The observer seeks "Japanese Art", does not speak Japanese, is led to a musty, sparsely-peopled place inhabited by "living national treasures" and other precious monuments to the national character. For that which is sanctioned is subsidized, is seen. This is not that. This is what happened around the three-quarter century mark - that place on the historical clock when maudites emerge. Why? I'll tell you next century. The inks and paper cost almost nothing, which is nearly a crime in some circles. And you could hide them in your desk. Much of Japanese art is about endurance. The rumpled scrawlings of these masters are the denial of endurance (or its homage: ambivalence is here a vocabulary function). But it's all more than you want to read about. Go look, and know that this book is a 4-part miracle. The selection is unimpeachable. Kevin Quigley has eschewed stories that rely on subtle contextual knowledge for their pyrotechnic operation. It must have been a grueling selection process that resulted in a volume that so typifies the form, and can yet be reached by readers at any level of experience. Anyone who has read the originals knows that the translation by Kevin, Hiroko Ikuta Quigley and Umezawa Yoko is brilliantly targeted and illuminative. Ken Swezey and Laura Lindgren of Blast Books are to be credited with producing a volume that confers upon these works the luxurious quality that the artists might have wanted but could never have hoped for when they were impelled to choose this road to spill their ideas upon. And all this for fifteen bucks (that's the fourth part of the miracle).

◎聯合推薦 詩人／楊 澤 文化知日者／李長聲 設計師／聶永真 文藝、驚悚 「日本異色恐怖文學宗師」澀澤龍彥 少女小說總集　第參彈 結合日本當代藝術插畫 閱讀全新的澀澤龍彥 邪教的淫蕩與性變態－－薩德侯爵的性變態聖典！ 《索多瑪一百二十天》精華版 黑暗森林裡的巨大城堡 有如一處前所未聞的罪惡與罪行的淵藪， 專門提供淫蕩者享樂 一個慘絕人寰的人間大煉獄！ 這些受到惡靈之邀來到此地的可憐犧牲者， 絕對想不到這批惡徒將會以何種惡毒淫穢的手段來蹂躪他們！ 「Horror Dragonia」少女小說總集，全套一～五集（精裝本），第三集《淫蕩學校》為法國黑暗文學大師薩德侯爵最讓人不寒而慄的代表作！ 薩德侯爵在三百年前的十五世紀，正是一個真實存在的危險人物，把幾十人（更有一說幾百人）的少男少女關在自己領地的地下室，當成禁臠再加以慘殺以此取樂。童話《藍鬍子》，就是以此人物為本。 澀澤龍彥神靈活現的譯筆加上薩德侯爵的黑暗世界，彷若是一則暗黑童話，一個充滿不吉祥、快活的馬戲團小屋。扮成護士的少女佔據整個封面，一翻開書封，黑色汽球滿天飛，瞬間把讀者引進殘酷的雜耍世界。這種效果，在無聲、墨色的插畫家町田久美的筆下，化為凶暴的不和諧聲音與極端色彩的繪畫，凸顯出「蒼白的情慾」。