On sale date: September 27, 2010
Spanning four decades, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is a selection of groundbreaking short stories written and drawn by one most influential comics creators in the world.
Moto Hagio helped reinvent and bring critical acclaim to shojo (aimed at 10-18-year-old girls) manga in the 1970s and beyond. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories collects short comics stories originally published in monthly magazines. It begins with 1970's "Bianca" and ends with 2007's "The Willow Tree." In between is "Marié, Ten Years Later" (1977), in which two friends destroy their perfect romantic and creative harmony. Also: the haunting "The Child Who Comes Home" (1998), "Autumn Journey" (1971), "Girl on Porch With Puppy" (1971), "Angel Mimic" (1984), and the conjoined twin tragedy "Hanshin: Half-God" (1984). In the titular title story, "A Drunken Dream" (1980), two scientists, one a priest, meet on a space station orbiting Io. But they have met before and are destined to meet again. In "Iguana Girl" (1991), a child appears to her mother and herself as a hideous anthropoid iguana who will never be able to fit into the human world…but her mother has a secret.
Manga scholar and translator Rachel Thorn also interviews Hagio, who discusses her art, her career, and her life with wit and candor. Lauded in Japan, she has an international following — her work has been adapted into anime, television, theater, audio dramas, and more — and appeals to readers across generations.
Praise
"...Moto Hagio has more on her agenda than simply trotting out tired 'girly' storylines. Her protagonists struggle with loss, rejection, and insecurity in a manner sure to strike readers as honest and familiar, never reductive or patronizing.... [A Drunken Dream] span[s] 31years of Hagio's career and, while the later stories do seem a bit looser and more confident, the earlier stories certainly don't suffer by comparison." — Andrew Fuerste-Henry - No Flying No Tights
"[A Drunken Dream] lays the groundwork for measuring all of the wonderful components of girls' comics. It's impossible to read through these panels and not feel your own life in them . . . [Hagio is] THE EMPRESS OF FEELINGS.... I want to buy three copies of it so that I can loan 2 to new people and have a back up loan copy for the eventual time when one of them gets stolen." — NOVI Magazine
"[A] gorgeously-produced best-of collection from shojo manga creator Moto Hagio... On the face of the evidence there was very little she could not do, some things she did well, and a few things she did magnificently." — Serdar Yegulalp - Genji Press
"[A]n excellent introduction to one of the most literary and original voices working in comics today. Highly recommended." — Katherine Dacey - The Manga Critic
Specs
- Pages
- 288
- Format
- Hardback
- Color
- Full color and two color.
- Dimensions
- 7.3" × 10.1"
- ISBN-13
- 9781606993774