''Oh the cruelty of time, that destroys all things!''

Beguiling, strange and hair-raising tales from early 20th century Japan: Nagai''s Behind the Prison, Uno''s Closet LLB and Akutagawa''s deeply macabre General Kim.

Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.