories, both historical and contemporary, his work making him one of Japan's major literary figures. In 1976 Inoue was presented with the Order of Culture, the highest honour granted for artistic merit in Japan. He died in 1991.

Michael Emmerich is the translator of more than a dozen works by authors such as Yasunari Kawabata, Banana Yoshimoto, Hiromi Kawakami and Hideo Furukawa. He is a lecturer in Japanese literature at UCLA.