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The Luminous Fairies and Mothra - Takehiko Fukunaga, Yoshie Hotta, Shin'ichiro Nakamura

The Luminous Fairies and Mothra

Buch | Softcover
120 Seiten
2026
University of Minnesota Press (Verlag)
9781517920012 (ISBN)
CHF 28,90 inkl. MwSt
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The original story that hatched Mothra, one of the most beloved monsters in the “kaijuverse”—available in English for the first time

Mystical and benevolent, the colossal lepidopteran Mothra has been one of the most beloved kaiju since 1961, when The Luminous Fairies and Mothra was originally published in Japanese. Commissioned by Tōhō Studios from three of Japan’s most prominent postwar literary writers (Shin’ichirō Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta), the novella formed the basis for the now-classic monster film Mothra, with a protagonist second only to Godzilla in number of film appearances by a kaiju. Finally available in its first official English translation, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra will captivate ardent, longtime fans of the films as well as newcomers.

Written just months after the largest political demonstrations Japan had ever seen, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra reflects the rebellious spirit of the time. In this original story, explorers visit a South Pacific island and capture a group of fairies, inciting the fury of the goddess Mothra, who sets out for Japan on a mission of rescue and revenge. Expressing a powerful social stance about Japan’s need to chart its own foreign policy during the Cold War, the novella’s political message was ultimately toned down in the Tōhō Studios film. Through this translation, Anglophone audiences will discover Mothra as a figure of protest fiction intricately reflecting the complex geopolitical situation in early 1960s Japan.

The Luminous Fairies and Mothra is translated into lively prose by Jeffrey Angles, who also wrote an extensive afterword about the novella’s cultural context, the unusual story of its composition, and the development of the 1961 film. Following Angles’s best-selling translation of the original Godzilla novellas, this new work will once again delight kaiju fans everywhere.

Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

Shin’ichirō Nakamura (1918–1997) was a critic, scholar, and author of dozens of novels, many of which feature the experience of intellectuals during and after World War II. Takehiko Fukunaga (1918–1979) was a prolific poet, translator of French fiction, and novelist, known for his sensitive, poetic writing style and interest in existential themes. Yoshie Hotta (1918–1998) was an essayist and novelist involved in leftist politics and the international nonalignment movement of the 1960s. Jeffrey Angles is professor of Japanese literature at Western Michigan University. He is author of three books and translator of several works in Japanese, including Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, also published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Contents

Note on Japanese Names

The Luminous Fairies and Mothra

A Lovely Song from a Little Beauty in the Grassland

Shin'ichirō Nakamura

Four Small Fairies on Display

Takehiko Fukunaga

Mothra Reaches Tokyo Bay

Yoshie Hotta

Translator's Afterword: Hatching Mothra

Jeffrey Angles

Erscheinungsdatum
Übersetzer Jeffrey Angles
Zusatzinfo 2 black and white illustrations
Verlagsort Minnesota
Sprache englisch
Maße 140 x 210 mm
Gewicht 227 g
Themenwelt Literatur Fantasy / Science Fiction Science Fiction
Literatur Romane / Erzählungen
ISBN-13 9781517920012 / 9781517920012
Zustand Neuware
Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR)
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