<DIV><DIV><P><B>The epic autobiography of a manga master<BR><BR></B>Acclaimed for his visionary short-story collections <I>The Push Man and Other Stories</I>, <I>Abandon the Old in Tokyo</I>, and <I>Good-Bye</I>&#8212;originally created nearly forty years ago, but just as resonant now as ever&#8212;the legendary Japanese cartoonist Yoshihiro Tatsumi has come to be recognized in North America as a precursor of today&#8217;s graphic novel movement. <I>A Drifting Life</I> is his monumental memoir eleven years in the making, beginning with his experiences as a child in Osaka, growing up as part of a country burdened by the shadows of World War II.<BR><BR>Spanning fifteen years from August 1945 to June 1960, Tatsumi&#8217;s stand-in protagonist, Hiroshi, faces his father&#8217;s financial burdens and his parents&#8217; failing marriage, his jealous brother&#8217;s deteriorating health, and the innumerable pitfalls that await him in the competitive manga market of mid-twentieth-century Japan. He dreams of following in the considerable footsteps of his idol, the manga artist Osamu Tezuka (<I>Astro Boy</I>, <I>Apollo&#8217;s Song</I>, <I>Ode to Kirihito</I>, <I>Buddha</I>)&#8212;with whom Tatsumi eventually became a peer and, at times, a stylistic rival. As with his short-story collection, <I>A Drifting Life</I> is designed by Adrian Tomine.</P></DIV></DIV>