{"product_id":"rip-it-up-9781965874141","title":"Rip It Up","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe Akutagawa prize-winning novel by Kou Machida, Japan's most outlandish and inventive author.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eRip It Up\u003c\/i\u003e is the first ever English translation of Kou Machida's award-winning novel, an undertaking over five years in the making and the inaugural title of Inpatient Press's translation imprint Mercurial Editions. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet in a kaleidoscopic hyperreal Japan circa Y2K, \u003ci\u003eRip It Up\u003c\/i\u003e catalogues the misdeeds and misgivings of a down-and-out wannabe debonair who ekes out a meager living at the fringes of the art world, wracked by jealousy at his friend's success and despondent over his own creative (and moral) bankruptcy. In turn hilarious and also horrifying, Machida's pyrotechnic prose plumbs the discursive depths of the creative spirit, a head-spinning survey of degeneration and self-sabotage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKou Machida is a punk singer, actor, and author, who turned to poetry and fiction after releasing one of the seminal Japanese punk albums with his band INU, 1981's \u003ci\u003eMeshi kuuna!\u003c\/i\u003e (Fuck Eating!). He has won the Akutagawa and Tanizaki prizes among many others, and his 2005 novel \u003ci\u003eKokuhaku\u003c\/i\u003e (Confession) was named one of the three best books of the last thirty years by the Asahi Newspaper. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDaniel Joseph is a translator, editor, and musician who spent his salad days shouting in dank basements before getting a master's degree in medieval Japanese literature. Recent translation projects include contributions to \u003ci\u003eTerminal Boredom\u003c\/i\u003e (2021), a collection of stories by science fiction pioneer Izumi Suzuki; and the memoir \u003ci\u003eTry Saying You're Alive!\u003c\/i\u003e (Blank Forms, 2021) by outsider folk maniac Kazuki Tomokawa.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Inpatient Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51260155494674,"sku":"9781965874141","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_07e28c8a-fe52-44da-977c-db782f438afa.jpg?v=1746637824","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/rip-it-up-9781965874141","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}