Saki Best Selection

Saki Best Selection (サキ傑作選)
Saki
ISBN 4-00-322611-9

After reading this anthology, I regret that I didn't read that as soon as I bought it about 10 years ago!

Among the short stories there, I like "Tobermory."
It's a short story of a mad scientist and a cat which the scientist
gave ability to speak a human language. After getting speech of humans,
the cat began to reveal inappropriate secrets of people around her.
After describing comical behaviors of the people, Saki gives readers
a bit unexpected and ironical ending.

Like other good story tellers, Saki shows us egoistic behavior of the
people but softly. In some regards, the story can be an irony of
innovation in science. But more than anything else, Saki does not
make us bored.

BTW, according to a commentary in the end of this book, Saki seems to be often
ranked with Maupassant and O. Henry. That makes sense for me at least
O. Henry firsthand, and I believe that the former is also true.
But, as a reader in Japan, I felt something similar in Saki's works
to Hideo Nakai. Nakai's short stories are full of fantasy in addition to
unexpected and ironical endings. So, I'm not sure if English translation of
Nakai's works are available or not, but I would suggest trying Nakai's
short stories if one likes Saki.