Harlequin Butterfly - (Japanese Novellas) by Toh Enjoe (Paperback)

About the Book

Successful entrepreneur A.A. Abrams is pursing the enigmatic writer Tomoyuki Tomoyuki, who has the ability to write expertly in the language of any place they go. Abrams sinks endless resources into finding the writer, but Tomoyuki Tomoyuki always manages to stay one step ahead, taking off moments before being pinned down. But how does the elusive author move from one place to the next, from one language to the next?

Book Synopsis

A witty, dizzying literary caper about books, travel, and translation -- perfect for fans of David Mitchell and the work of Hideaki Anno

This delightfully surreal novella follows the global pursuit of a mysterious writer who somehow writes in dozens of languages.

An affluent entrepreneur named A.A. Abrams sinks seemingly infinite resources into the global pursuit of a writer about whom very little is known. Abrams' target, known as "Tomoyuki Tomoyuki," moves from one place to another, producing work in the local language before moving on to another part of the world.

But how does Tomoyuki Tomoyuki move from one language to the next with such ease? Agents employed by the Abrams Institute attempt to make sense of the writer's erratic movements and baffling writing habits, but come to find that within each puzzle is yet another puzzle, waiting to be unraveled. One puzzle leads to another in this delightful literary caper.

Review Quotes

"A worthwhile read for the strength of its ideas about memory, art, and language itself." -- Asian Review of Books

About the Author

Toh EnJoe is a Japanese author of literary, scientific and speculative fiction. Born in Hokkaido, he studied physics and mathematics and worked as a researcher and at a software firm before becoming a full-time writer. He has received several awards for his fiction, including the Noma Prize for New Writers, the Nihon SF Taisho Award, and the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for Harlequin Butterfly.

David Boyd is assistant professor of Japanese at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has translated novels and stories by Hiroko Oyamada, Masatsugu Ono, and Mieko Kawakami, among others. His translation of Hideo Furukawa's Slow Boat (Pushkin Press, 2017) won the 2017/2018 Japan-US Friendship Commission (JUSFC) Prize for the translation of Japanese literature.