Snakes and Earrings

Snakes and Earrings

Cover of Japanese edition
Author	Hitomi Kanehara
Original title	蛇にピアス (Hebi ni piasu)
Translator	David Karashima
Language	Japanese
Genre	Literary fiction
Publisher	Shueisha (Japan), Dutton (US), Vintage Books (UK)
Publication date	2004
Publication place	Japan
Published in English	2005
Media type	Print
Pages	124
Awards	Akutagawa Prize
ISBN	9784087746839

Snakes and Earrings (蛇にピアス, Hebi ni Piasu) is a Japanese novel by Hitomi Kanehara. The story follows Lui, a young woman in Tokyo whose fascination with body modification and sadomasochistic sexual activity drives her to make increasingly dangerous personal choices. First published in 2003 in the literary magazine Shōsetsu Subaru as the winner of the 27th Subaru Literary Prize, the novel was republished in 2004 after winning the 130th Akutagawa Prize.

Though Snakes and Earrings received mixed reviews, popular and academic critics have noted its significance in contemporary Japanese literature, not only for its authentic portrayal of post-bubble Japanese youth culture, but also for the controversial commercialization of its author's personal life. The novel has sold more than a million copies in Japan, has been translated into sixteen languages, and was adapted into a 2008 Yukio Ninagawa film starring Yuriko Yoshitaka.