Sayonara Gangsters

If you've ever despaired of expressing yourself, you'll read _Sayonara,

Gangsters_ and understand. Set in a facetious near-future that is both mind-

bendingly bizarre and achingly familiar. _Sayonara, Gangsters_ is an inventive

novel about language, expression and the creative process that unfolds through

hilarious sketches. The peaceful if bizarre life of a poetry teacher is

forever transformed by a group of terrorists called "the gangsters" in what

is, incredibly, a semi-autobiographical novel.

On this literary gonzo trip in which a man of letters finds out, too late,

that flirting with extremist politics can have unsavoury consequences for

one's mind, we encounter the likes of Virgil, the refrigerator (a memorable

three-dimensional character) and "Henry IV" the feline aficionado of books.

Endlessly resourceful, relentlessly erudite, but always accessible, _Sayonara,

Gangsters_ is a unique masterpiece of literary postmodernism that aims to

entertain rather than to intimidate.

From the outrageous beginning, which reads like an oblique reference to the

war on terror but is no such thing (it was written more than twenty years

ago), to the sobering, devastating end, through the lyrical, poignant middle,

Takahashi's legendary first novel is candy for your brain. _Sayonara,

Gangsters_ is a must-read for all fans of world literature, available for the

first time in English.