Set against one stunning landscape after another, this is the tale of a son, his dying mother, and the enormous loss that impends as their ultimate separation approaches.

"A mysterious tale about a young night watchman's encounter with the ghost of Chekhov"--Container.

In a desolate, sun-sorched corner of the world, an elderly woman has come to see her beloved grandson. He is a young officer stationed at a remote military outpost. With the enemy just beyond the compound, she wanders the barracks, observing the routines of military life, before making a sudden trip into the outlying countryside.

Chronicles the events leading up to Emperor Hirohito's momentous speech, the historic renunciation of his divine status, and his meetings with General Douglas MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the occupying American forces, who advises his own president not to declare the Japanese leader a war criminal.

Heinrich Faust desires enlightenment. He seeks to understand the very nature of life and how the world goes round. Driven by his thirst for knowledge, he unearths corpses and rummages in their guts in search of the soul. He soon meets the racketeer Mauricius, who takes him to the twilight zones of their small town. In a bath house, his attention is caught by the young Margarete, also known as "Gretchen". Later, the two new friends are entangled in...