The Bridegroom Was a Dog

Mitsuko, a schoolteacher at the Kitamura school, inspires both rumour and curiosity in the parents of her students because of her unconventional manner - not least when she tells the children the fable of a princess whose hand in marriage is promised to a dog she is intimate with. And when a young man with sharp canine teeth turns up at the schoolteacher's home and declares he's 'here to stay', the romantic - and sexual - relationship that develops intrigues the community, some of whom have suspicions about the man's identity and motives.

Masterfully turning the rules of folklore and fable on their head, The Bridegroom Was a Dog is a disarming and unforgettable modern classic.

About the author

Yoko Tawada was born in Tokyo in 1960, moved to Hamburg when she was twenty-two, and then to Berlin in 2006. She writes in both Japanese and German, and has published several books-stories, novels, poems, plays, essays-in both languages. She has received numerous awards for her writing including the Akutagawa Prize, the Kleist-Prize, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, and the Goethe Medal. New Directions publishes her story collections Where Europe Begins (with a Preface by Wim Wenders) and Facing the Bridge, and her novel of Catherine Deneuve obsession, The Naked Eye.MARGARET MITSUTANI was born in Pennsylvania. She has translated the works of Oe Kenzaburo, Kakuta Mitsuyo and Hayashi Kyoko.

Product details

• Authors: Yoko Tawada, Tawada Yoko
• Assisted by: Margaret Mitsutani (Translation), Mitsutani Margaret (Translation)
• Publisher: Granta Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 01.05.2025
• EAN: 9781803511337
• ISBN: 978-1-80351-133-7
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Magical Realism, Fiction in translation, FICTION / Absurdist, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary