The Bear and the Paving StoneWinner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, three dream like tales of memory and war. Visiting a friend in the French countryside, a man finds himself cast into the quandaries of historical whim, religious identity, and seeing without sight. A walk along the seashore, upon the anniversary of a death, becomes a reverie on building sandcastles; and an innocent break in at the ruins of an archbishop's residence takes a turn towards disaster. In three