Japanese Tales: Medieval Monsters

The first meeting of the book group on "Supernatural Presences in East Asian Cultures" addresses the silly, spooky and sometimes saintly monsters found in Japanese Tales, a collection of short stories from medieval Japan. Charo D'Etcheverry, a specialist in early Japanese literature and culture, will introduce the tales and their history, but for most of the session the group will just talk about monsters--what makes them scary and how these East Asian examples compare to our personal favorites.