Fifty-seven-year-old Takeshi has just been involved in a traffic accident. When he wakes up, he is in a strange bar, no longer crippled as he has been for most of his life, but able to walk without
crutches in his everyday business suit. Looking around, he sees a number of familiar faces – Izumi, a colleague who had died in a plane crash five years before; his childhood friend Yuzo, who
had become a yakuza and had been killed by a rival gang member; and Sasaki, who had frozen to death as a homeless vagrant. This is Hell – a place where three days last as long as ten years on
earth, and people are able to see events in both the future and the past. Yuzo can now see the yakuza that killed him as he harasses a friend of his. The actress Mayumi and the writer Torigai are
chased by the paparazzi into an elevator that drops to floor 666 beneath ground level. The vivid depiction of afterlife portrayed in Hell admits the traditional horrors, but subjects them to Tsutsui’s
unique powers of enchantment: witty, amusing, praised for its poetic style and the wizard-like light touch of the author’s shifting focus, Hell is a masterpiece of surrealist literature.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in Osaka, Yasutaka Tsutsui is particularly well known for his science fiction. After graduating from Doshisha University, he founded NULL, a science fiction magazine. His short story O-tasuke (Help) won him the recognition and respect of Rampo Edogawa, ‘the father of Japanese mystery writing’. In 1970s Tsutsui began experimenting in a variety of styles, from slapstick and black
humour to various kinds of metafiction. Winner of various awards including Izumi Kyoka Prize, Kawabata Prize and Yomiuri Literary Prize.
