Life of a Counterfeiter and Other Stories

Three perfectly executed stories from one of Japan’s most beloved writers showcase the exquisitely tuned talent of Yasushi Inoue. The writer describes each character & landscape with a lucid, deft tenderness. In the title story, the narrator, who is supposed to be writing a biography of a famous artist, becomes obsessed instead with the wasted life of the man who forged his paintings. In his typically understated way, Inoue probes into the difference between fact & fiction, & how the ‘fake’ can sometimes become more important than the original.

The book also includes two short stories by Inoue that have been translated into English for the first time. Selected by Michael Emmerich, the stories are based on Inoue’s childhood memories of his grandmother — a former geisha & the mistress of his great-grandfather.

Inoue was one of Japan’s greatest writers, but has been too little known in English. Following on from Bullfight & The Hunting Gun, Life of a Counterfeiter is the third of Inoue’s books to be published in English by Pushkin Press.

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Born in 1907, Yasushi Inoue worked as a journalist & literary editor for many years, only beginning his prolific career as an author in 1949 with Bullfight. He went on to publish 50 novels & 150 short stories, both historical & 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 Emmerichʼs translations, published by Pushkin Press, are being credited with raising much-deserved awareness of Inoue whose works have never been widely available in English. They’re also attracting attention to Emmerich, who is considered one of the world’s top translators of Japanese fiction.