\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cB\u003e\u003cI\u003eCrackling Mountain and Other Stories\u003c/I\u003e features eleven outstanding works by Osama Dazai, widely regarded as one of the 20th century Japan's most gifted writers.\u003c/B\u003e\u003cBR\u003e\u003cBR\u003eDazai experimented with a wide variety of short story styles and brought to each a sophisticated sense of humor, a broad empathy for the human condition, and a tremendous literary talent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cBR\u003eThe eleven stories in this collection of Japanese literature present the most fully rounded portrait available of a tragic, multifaceted genius of modern Japanese letters.\u003c/div\u003e