tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4834185428890121052024-02-29T17:48:29.519+11:00Tony's Reading ListToo lazy to be a writer - too egotistical to be quietAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comBlogger780125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-40347515464034606312015-02-01T14:00:00.000+11:002015-02-01T14:44:30.163+11:00Tony's Reading List is on the move!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdjVrU2Q-ACJgOrBm73aDv_mWpR_3iCGDwBhWCG2kjb596SI9P2vwDH65y00guX8LwKbEt8MvNnVYiQqbaMA85-Nk1fwa39D761LRF8EWKJUycZ28mTwrPN7XwJCw6Zzt4ZZHFoBBljs/s1600/wordpress.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdjVrU2Q-ACJgOrBm73aDv_mWpR_3iCGDwBhWCG2kjb596SI9P2vwDH65y00guX8LwKbEt8MvNnVYiQqbaMA85-Nk1fwa39D761LRF8EWKJUycZ28mTwrPN7XwJCw6Zzt4ZZHFoBBljs/s1600/wordpress.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Many of you will already have heard about this by now, but after just over six years of blogging <b>Tony's Reading List</b> is on the move! From this week, I'll be doing all of my blogging from my new site, <b><a href="https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/">https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/</a></b> (which, as you will see, is pretty much the same thing but through a different host), so I hope you'll follow me over to my new digital home :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But Tony, I hear you ask (as always, my hearing is excellent), why the move after all this time? Well, there are a number of reasons. First and foremost is the issue with comments. Any regular blogger and commenter will have realised by now that Blogger and WordPress seem specifically designed to make any interaction with each other as difficult as possible, and while WordPress at least seems to be getting a little better, Blogger (if anything) is getting even worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In addition, I've had a feeling for some time now, that being on the losing team in terms of web hosts has affected my reach. After six years of blogging, I should be getting my message out to far more people (and receiving more comments too). There are no guarantees, but I suspect that the move to WordPress will make it much easier for people to access my posts in future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Blogger blog isn't going anywhere; for one thing, most of my old posts have numerous back links to it, and I can't see that being cleaned up this side of Armageddon. However, from today, any new content will be posted over at the WordPress site, so I suggest you get over there and bookmark the link if you want to keep up with my ramblings in future ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, there you have it. The new place to go is <b><a href="https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/">https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/</a></b> - here's hoping it's a change for the better...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">... 'cos I'll be *really* embarrassed if I have to come crawling back to Blogger in a few weeks' time...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-82742028398881658822015-01-31T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-31T06:00:00.272+11:00'The Strange Library' by Haruki Murakami (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzib-tLXxqm3zpDeH9EMig_l4X89V63DzedWJrjpJluI0UEMkgNwA68-m2lAUVtafJTIl090IYDKX0Hjgsz3qYkPFfl6n3roAsH2MQxwcFbXmAIeMu2n2DmO7InseFVcXhvbRD05gIuY/s1600/IMG_5157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgzib-tLXxqm3zpDeH9EMig_l4X89V63DzedWJrjpJluI0UEMkgNwA68-m2lAUVtafJTIl090IYDKX0Hjgsz3qYkPFfl6n3roAsH2MQxwcFbXmAIeMu2n2DmO7InseFVcXhvbRD05gIuY/s1600/IMG_5157.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I thought that I had my <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> reading fairly well regulated this year, a mixture of library choices, review copies and shelf dwellers, some modern, some classic and some plain old. However, when you get a text from the library, informing you that a book you weren't expecting to arrive for some months is waiting for you at the local branch, well, there's nothing for it but to make a gap in your schedule and cram one more book into the month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, have I saved the best for last, or will JiJ end on a sour note? Let's take a trip to the library and find out...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>The Strange Library</b></i> (translated by <b>Ted Goossen</b>) is the latest <a href="http://www.tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Haruki%20Murakami"><b>Haruki Murakami</b></a> work to arrive in English, coming a matter of months after the (fairly) triumphant appearance of <a href="http://www.tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years.html"><i><b>Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage</b></i></a>. It's a little different to most of what we've seen before, a children's story accompanied by a range of illustrations (mostly sourced from old library books), but the style is unmistakeably Murakami, and we even get to run into an old friend :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It all begins when a young boy goes into his local library, hoping to drop a few books off and pick up some more. He is told to go down to the basement, where a stern old man informs him that his chosen books can't be taken out and must be read in the library. The boy (an obedient child) follows the man down some more stairs towards the reading room - too late does he realise that he's actually being locked in a prison cell...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Anyone hoping for another full-scale novel will be disappointed by <i>The Strange Library</i>, but (hopefully) most people will have been aware of what was coming and will enjoy it for what it is. Murakami has written several of these illustrated stories, with many already appearing in various European languages (I read a fan-translation of one, <i><b>The Sheep Man's Christmas</b></i>, a couple of years back), but this is the first time that any have made it into English publication. While it smacks a little of profiteering to publish a book aimed at adults which takes about twenty minutes to read, I suspect that even for this morsel the rights weren't all that cheap ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The story itself is entertaining, and rather tongue in cheek too. The boy is a frustratingly passive figure, walking happily into disaster just because people are telling him too (I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere...), and Murakami pokes fun at him along the way. The books he returns to the library (<i>How to Build a Submarine</i> and <i>Memoirs of a Shepherd</i>) are typical Murakami jokes, and I can't really imagine a real-life schoolboy musing about tax collection in the Ottoman Empire...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And speaking of shepherds, <i>The Strange Library</i> sees a welcome appearance by a rather familiar figure:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Finally, we reached the bottom of the staircase. I could see a glimmer farther in, just a feeble glow, really, but still strong enough to make my eyes hurt after the long darkness. Someone approached me from the back of the room and took my hand. A small man clad in the skin of a sheep."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">pp.17/8 (Harvill Secker, 2014)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Yes, the sheep man is back (I believe he's a frequent flier in Murakami's children's stories), and while he doesn't have the sinister air, or idiosyncratic speech patterns, of the character encountered in <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/80-wild-sheep-chase-by-haruki-murakami.html"><i><b>A Wild Sheep Chase</b></i></a>, it's definitely the same guide through the bizarre parallel Murakamian underworld.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There's a need for this familiar face, though, as the book can get a little dark at times. The gruff man is a fairly frightening, if cartoonish, protagonist, with a terrible secret kept in the labyrinth beneath the library. The sheep man, a reluctant accomplice, fills the boy in on the true nature of libraries:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "But, hey, this kind of thing's going on in libraries everywhere, you know. More or less, that is."</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> This news staggered me. "In libraries everywhere?" I stammered.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "If all they did was lend out knowledge for free, what would the payoff be for them?" </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(p.26)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And there you were thinking that librarians were benevolent forces for good, educating you all out of the kindness of their hearts. I'll leave you to read the book and find out just exactly what their ulterior motive is...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Despite the mortal peril the boy finds himself in, though, this is a Murakami book, and there's always time to relax. While you and I would be in a panic over the impending danger, the boy is able to get sidetracked by the strangest of topics, whether it's the book on Ottoman tax collector Ibn Armut Hasir or the doughnuts he's been brought to eat:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> <i><b> "This is the best doughnut I've ever eaten," I said.</b></i></span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "I just finished frying them up," said the sheep man. "I make them from scratch, you know."</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "I bet if you opened a doughnut shop, it'd be a big hit.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "Yeah, I've thought about that myself. How great that'd be."</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "I know you could do it." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(p.40)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Wait a minute - impending doom, danger? Talk about Stockholm Syndrome...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnF0GEJzLaNXo2eReQxo5STqBpe-YPbcfi1z_qWc8boU1PJhGkgXjduyipQNydPd9vCeEyNtyz323TozVsB9pS_I5XNoPvbSjWakYRncxv8In0mclfbZbeqei1GN7HhcEJr945g3x8Ryk/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnF0GEJzLaNXo2eReQxo5STqBpe-YPbcfi1z_qWc8boU1PJhGkgXjduyipQNydPd9vCeEyNtyz323TozVsB9pS_I5XNoPvbSjWakYRncxv8In0mclfbZbeqei1GN7HhcEJr945g3x8Ryk/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>The Strange Library</i> may just be a short story for kids, but it's immensely entertaining, and I'd love to read more of the same. It's a book which uses a fairy-tale structure to pay homage to libraries and praise the ability of books to allow us to escape our humdrum lives. Goossen's translation beautifully captures the ludicrous, yet straight-faced style, a fact which bodes well for his retranslations of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/60-hear-wind-sing-by-haruki-murakami.html"><i><b>Hear the Wind Sing</b></i></a> and <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/74-pinball-1973-by-haruki-murakami.html"><i><b>Pinball, 1973</b></i></a>, coming later this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As sweet as <i>The Strange Library</i> is, it wouldn't be a Murakami book without a poignant twist, and on this front it certainly delivers. Just when you think that you're on top of what the book is trying to do, you discover that there's a subtle undertone, one which only becomes apparent in the last few lines. It may not be the best book I've tried for January in Japan this time around, but it's certainly a fitting book to round the event off - I highly recommend that you go and get a copy from your library.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Just promise me, whatever you do - don't go down to the basement...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-1962168794865924732015-01-29T06:00:00.001+11:002015-01-29T06:00:00.821+11:00'N.P.' by Banana Yoshimoto (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVn3RJ2IgHmYbBHUTTcpNXPscvEaC7Vs3Qyxk2UNaxk2LrM9nhmOEnTiOEFe_AWzXnJcoTSt1bdmazOCXxFtpzc4zBCuJ5jUCpBPTBRz4xescODFpxQCGsojk_7ykruqcB9RcGtFQk-YA/s1600/IMG_5155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVn3RJ2IgHmYbBHUTTcpNXPscvEaC7Vs3Qyxk2UNaxk2LrM9nhmOEnTiOEFe_AWzXnJcoTSt1bdmazOCXxFtpzc4zBCuJ5jUCpBPTBRz4xescODFpxQCGsojk_7ykruqcB9RcGtFQk-YA/s1600/IMG_5155.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As we head towards the end of the third <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a>, I've been looking back at all the posts I've written for the event over the years. There's been a mixture of modern books, old masters and some real classics (and when I say classics...), but only two writers have featured in all three editions. One is the father of modern J-Lit, <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Natsume%20Soseki"><b>Natsume Soseki</b></a> - the other... shares a name with a yellow fruit high in potassium.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now, how did that happen?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Banana%20Yoshimoto">Banana Yoshimoto's</a> <i>N.P.</i></b><i> </i>(translated by <b>Ann Sherif</b>) is the story of Kazami Kano, an English-language research assistant at a Tokyo university. The start of the book sees her looking back to a relationship she had with an older man while she was at high school, a translator working on a collection of ninety-seven short stories. The book never appeared in Japanese as the translator committed suicide soon after, just as the writer (a Japanese man living in the US) had done years before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Years later, Kazami is reminded of this passage of her life when she reencounters Saki and Otohiko Takase, the writer's children, whom she met briefly at a partly long ago. Falling into the orbit of the Takases, she discovers that there is more to learn about the untranslated book 'N.P.'. Not only are there some extra stories, relating some rather personal family affairs, there's also the fact that everyone who has attempted to translate the story into Japanese has killed themselves. The major discovery, though, is that Kazami is connected to the Takases by a woman she has yet to meet, a former girlfriend of the translator with a very close tie to Saki and Otohiko...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Over the years, my relationship with Yoshimoto's work has very much been one swinging between enjoyment and loathing (on the same page), so you might find it surprising that I've gone back for more this time. However,<i> N.P.</i> is the one book continually cited whenever people put Yoshimoto forward as a favourite writer, and with its being the only one of her major works in English I hadn't read (as far as I'm aware...), I thought it was time to give it a go - and I'm glad I did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">From the very start, <i>N.P.</i> is a novel which is recognisably Banana(s). <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/hardboiled-hard-luck-by-banana.html">As I mentioned last year</a>, while everyone knows about Murakami Bingo, J-Lit aficionados would agree that Banana Bingo is the main game in town, and in this regard, <i>N.P. </i>certainly doesn't disappoint. Lesbian tendencies? Page 42. Mysterious illness? Page 17. Eerie ability to dream the future? Page 6. Suicide? Page 1, Line 4. That's a full card, and I'd like the stuffed teddy as my prize, please ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Despite the almost parodical adherence to these themes (which the writer emphasises herself in the afterword), <i>N.P.</i> is actually a very good book, possibly the best of the ones I've been able to try. Kazami is another of Yoshimoto's stock characters, the woman ever-so-slightly outside mainstream society. She comes from an unconventional family, deserted by the father, with her sister living overseas and her mother a freelance translator. This gives her a different perspective on the world, and the novel has a calming feel of a step outside the rat race, a slice of summer with perpetual sunshine and blue skies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Otohiko and Saki, strangers in their home country, see Kazami as a kindred spirit, latching onto her in an attempt to find a foothold in Tokyo. Kazami is quickly pulled into their lives, even though she senses the darkness beneath their charming exteriors:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"But I could do little to lessen the fatigue that had been building up in him before we even met, the weariness over the complications of his life. I was incapable of truly understanding the darkness that made up a large part of his personality, the blackness that I found so attractive."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>p.28 (Faber and Faber, 2001)</b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">However, it isn't until the arrival of the final major character that matters really get interesting. You see, the real focal point of the story is Sui Minowa, an intense, willowy beauty, half-sister to the Takases, inspiration for one of the secret stories - and Otohiko's lover...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn50QMlctJVm_NgttlJDrVRulKkXPgXegST_w2a_LJefV0tHhV5FLdZUDVv18ccn5sVPzcSqIKkttU7zvdh7dyG_S-VkPCXJUk2xMxvaGBcMcr2OR3xgL4XvAz77z5QlFbroVQWSxA8Tw/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn50QMlctJVm_NgttlJDrVRulKkXPgXegST_w2a_LJefV0tHhV5FLdZUDVv18ccn5sVPzcSqIKkttU7zvdh7dyG_S-VkPCXJUk2xMxvaGBcMcr2OR3xgL4XvAz77z5QlFbroVQWSxA8Tw/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's this darkness that lifts <i>N.P.</i> above much of Yoshimoto's other work. While there's still a lot of light nonsense, with the writer balancing on the tightrope between the profound and the trite at times, there's a mood hanging over the story, an acknowledgement that tragedy is in the air, and that it's unavoidable. The incestuous strands to the story, both metaphorical (Kazami's growing attraction to all in her tight-knit group) and literal (the Takases really believe in keeping things in the family), mean that it's difficult for the reader to relax too much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Yoshimoto balances this nicely, though, with her descriptions of the hot Tokyo summer, allowing us to soak in the sun in peace with the characters. The story, what little there is of it, often takes a back seat as Kazami and her friends look to snatch a moment of calm:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"The three of us stood there. Cars proceeded slowly around the plaza, and a line of buses stood at the stop. So many things filled the space of that very ordinary, clear afternoon. The many complications, the things that had evolved over time, the varying distances between Japan and the rest of the world. People walked right by us, and their voices interrupted our conversations, without any of them realizing all that was going on between us. It felt strange."</span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (p.140)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sadly, even in a Banana Yoshimoto novel, time can't stand still forever. The summer has to end eventually, and when it does, the friends who met in the sun are likely to go their separate ways. Will they make it through in one piece, or will the curse of 'N.P.' strike again...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There's a lot to like about <i>N.P.</i>, and while <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/63-amrita-by-banana-yoshimoto.html"><i><b>Amrita</b></i></a> (which nobody else seems to have read - or liked) was my favourite Yoshimoto book before, I have a feeling that this one might take its place. This is a book where the writer explores all her usual themes and gets it right, creating a novel more memorable for its feel than its plot. A good way to round off my Yoshimoto reading, then, and a book which almost leaves me wanting to go back to her other work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Maybe next year ;) </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-71841179040309072562015-01-27T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-27T06:00:01.182+11:00'The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine' by Akiyuki Nosaka (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFbBdJJ2ke1_RsA1NkQ8bWkmEQKZ9SVf0GliAEmU6s_umEfcgrS3XQSunJtPiQZcnHDnKuZco95b5yBKb4RVUnHkuGxj6XHMjWXc_3j0Izomum93LkR6qkFuewFQ2ZIUC1LHqfdmCAvc/s1600/IMG_5150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFbBdJJ2ke1_RsA1NkQ8bWkmEQKZ9SVf0GliAEmU6s_umEfcgrS3XQSunJtPiQZcnHDnKuZco95b5yBKb4RVUnHkuGxj6XHMjWXc_3j0Izomum93LkR6qkFuewFQ2ZIUC1LHqfdmCAvc/s1600/IMG_5150.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When I first heard that <a href="http://pushkinchildrens.com/"><b>Pushkin Children's Books</b></a> were bringing out a Japanese title in February, I was keen to get my hands on a copy, mainly so that my daughter <b>Emily</b> could take part in <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a>. The only thing I knew about the book was the title, and it sounded harmless enough - however, when it arrived, a cursory flick through was enough to tell me that this was a book I'd be reading alone. Let me explain why...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Akiyuki Nosaka's <i>The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine</i></b> (translated by <b>Ginny Tapley Takemori</b>, review copy courtesy of the publisher) is a collection of seven stories written for children. Each takes place (both inside and outside Japan) on exactly the same day in history, the 15th of August, 1945. For those unaware of the significance of this date, this was the day Japan surrendered, and the Second World War finally ended...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The seven stories act as an educational tool for young readers, describing the plight of the Japanese people at the end of the conflict. The writer touches on the futility of war while focusing on the hardship felt by those not involved in the actual fighting. It's written in a style that will enable children to understand what's happening, but be warned - interesting as the stories are, they can certainly be a bit grim...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While the tales here are far removed from Disney films, one thing they do have in common is an abundance of animals in starring roles. In <b>'The Parrot and the Boy'</b>, the bird is a companion that reminds a boy of his father, killed years earlier in the war. The story takes place in an air-raid shelter in a bombed-out neighbourhood:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Originally it had been constructed at the side of the road, but in the air raid two months earlier the town had been completely razed to the ground all the way from the mountain to the sea, and in the burnt-out ruins it was no longer possible to tell where houses had once stood and roads had once run."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'The Parrot and the Boy', p.22 (Pushkin Children's Press, 2015)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While the boy has survived the initial onslaught (as has his parrot), shell-shock and hunger will make life in the shelter difficult. Hopefully, the parrot will be able to keep the boy's spirits up until help arrives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The animal theme continues with <b>'The Old She-Wolf and the Little Girl'</b>, in which a dying wolf falls in with a girl abandoned by refugees flooding out of Manchuria, and <b>'The Red Dragonfly and the Cockroach'</b>, where a young kamikaze pilot takes his insect 'friend' on a last, fatal mission. As for the title story, it does exactly what it promises, portraying a whale who mistakes a Japanese submarine for an attractive female of his species. It's a particularly sobering tale in which it's fair to say that the poor love-lorn whale has a tragic end...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Even where the focus is on the people, the suffering keeps coming. <b>'The Mother that Turned into a Kite'</b> features a woman caught in an inferno with her young son doing everything she can to give him a chance of survival:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Even her sweat was hot, she thought, as she desperately fumbled for more. If only the trickle of perspiration could be more like a waterfall. When she rubbed it on Katchan's bare hands and feet, the dryness gave way to a smooth and pleasant sensation, as if he'd just got out of the bath."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'The Mother that turned into a Kite', p.41 </span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In <b>'The Prisoner of War and the Little Girl'</b>, we meet another lost couple, an escaped POW and an orphan girl, as they await the end of the war together. If only there could be a happy ending in this one (here's a hint - probably not).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7jpc-ioGtqHmHeUiqZ1kKq2fSEhsTP8gOCMDZPhymXr6YTnG_ceM1M68_ZPjlrJnnHr0YOT6fzhtMZKw25CmKcsHqqNAF4IuhcVP1H0AL1UcXwAPWWf6J9WeomMz5hUjwHUotHgnYqSs/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7jpc-ioGtqHmHeUiqZ1kKq2fSEhsTP8gOCMDZPhymXr6YTnG_ceM1M68_ZPjlrJnnHr0YOT6fzhtMZKw25CmKcsHqqNAF4IuhcVP1H0AL1UcXwAPWWf6J9WeomMz5hUjwHUotHgnYqSs/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's an excellent, if sombre, collection, nicely translated by Tapley Takemori. While the language used is simple, the stories flow smoothly and are always compelling, making for a deceptively polished text. The mood is further enhanced by the illustrations of <b>Mika Provata-Carlone</b>. Each story has several black-and-white ink drawings, simple, effective and poignant companions to the texts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The book is heart-breaking at times - with many sacrifices in vain, most of the stories have a bleak ending. In fact, it</span>'s not until the final story, <b>'The Cake Tree in the Ruins'</b>, that a ray of light appears. This one is a strange tale of a tree sprouting from the ashes of a burnt-out home. When some local boys eat the leaves, they discover that the tree is actually made of cake, leading the reader into a back story of an ailing boy and his childish dream. It's an allegorical piece giving hope for the future, the writer telling the children that the grown-ups started the war, not them - it's time for the children of Japan, and the world, to take the stage and shape the coming years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's an important message for children to hear, and Nosaka's book is full of stories they need to be told. <i>The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine</i> is a book I'd definitely recommend for upper primary children as it's important for them to learn about the past to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. However, for a seven-year-old (and a rather sensitive seven-year-old at that), this would be far too much too soon. You can't shelter your child from the realities of the world forever, but I'm going to leave it a little while longer before Emily gets to read this one...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-52016817042874075662015-01-25T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-25T06:00:01.282+11:00'The Tale of the Heike', translated by Royall Tyler (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi623VKOg9RPWx45IhAFtF0E1br94JEXs5pP6t46RYvZvJYdPMAMN3Y9QZrFk832FYbBEoxUeHno7DUb7eZH1lBxFKoNYEJbKDLoyC7HWhlwHyWQzEGUa9YJPuP8NAXv1QZhKlMr_SzpHc/s1600/IMG_5153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi623VKOg9RPWx45IhAFtF0E1br94JEXs5pP6t46RYvZvJYdPMAMN3Y9QZrFk832FYbBEoxUeHno7DUb7eZH1lBxFKoNYEJbKDLoyC7HWhlwHyWQzEGUa9YJPuP8NAXv1QZhKlMr_SzpHc/s1600/IMG_5153.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Having only recently <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/the-kojiki-by-o-no-yasumaro-review.html">explored the mythical origins of the Japanese people</a>, you would have thought I'd spend the rest of <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> looking at more modern books. However, today's post sees me going back in time once more, with a 14th-Century text recounting a series of 12th-Century conflicts. You've all heard about the face that launched a thousand ships, but how about a mirror that did the same? Let me tell you a story...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/books/the-tale-of-the-heike/9780143107262/"><i><b>The Tale of the Heike</b></i></a> (translated by <b>Royall Tyler</b>, review copy courtesy of <b>Penguin Classics</b>) is a monumental work, a collection of stories from a period of history which together form something akin to a Japanese <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/review-post-2-iliad-for-dummies.html"><i><b>Iliad</b></i></a>. We begin in the middle of the twelfth century, where under the leadership of the great Tadamori, the Taira (or 'Heike') clan has become the most powerful family in the land, eclipsing the fortunes of the other major clan, the Minamoto (or 'Genji'). The first books of the work chart the rise in the strength of the Taira, who eventually come to possess most of the important imperial positions, in addition to providing a wife for the reigning emperor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Under the leadership of Tadamori's son, Kiyomori, the Heike reach the zenith of their influence, banishing and executing most of their serious rivals, and when the Empress gives birth to a male heir (later to be made Emperor himself), it appears that their power is unmatchable:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"This, our island land of Japan,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> has only sixty-six provinces,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and the Heike ruled over thirty.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Half the realm and more was theirs,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> quite apart from all their estates, </span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> their countless fields, paddy and dry."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Book One, p.15 (Penguin Classics, 2014) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Pride, however, is known to come before a fall, and the way in which the Taira clan seize power doesn't please everyone. In the provinces, the exiled Genji are waiting, and in the space of a few short years, the dynasty Kiyomori has built up will be swept away forever...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Tale of the Heike</i> is a monumental work, seven-hundred pages of poetry, myths, intrigue, battles and noble deaths. It's the foundation of many later Japanese works, not only in literature, but also in Kabuki, Noh and art, and it's a story any self-respecting Japanophile has to read at some point. In many ways, it can be compared to Shakespearean tragedies, with its handling of major historical events enhanced by the psychological insights into the minds of the major protagonists.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The flawed character of the piece, a strong man with none of the doubts of a Hamlet or a Macbeth, is Lord Kiyomori, a nobleman who has rendered great service to the Imperial family over the years, putting down insurrections and removing all threats from the capital. However, in his desire to strengthen his family's position, he is blind to the resentment he is sowing. His son, Shigemori, has a cooler, wiser head than his father and attempts to warn him of the dangers of his actions:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"The deeds of the fathers, good or bad,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> clearly touch their descendants' lives.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> The house with a rich store of good</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> will thrive far into times to come;</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> the one long given to evil ways</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> faces only calamity -</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> so I have heard..."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Book Two, p.84</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Despite the respect the father has for the son, the overbearing behaviour continues, and when Shigemori passes away, it's inevitable that Kiyomori will continue down his all-or-nothing path.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Eventually, the tide begins to turn, and the enemies of the Heike begin to think seriously about how they can remove the hated family from power. With the tacit acceptance of the cloistered (retired) Emperor Go Shirakawa, exiled members of the Genji, under the leadership of Minamoto no Yoritomo, begin to gather their forces in preparation for the battles to come. The spark comes when a tentative uprising led by an Imperial prince is crushed, leading to the burning of temples in Nara and the removal of the capital to Fukuhara (now Kobe):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One might say that the Heike had now committed their greatest outrage yet.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Ever since back in the Angen years," people kept saying,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"that man has banished or killed senior nobles and privy gentlemen,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">exiled a regent, appointed his own son-in-law regent,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">shifted the cloistered emperor to a Seinan Palace,</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and murdered his second son, Prince Mochihito.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In short, moving the capital is probably just the last affront he could think of."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Book Five, p.252</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With the support of the neutrals wavering, and armies of Genji warriors massed to the East, life in Kyoto is about to get very interesting indeed...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While the writing of <i>The Tale of the Heike</i> is attributed to 14th-Century Buddhist monks, the English-language version is very much Tyler's work (and a wonderful work it is too). From the forbidding picture of Kiyomori on the cover to the detailed maps at the back, the whole book shows how much work has gone into its creation. In addition to the above, the reader is also treated to an introduction setting the scene, family trees, glossaries and copious footnotes for those who want them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The handling of the actual text is also rather interesting. Tyler has chosen to put the book into three differing styles: one is a descriptive prose, one a declarative recitation style and the other reserved for songs or Japanese poetry. This mix of styles lends the text a Homerian air at times, and in addition to the imagery of words, there is also the real thing. The book includes many ink drawings from a 19th-Century Japanese edition of the book (drawn by <b>Tesai Hokuba</b>, a pupil of the famous <b>Hokusai</b>), each detailing a pivotal, and well-known, scene from the story.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuaYVHZBzzOQAUBj5xouuDyMT8ZXniMPUUE8qWFJb-ljR69lctMV3-3-MSSYPoBgteANG9-yKjWyScaIICMMrIHZtBCNe5FPuzJIyauy1XVlWvqBUl-L47b5E7u-A9KB_QPVk6VI2S2Q/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuaYVHZBzzOQAUBj5xouuDyMT8ZXniMPUUE8qWFJb-ljR69lctMV3-3-MSSYPoBgteANG9-yKjWyScaIICMMrIHZtBCNe5FPuzJIyauy1XVlWvqBUl-L47b5E7u-A9KB_QPVk6VI2S2Q/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">None of that would be important, though, if the story was no good, so it's lucky that <i>The Tale of the Heike</i> is a cracking read. Like the <i>Iliad</i>, it's full of stories of heroic warriors and their deeds, with soldiers challenging their enemies and performing miraculous feats of strength and courage. There are sea battles (in which the Genji attempt to recover the boy Emperor and the three treasures of the imperial line - including Amaterasu's mirror...), political intrigue, infighting for positions and even a cast of thousands of warrior monks - what's not to like? ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In fairness, I'd have to say that there are a few dull areas. The writers had a tendency to give warriors lengthy back stories after their death, and the repeated descriptions of prayers and lists of warriors on the march can pall after a while. There's also a lot more repetition than is accepted in English (I lost track of how many times a character turned away with 'their sleeves soaked by tears'...), and it would take a very determined reader indeed to absorb every word of the book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">These are minor quibbles, though, and the truth is that I loved it. <i>The Tale of the Heike</i> is a truly epic, spectacular book, a classic of world literature, and Tyler deserves immense praise for making it into a novel that many an Anglophone reader will enjoy. It's a work which underpins Japanese cultural history, and any J-Lit fan who gives it a try will come out of the experience with their knowledge of the area greatly enriched.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, where to from here? Well, it just so happens that Tyler is also the man who put out a highly-acclaimed version of the all-time Japanese classic, Lady Murasaki's <i>magnum opus</i>, and after reading this, I'm keener than ever to continue my adventures in classic J-Lit. I said it last year, and I'll say it again this year (hopefully, with more accuracy!) - 2015 will be the year of <a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/books/the-tale-of-genji/9780142437148/"><i><b>The Tale of Genji</b></i></a> ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-49326179668023122322015-01-22T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-22T06:00:01.287+11:00'Grass on the Wayside' by Natsume Sōseki (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3UORlp8X5sgVKBhzGThXN66knqf0H0fj7EtkprYSx-adjW_VB2O0sLUM3k1SoIAKAZXJd4TJLKkP2noKS4H5lHjxANuy9ifqIS_9VIpVRXX0wCghFa3-bz_M0HNXKu3ErarTF_YoEyo/s1600/IMG_5149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3UORlp8X5sgVKBhzGThXN66knqf0H0fj7EtkprYSx-adjW_VB2O0sLUM3k1SoIAKAZXJd4TJLKkP2noKS4H5lHjxANuy9ifqIS_9VIpVRXX0wCghFa3-bz_M0HNXKu3ErarTF_YoEyo/s1600/IMG_5149.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It wouldn't be <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> without looking at a book by the great <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Natsume%20Soseki"><b>Natsume S</b></a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Natsume%20Soseki"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō</span>seki</b></a>, and today's choice is one I've had on the shelves for far too long. One of his last completed novels, appearing not long before the incomplete <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/light-and-dark-by-natsume-soseki-review.html"><i><b>Light and Dark</b></i></a>, it's an intensely personal work (as much for me as for the writer), and what's more, it's a landmark review in one other way - this is the tenth of his I've written about :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>Grass on the Wayside</b></i> (translated by <b>Edwin McClellan</b>) is the story of Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō, a university lecturer in his mid-thirties. Living and working in Tokyo, having recently returned from a few years abroad, he's a rather nervous, slightly pompous intellectual who struggles to relate to others:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"That he might leave his desk once in a while and indulge in some sort of recreation never occurred to him. A well-meaning friend once suggested that he might take up N</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō recitation as a hobby. He had grace enough to refuse politely, but secretly he was quite shocked at the man's frivolity. How can the fellow, he asked himself incredulously, find the time for such nonsense? He could not see that his own attitude toward time had become mean and miserly.</span>"</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>p.6 (Tuttle Publishing, 1971) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō w</span>ould love nothing more than to be left alone with his work, but it's unlikely to happen - this is not a culture where an individual can remain cut off from those around them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As a relatively successful man, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō is </span></span>responsible for helping his relatives out when necessary, including his asthmatic sister and her no-good husband, his elder brother and his wife's parents (while his father-in-law was once a successful public official, he has come down in the world and now needs assistance himself). To top it all off, while out walking one day, our friend sees a familiar face from the past. The old man standing on the corner is Shimada, an important figure from </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's childhood. What ensues is less a happy reunion than </span></span>another claim on </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's time and finances...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Grass on the Wayside</i> was written shortly before S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō</span>seki's death. Suffering from stomach illness at the time, he was not in the most optimistic of moods, and this is reflected in the book. It's actually an extremely personal novel, and McClellan's short introduction explains both the prevailing trend of 'I' novels of the time and the parallels between </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's story and the writer's own circumstances.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The main plot concerns the connection between </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō and </span></span>Shimada. Between the ages of two and eight (as was the case with S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ōseki himself), </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō was adopted out by his family to Shimada, a situation which was not too uncommon in the Japan of the time. While all legal and financial issues were settled when the boy was returned to his real parents,</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Shimada is nevertheless hoping to take advantage and squeeze money out of his former 'son':</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō did not quite know what to say. He looked at the tobacco tray he had placed in front of the visitor, and thought of the old man with the shoddy umbrella staring at him through the rain. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō could not help hating him. He remained silent, torn between his sense of indebtedness and his hatred.</span></span>"</span></span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (p.21)</span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A modern (Western) reader might wonder why he is unable to simply brush the claim off - unfortunately, both Japanese culture and </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's personality render that more difficult than it might first appear.</span></span></span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Like many of the characters in the novel, Shimada is able to take advantage of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's weakness. The lecturer may be intellectually able, but he's certainly not a man of the world, and this causes most of his problems:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"The trouble with him, however, was that behind the obstinacy there was a rather indecisive streak in his character. He simply did not have the courage to refuse outright to lend his signature; he was afraid of seeming too heartless."</span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (p.119)</span></b></blockquote>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVFYahIehm85Wc-unyeU5P0HaY2IfyAMd9IYfQSaN-PLASHSvZ8xhdfELsvZB98Sb2n6I2LR1n69SDpJRDCbb11SenoqeqOL1WQe3hhIxM67_VNHPSUMrTn5xOFSlHy89qj95qc-r8ek/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVFYahIehm85Wc-unyeU5P0HaY2IfyAMd9IYfQSaN-PLASHSvZ8xhdfELsvZB98Sb2n6I2LR1n69SDpJRDCbb11SenoqeqOL1WQe3hhIxM67_VNHPSUMrTn5xOFSlHy89qj95qc-r8ek/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">However, his reticence to act is due not only to any perceived weakness, but also to a genuine moral dilemma. Unlike his wife and brother, who are concerned about any possible legal claim, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō is actually more worried about whether Shimada truly has a moral claim on his assistance...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The other main theme explored in <i>Grass on the Wayside</i> is that of marriage, and the novel provides great psychological insight into a standard (unhappy) relationship. Both </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō and his wife are </span></span></span>at fault (although </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">by modern, Western standards, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō is certainly the main offender</span></span></span>); they are two people separated by minds and attitudes, observing basic formalities and little else:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Her expression was blank. I could have shown pleasure, she thought, if only he had said something kind. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō, on the other hand, resented her seeming indifference, and blamed her for his own silence.</span></span>" </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(p.34)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This miscommuncation is typical of the way they go about their daily life. The two do attempt to get along in their bumbling way, but they are simply never able to open up to each other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As mentioned, this is a late </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ōseki</span>, and the style and subject matter are typically dark and heavy, very different to the light touch shown in earlier work (e.g. <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/review-post-41-hey-teacher-leave-those.html"><i>Botchan</i></a>, <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/grass-pillow-for-my-head.html"><i>Kusamakura</i></a>). As a character, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō has</span></span> echoes of Daisuke in <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/back-to-japan.html"><i>Sorekara/And Then</i></a> (again, a much lighter book). Both men are vacillating and western-influenced, unable to cope with the more practical, mercenary people around them. In terms of style, however, <i>Grass on the Wayside</i> is more similar to the writer's final (unfinished) work, <i>Light and Dark</i>. The closing piece in </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ōseki's oeuvre takes the marriage themes introduced in previous works and examines them in exhaustive detail; the handling of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kenz</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ō's marital woes can be seen as a warm-up for the longer novel to come.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Grass on the Wayside</i> is not a book for everyone, but </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ōseki</span></span> fans will love this. It's an absorbing, psychological tale - and a warning to the unwary... I finished this on New Year's Eve, around the time the story comes to an end, and </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ōseki's tale of </span>a busy man, surrounded by family, stress and fatigue is, unfortunately, all too familiar. <i>Grass on the Wayside</i> can be read not just as a novel, but as a warning to those who set matters intellectual above domestic affairs. Consider it a warning heeded...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-68646595838745346142015-01-20T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-20T06:00:00.056+11:00'Masks' by Fumiko Enchi (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yNxV_mgEaW8PQv3b8Zqs_f5zftZ-Rj09P2Swa-ZnTIpG7h6UUFx8AfmIaQW0cQHuX3qS6PDZIMcVglQ9I_VBCtm6SY98J0lXruZqQ5aSqIrImkcZw_eh3KQCRv7Ur4JvKC-2ipdPsgw/s1600/IMG_5148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yNxV_mgEaW8PQv3b8Zqs_f5zftZ-Rj09P2Swa-ZnTIpG7h6UUFx8AfmIaQW0cQHuX3qS6PDZIMcVglQ9I_VBCtm6SY98J0lXruZqQ5aSqIrImkcZw_eh3KQCRv7Ur4JvKC-2ipdPsgw/s1600/IMG_5148.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today's post looks at another of my <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> finds at the university library (as can be seen from the unfortunate placing of the bar code...). As always, I'm a little light on female writers, and this is a book, and an author, I've been meaning to get to for some time. Be careful, though - in this one, the writer's main theme seems to be that women are not always to be trusted. Consider yourselves forewarned...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Fumiko Enchi's</b> <b><i>Masks</i></b> (translated by <b>Juliet Winters Carpenter</b>) begins in Kyoto, where Tsuneo Ibuki and Toyoki Mikame, two university lecturers from Tokyo, meet by chance in a café. The two friends are in town for conferences, but as luck would have it, they are about to see something very special. Meeting up with Ibuki's student, Yasuko, and her mother-in-law, Mieko Togan</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">ō</span>, the men are privileged to visit the home of a master of the N</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">ō</span> play, a Japanese art form which uses masks to display characters and emotions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The masks the group are allowed to view then act as <i>leitmotifs</i> for the story: the 'Ry</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">ō</span> no Onna', or spirit woman; the 'Masugami', or frenzied young woman; and the 'Fukai', or deep, middle-aged woman. Each comes to be associated with one of the female characters, and while the masks may seem rather fixed and one-dimensional, in fact they are incredible works of art, allowing the knowledgeable onlooker to discern shades of emotion. What's more, they display while concealing - and the men in the story are to find out that the women in their lives are quite adept at using their masks in affairs of the heart...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Masks</i> is a short novel, but it's a superb examination of the way people manipulate and are manipulated in turn. The action is mainly seen through the eyes of the two men, but it's clear from the start that it's the women who hold all the cards in this game. With Yasuko's husband having died in an avalanche, the young woman is a tempting prize for Ibuki and Mikame; the problem is that this prize will come at a cost (and has some hidden conditions...).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the issues is that there is a tight connection between Yasuko and Mieko. The two professors are aware of the link, but have differing views as to who holds the power in the relationship. Ibuki, while attracted to Yasuko, senses something amiss:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"She made the appeal prettily, her head tilted to one side, but to Ibuki her soft smile was repugnant, seeming to reveal within her an unconscious hint of the harlot."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">pp.15/6 (Tuttle Press, 1984)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">However, Mikame, less inclined to analyse, has a different view:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"...but to him Mieko resembled less an outsize drawing of a beautiful woman than a slightly vulgar background of some sort - a heavy, ornate tapestry or a large blossoming tree - against which Yasuko's youth and charm showed off to heightened advantage."</span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (p.17)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Of course, both of these images are mere masks, and finding out what lies beneath is set to be a difficult and costly experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As much as we experience events through the men, the key figure in the novel is Mieko. She's an attractive middle-aged widow, a poet living with her daughter-in-law and a daughter who has only recently returned to the family. Like the other main characters, she has an interest in the depiction of spirit possession in literature and folklore, and the chance discovery of an essay she wrote decades ago provides an insight into her character.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbEe-41SVtUnvoOuHJlcY233uKbf8nW8DGsXXWJEHMozOaMLzr2Erqvx545ZBz0go8Zimzvnxry2t3idL3J3Lph2hxqULshVRJLIvGiyKzxw_vJNJdq8XqQS-M-w3tvyApa1jNPfyC2s/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbEe-41SVtUnvoOuHJlcY233uKbf8nW8DGsXXWJEHMozOaMLzr2Erqvx545ZBz0go8Zimzvnxry2t3idL3J3Lph2hxqULshVRJLIvGiyKzxw_vJNJdq8XqQS-M-w3tvyApa1jNPfyC2s/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In her piece, she focuses on the Rokuj</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">ō</span> Lady, one of the many lovers the main character has in <i><b>The Tale of Genji</b></i>, and while this woman is considered a minor character, for Mieko she is much more important. The Rokuj</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">ō</span> Lady attacks other characters unconsciously through her spirit, and while many despise her for this, Mieko sees something very different, a powerful woman, too strong for the men around her. Mmm - I wonder if that has a relevance in Enchi's novel...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Another interesting focus in the novel is on relationships in Japanese society, with the way marriages, courtships and extra-marital affairs are handled being very different to what we (in the West) might expect. As Ibuki gets closer to Yasuko, his wife becomes suspicious, but the way she reacts (and Ibuki's reaction to her reaction) is slightly alien. Mikame's calm acceptance of the way matters unfold is also puzzling - the very idea of what a marriage is (as shown by Mieko's husband's 'traditions'...) is completely different to the Christian norm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Masks</i> is a novel that unfolds elegantly, with an excellent plot which is gradually revealed. The men are pawns in a game, that much is clear from an early stage - we're just not quite sure what the game is and who the main player is:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"You and I are accomplices, aren't we, in a dreadful crime - a crime that only women could commit." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.126)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yasuko's comment to Mieko towards the end of the novel may give you a hint of what is to come, but only a hint. This is a very subtle game ;)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Although I've read some of Enchi's work before (in the form of short stories), this is the first longer piece I've tried, and I found it excellent. There's great command of the characters, with a focus on dialogue and the psychological development of the mian figures, and the writer's knowledge of Japanese literary culture comes through in the way classic stories are used in the text to foreshadow later events (it comes as no surprise to learn that Enchi translated <i>The Tale of Genji</i> into modern Japanese). Praise must go, of course, to Winters Carpenter, who has created an excellent English-language text, a credit to Enchi's story. In particular, the dialogue and thought are rendered superbly, an area which can often let a translation down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Masks </i>is a short novel, but it's a very good one by a writer who certainly knows her craft. It's a warning of the perils of human relationships and an examination of woman as both comfort and danger. As Mieko concludes in her essay:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Just as there is an archetype of woman as the object of man's eternal love, so there must be an archetype of her as the object of his eternal fear, representing, perhaps, the shadow of his own evil actions. The Rokuj</span></b></i><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st"><i>ō</i></span> lady is an embodiment of this archetype." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.37)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Perhaps she's right - but I can think of another one...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-77189462006932631752015-01-18T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-18T06:00:01.853+11:00'The Hunting Gun' by Yasushi Inoue (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkYQ6o0Z-EVhm5lBnVrTQKe0fo95Ew8uDF_IHvNDrGWCxFhR2phUSrHpojfivHqioBZYXJyvIBvtJz28ZT5alNQ7VrFeQTB921TX516kNy73YilvBnRdoazTs2leb0OMISxycBuwODzA/s1600/IMG_5147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkYQ6o0Z-EVhm5lBnVrTQKe0fo95Ew8uDF_IHvNDrGWCxFhR2phUSrHpojfivHqioBZYXJyvIBvtJz28ZT5alNQ7VrFeQTB921TX516kNy73YilvBnRdoazTs2leb0OMISxycBuwODzA/s1600/IMG_5147.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">After starting their expansion into Japanese literature with a collection of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Ryu%20Murakami"><b>Ryu Murakami</b></a> books last year, <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Pushkin%20Press"><b>Pushkin Press</b></a> went a little more traditional with their second major J-Lit writer. <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Yasushi%20Inoue"><b>Yasushi Inoue</b></a> was a well-respected figure in twentieth-century Japanese writing, and the retranslation of his Akutagawa-Prize-winning novella <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/bullfight-by-yasushi-inoue-review.html"><i><b>Bullfight</b></i></a> was a big success on its release. Since then, Pushkin have brought out a couple more of Inoue's works in their beautiful mini-paperbacks, and today's is a story every bit as beautiful as the paper that contains it :) I haven't just stopped at a review today, though - keep reading afterwards for a more in-depth look at the text...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b><a href="http://pushkinpress.com/book/the-hunting-gun/">The Hunting Gun</a></b></i> (translated by <b>Michael Emmerich</b>, review copy courtesy of the publisher) is a haunting story of love and lies, related in a series of letters. The tale is set up by a frame narrative told by a writer, a man who submits a prose poem to a hunting magazine. Once the piece appears in print, he realizes that it's slightly out of place and expects some harsh responses from the magazine's readership.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In fact, the submission elicits just one reply, in the form of a letter from a certain J</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ōsuke Misugi. While Misugi enjoyed the poem, his reason for writing to the narrator is his belief that he is the figure depicted in the piece, lost in thought; having read it, he decides he'd like to explain to the poet just why he looked so distracted on that crisp early morning:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"You will no doubt be puzzled by what I am about to explain, coming as it does out of the blue, but I have here three letters that were addressed to me. I intended to burn them, but now, having read your poem and learnt of your existence, I find myself wanting to share them with you."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>p.17 (Pushkin Press, 2014)</b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Thus, the writer comes into possession of the three letters, all from women in the melancholy hunter's life - together, they tell quite a story...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Hunting Gun</i> is a classic novella, very Japanese in its content, but similar in style to many Western works, particularly Victorian epistolary classics (e.g. <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/welcome-to-north.html"><i><b>The Tenant of Wildfell Hall</b></i></a>). Inoue calmly, gradually reveals the story behind the poet's image, the hunter lost in thought, casually holding his gun. Each new letter is a further layer to the story, shedding new light on proceedings, both in terms of the backstory and Misugi's character and behaviour.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJuCDDOES5rLK6OQR2YHHiX8cPhOI4opx8MDXUFaWNn1tpseSIW3OVY1BuwXSwDC7dxKrbacOnSvonR0DDDpATJngOTJQ7QaAU1nlWdQ1a-poshHotKfML715zRTzt_NekDxoFd85GNw/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJuCDDOES5rLK6OQR2YHHiX8cPhOI4opx8MDXUFaWNn1tpseSIW3OVY1BuwXSwDC7dxKrbacOnSvonR0DDDpATJngOTJQ7QaAU1nlWdQ1a-poshHotKfML715zRTzt_NekDxoFd85GNw/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The first of the three letters is from his niece, Sh</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ōko, ostensibly thanking him for his concern in helping with the arrangements after her mother, Saiko's, death. However, in reality, she is writing to reveal that she knows about the secret he has been keeping for decades. The second letter is sent by Misugi's wife, Midori, one in which there's a nasty surprise awaiting the husband. Finally, we get to hear (posthumously) from Saiko herself, and this letter fills in the final details of the story behind Misugi's forlorn condition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While the plot isn't that hard to guess, I'd prefer to leave most of it unspoken (this is a J-Lit review, after all) - part of the beauty of the book is the way in which the story unfolds, with differing points of view transforming events described in earlier passages. The writing is beautifully elegant (and I'll be looking at Emmerich's work in more detail soon), and great work has gone into the creation of the voices. There are actually five different speakers</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, including the narrator and Misugi, and each is distinct, from Misugi's clipped, formal style to Midori's indirect chatter. Still, a lot is left between the lines for us to infer - this isn't a story which imposes its meaning upon the reader.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Hunting Gun</i> is a nostalgic tale, one of lost loves and a painful longing for the past:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Each of you was silent, lost in your own thoughts. The adult world was so lonesome, scary and sad that I could hardly bear it." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.45)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As Sh</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ōko discovers, the adult world is full of secrets and lies, and there is a stark contrast between the poetic images we see from a distance and the truth that lies behind them. Inoue's tale is a wonderful story that shows that every poem or painting has a backstory which is every bit as fascinating as the work of art itself...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'd actually read this story before, albeit in a different version. In the classic anthology <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/modern-japanese-stories-anthology-by.html"><i><b>Modern Japanese Stories</b></i></a> (edited by <b>Ivan Morris</b>, link is to my review), the story appears as <i><b>Shotgun</b></i>, in a translation by <b>George Sait</b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><b>ō</b></b>, and the 1962 version has a rather different feel in places to the 2014 translation. Let's take the passage at the start of the story where the narrator explains how his poem came to be in the magazine:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"It so happened that an old high-school classmate, the editor of 'Fellow Hunters', asked me to write a poem - noting that even at my age I was still writing after my fashion for obscure poetry magazines. He probably asked me in a mood of fancy and out of courtesy after a long lapse in our association. Ordinarily I would have declined such a proposal, since I had no interest in the magazine and his request was that I write about hunting. It happened, however, that I had thought of some day writing a poem about the hunting rifle and man's solitude. This would be exactly the right outlet."</span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (Sait</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>ō</b>, 1962, p.417)</span></b><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"It just so happens that the editor of 'The Hunter's Friend' is a high-school classmate of mine, and when he heard that even now, at my age, I haven't outgrown the habit of publishing my somewhat idiosyncratic poems in a privately printed journal some of my poet friends and I put out, he asked if I would contribute a piece to his magazine. Presumably he was only being polite, suggesting this on a whim as a way of making up for our having been out of touch for so long. That's all it was. Ordinarily I would have demurred without a moment's hesitation, seeing as the magazine focused so narrowly on a topic with which I had no connection, and because he had stipulated that the poem had to deal in some way with hunting; but as chance would have it I had recently been led to feel a certain poetic interest in hunting guns and their relationship to the solitude of the human condition, and I had just been thinking that I should write something on the topic one day. His magazine seemed like the best possible venue for such a work..." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Emmerich, 2014, pp.9/10)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The first thing that stands out, more clearly than I'd thought, is the length of the respective passages. Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō has managed to dash his off in a breezy, matter-of-fact manner (I imagine here Dickens asking Trollope - over a few beers - to contribute something to one of his monthly magazines and Trollope cheerily agreeing - although with the subject matter, perhaps it should be the other way round...).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Emmerich, however, has lengthened the passage considerably - or, should I say, kept the original length (if anyone out there has the original...). In particular, the last two sentences of Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō's version expand to almost double the length in the newer translation, and the extra detail included is rather effective. Emmerich's narrator seems to be attempting to justify his decision to write the poem, going beyond the call of duty to explain his reasons to the reader. Why? Well, that's for the careful reader to decide ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Reading the two texts (not just the passages above) side by side, I noticed several other clear differences in the way the translators have gone about their work. I suspect that in terms of faithfulness to word order and cohesion, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō sticks to the original more closely (which is not always a good thing - Japanese repeats the same coordinating conjunctions frequently, where English opts for a variety of subordinating conjunctions). Emmerich appears to have made judgement calls on where best to position clauses in sentences to make the text read more naturally in English. Having said that, the passages above also suggest that the older translation deliberately omits 'unnecessary' details to move the plot along more quickly. Again, a look at the original text would be handy here...</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There's also a major difference in the length of the sentences used by the two translators. Both Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō and Emmerich use five sentences to convey the information; however, with Emmerich's version being much longer, the sentences, necessarily, contain much more information (in fact, the one short sentence in the middle of Emmerich's version, merely echoes information from the end of the previous sentence), and his final sentence actually goes on to include information rendered in a further two-sentence paragraph in Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō's text.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the effects of the extra length of the newer version is that the language appears much more tentative in the modern version: <i>'as chance would have it'</i>, <i>'been led to feel a certain poetic interest'</i>, <i>'had just been thinking'</i>, <i>'seemed like the best possible venue'</i>. I certainly had the impression that Emmerich's narrator was a much more careful writer, a poet to Sait</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ō's prose novelist. Perhaps a better indication of this might be seen in the first lines of the actual prose poem the narrator submitted to the magazine, 'The Hunting Gun' (or, less poetically, 'Shotgun'):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Large pipe clamped between his lips, a setter just ahead, the man trudged up the path towards the summit of Mount Amagi, through early-winter brush, crushing hoar frost beneath his rubber boots."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Emmerich, p.10)</span></b><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"A man with a big seaman's pipe in his mouth went up the path slowly, weaving through the bushes on Mt. Amagi in early winter, walking a setter before him and treading the frost needles under his boots." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Sait</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>ō</b>, p.417)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Well - what do *you* think? ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-89897421005983655592015-01-15T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-15T07:39:33.970+11:00'Manazuru' by Hiromi Kawakami (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Today's post sees my review of the first of the two <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> group reads, and while the writer is very familiar, the book itself is perhaps less well known. It's the story of a woman trying to find herself, and looking in one particular place... The weather's nice - let's take a trip to the coast ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Hiromi%20Kawakami"><b>Hiromi Kawakami's</b></a> <i><b>Manazuru</b></i> (translated by <b>Michael Emmerich</b>) is centred on Kei, a middle-aged woman living with her daughter, Momo, and her mother back in the family home. Twelve years ago, her husband, Rei, vanished without a word, and while her life has stabilised to a certain extent, thanks in part to a relationship with a married man, she certainly has a lot of unfinished business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One day, on a whim, Kei sets off for the seaside town of Manazuru, hoping to find answers in the course of her travels. It's the first of several visits, and the only one she spends alone. On the next outing, she's accompanied by her daughter; after that, her companion is someone slightly less familiar...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kawakami is well known for her novel<i> <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/the-briefcase-by-hiromi-kawakami-review.html"><b>The Briefcase</b></a></i><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/the-briefcase-by-hiromi-kawakami-review.html"> (AKA <i><b>Strange Weather in Tokyo</b></i>)</a>, and for those who have already tried that one, <i>Manazuru</i> may come as a bit of a surprise. It's certainly a little darker and edgier, with a more surreal style in parts than <i>The Briefcase</i>. Of course, with only the two novels out in English, who's to say which is the more representative of her style.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The main theme explored in the novel is that of letting go and finding closure. Kei, understandably, was shattered by Rei's disappearance, and you get the sense that her daughter and her mother have been tip-toeing around her for a long time - only now are questions being asked about Rei, and the couple's life together. Through fleeting glimpses of a diary in which we see random messages, and Kei's flashbacks to Rei's (imagined) affair, we start to piece together what actually happened. The truth is, though, that we are just as confused as Kei herself is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of the coping strategies she uses is her long-term affair with Seiji, a married man, a relationship which definitely feels like a crutch to help her carry on:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "To become involved is not to be close. It isn't exactly to be distant, either. When two people become involved, and also when they do not, there is, always, a little separation."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">p.7 (Counterpoint Press, 2010)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While she seems like the clingy one, the truth is that Seiji's stand-offishness is more of a defence mechanism - he senses that Kei still has another man in her life...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A large part of the book is about the relationship between the three women. Having returned to her family home after her husband's disappearance, Kei is now one of three generations of women under the one roof:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "Now that we were living together again, were we close? Three women, our three bodies. Like spheres joined in motion, that is how we are. Not concentric spheres, each sphere cradles its own center, not flat but full, that is how we are." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(p.21)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With Momo going though her teens, Kei is trying to hold onto her daughter's love, regretting the loss of the closeness they once shared. Only gradually does she realise that her mother feels the same way about her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course, while the human is important, it's the supernatural that stands out. The striking feature of <i>Manazuru</i> is the spirits that follow Kei around, appearing both at home and in public. While most are indistinct blurs, one eventually coalesces, a woman who keeps drawing Kei back to <i>Manazuru</i>, threatening to pull her across into the other realm:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"I notice, suddenly, that there is no sound at all.</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b> Gripping my half-drunk cup of coffee in one hand, I have been gazing down at the woman's face, reflected in the puddle. The size of a bean at first, it grew to walnut size, then finally assumed the the size of an actual human face." </b></i><b>(p.97) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's in this other realm that she hopes to finally find out what happened to Rei - but is he even there? What if her trips to the coast are all a big mistake?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmfHDW4uoNCag8Jdkanq4mzXTujc-tA_Tv6M2zDfUgIe4n_VDDpW8qg3mkIARsn9khxB8E-aw43WmN3E09xBELzMF-MzbSjCdB74gjlSBWKUWWV_dZPC9NfRj4Aqr3omMAsWSAPp2JEo/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmfHDW4uoNCag8Jdkanq4mzXTujc-tA_Tv6M2zDfUgIe4n_VDDpW8qg3mkIARsn9khxB8E-aw43WmN3E09xBELzMF-MzbSjCdB74gjlSBWKUWWV_dZPC9NfRj4Aqr3omMAsWSAPp2JEo/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Manazuru</i> is a book I enjoyed a lot the first time around. It has a subtle style, written in short, clipped sentences, with a cinematic air to the whole story. In typically Japanese fashion, you sense that the important information remains unspoken, with much lying beneath the surface. Each of the main characters, while generally acting calmly, were adrift in a sea of emotions: Kei's rage at Rei's disappearance; Momo's hurt and desperation; the Mother's fury at her son-in-law and desire to help her daughter; and Seiji's hidden desire to get closer to Kei.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">However, when I looked at other's comments, not everyone seems to have enjoyed it as much as I did, and on a second reading, a few weeks later, it did appear a little less appealing. The language was more troublesome on the second attempt - deliberately short and confronting, the spiky sentences sometimes get in the way of the reading. I also found Kei a little more annoying at times, and knowing where we were going, I actually found the story a little too vague this time around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Most readers will prefer <i>The Briefcase</i>, but this is still a good read, one I'd recommend (particularly if you like the understated variety of J-Lit). If you want to see what others thought, check out <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/readalong-one-manazuru-by-hiromi.html">the dedicated page over at the JiJ blog</a>, and if that's not incentive enough, I've got a few surprises for you. Kawakami may only have two novels translated into English, but the page does have a few other bits and pieces I've managed to dig up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Off you go, then ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-69965889672598033892015-01-12T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-12T06:00:02.503+11:00'The Kojiki' by Ō no Yasumaro (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0xSDI1CnqQizwNs_iYQ-s10pO31v13oR_tEh0qKiQlVB4nvvjtuEy2C93cutvym17biuWQBzynXGPIJhQI5Ozsg3-KyfKhshWZybMigJnfY9QczzMjQyPNgQi8rgYNeQnmBDO_6rf-E/s1600/IMG_5143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0xSDI1CnqQizwNs_iYQ-s10pO31v13oR_tEh0qKiQlVB4nvvjtuEy2C93cutvym17biuWQBzynXGPIJhQI5Ozsg3-KyfKhshWZybMigJnfY9QczzMjQyPNgQi8rgYNeQnmBDO_6rf-E/s1600/IMG_5143.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> is a time to catch up with some of my favourite Japanese writers, I also like to look at some more classical texts, and when it comes to classic J-Lit, you can't really go much further back than today's choice. We're going back in time with a book first written at the start of the eighth century - the content, however, dates from much earlier than that...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-i-kojikii/9780231163897"><i><b>The Kojiki</b></i></a> (translated by <b>Gustav Heldt</b>, review copy courtesy of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Columbia%20University%20Press"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a> and Australian distributor <a href="http://www.footprint.com.au/"><b>Footprint Books</b></a>) is, as it says on the cover, an account of ancient matters. The book was compiled by an official of the court (<b>Ō no Yasumaro</b>) in an attempt to codify the many versions of the Japanese ruling family's genealogy. All of which sounds innocent enough, until you realise that the Emperor and his family actually claimed divine descent from the gods themselves, a fact that allowed certain liberties to be taken over a thousand years later...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The work itself is divided into three books, roughly equating to the eras of myth, legend and history. In the first, the reader is treated to the Japanese creation myth, in which a collection of spirits appear, later begetting the first big names in the pantheon, Izanagi (He Who Beckoned) and his sister Izanami (She Who Beckoned). While their methods of creating the Japanese archipelago are unusual (and slightly incestuous), unfortunately, the nation's gender roles are established right from the beginning of the country, when a couple of false starts with the creation of the Japanese homeland are blamed on Izanami's temerity in speaking first...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Later we get to meet Amaterasu (Heaven Shining), the ruler of all heaven, and her destructive brother Susa-no-o (Rushing Raging Man) and learn what happened when she fled to the underworld (and how she was persuaded to return). The section ends with a shift from the age of spirits to the world below:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"And with these commands, the mighty one Ripening Rice Ears Lad of Heaven left his stone-firm seat in heaven and pushed through layer after layer of heaven's trailing clouds. After solemnly selecting his path, he stood tall on the floating bridge of heaven, then descended to the wondrous ancient peak of Mount Thousand Rice Ears Tall in Sunward on Land's End to reside there."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">p.50 (Columbia University Press, 2014)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Better known as Hiko-ho-no-ninigi, this spirit is the one who will be the ancestor of the mortal rulers to come.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The second book begins with the voyage of the first (mythical) Japanese Emperor Jinmu as he travels from Kyushu to the Nara region, subduing rivals as he goes. As we move from ruler to ruler, the writer describes their wives, offspring and notable actions whilst on the throne. While this part is more concerned with the exploits of men than spirits, we're still very much in the realm of fantasy, with several Emperors living far beyond a century (and one described precisely as being 10 feet 3 inches tall...).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There's a focus here on war, with many Emperors winning fame by forcing 'barbarian' tribes, including some across the water in Silla and Paekche (Korea), to submit to the Yamato forces. It's mostly written in a sombre tone, but there is the odd note of unintentional humour:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "Now the mighty one Pacified Land Lad shot an arrow that straightaway struck the mighty prince Clay Calmed Brave, slaying him.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> So his force was shattered, and they fled, scattering.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> And so their foes chased after the fleeing force, pursuing them to the ford of Camphor Leaves, where they were so hard pressed that they soiled their breeches.</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Hence that place was named Soiled Breeches. (Nowadays it is called Camphor Leaves.)" </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(pp.86/7)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's probably for the best that they changed the name back...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In the final book, the story turns to more historical figures, and the focus on the otherwordly starts to disappear. Having vanquished most foes, now it's time for the Yamato to turn on each other, with much of the book taken up with power struggles between scheming brothers, each of whom is eager for the ultimate power ( a warning - there will be blood...). The other main theme here is romance, with many of the Emperors using their time between murders to compose impromptu songs in an attempt to court comely maidens, a sign of things to come in later classic Japanese literature :)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKcQ9AXv14oqHVq9RcaYczH_z7-rnKt8KTMcA3CI4nbfN95D-b404hB5Cus22LB1CBp4zrTlcdH9KULiT2iluKfaZRfrxGik7wohkAiHqnIsMttPWjN0hlOWVRRoLhOuScxTggn56Y6s/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKcQ9AXv14oqHVq9RcaYczH_z7-rnKt8KTMcA3CI4nbfN95D-b404hB5Cus22LB1CBp4zrTlcdH9KULiT2iluKfaZRfrxGik7wohkAiHqnIsMttPWjN0hlOWVRRoLhOuScxTggn56Y6s/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>The Kojiki</i> has a lot to interest those with a strong passion for Japanese literature, but I'd have to caution the casual reader - this isn't a book anyone can just pick up and speed through. The style is a rolling, clipped prose, reminiscent of the language (in English) of <i><b>Beowulf</b></i> or the Greek myths. There's also a fascination (understandably, given the book's origins) with the royal lineage, and in the second and third books in particular, there are pages filled with '<i>...and ruled over all under heaven from there...</i>' and '<i>This sovereign of heaven took to wife...</i>'. Believe me - some of these rulers did nothing but rule under heaven and take women to wife...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Some of you may also have noticed that many of the names above, both of people and places, look rather... well, unjapanese, and that's because Heldt made the decision to transfer them all into English. It was probably a wise decision as these names can be very long (and similar), but it does make things confusing if you do know a little about the creation myths, as you're constantly trying to connect the Japanese and translated names. Still, there's a wonderful glossary at the end of the book (with maps!), and the names Heldt has chosen are, for the most part, suitably elegant and poetic :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A book for J-Lit purists rather than newcomers, then, but it is an essential read if you have more than a superficial interest in the culture. Just as the Bible and the classic Greek texts underpin much of western literature, so too does <i>The Kojiki</i> inform later Japanese culture, if not always for the better. As I mentioned above, there is a dark side to tracing back your royal family's origins to the gods - this connection to the spirits allowed Japanese nationalists to harp on the unique nature of the Japanese people, with tragic consequences during the first half of the twentieth century. Myths are all well and good, provided that they're not used as justification for exploitation and war...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Footprint Books, as always, assure me that this book is available in Australia, either at bookshops or <a href="http://www.footprint.com.au/product-detail.asp?SubSection=%27kojiki%27&product=9780231163897&ParentPage=product-listing.asp%3Fkeywords%3Dkojiki%26scope%3Dbooks%26Category%3D">through their website</a> :)</span></b></i> </span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-60051630097614491602015-01-10T16:00:00.000+11:002015-01-10T17:47:15.971+11:00What's Happening in January in Japan?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCM3Bl3lT0tj2ahoe_pZO8vHE0eofp170kR5yvIgFOzrEdXbsmaXzgD4JPVfnQvuB9SMsJYy9eG8cOBO17zF39g4YvREhrMON8op8Dlebspsb3aC924sSzHirkVC-t79E_Ws5FxrMXEPc/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCM3Bl3lT0tj2ahoe_pZO8vHE0eofp170kR5yvIgFOzrEdXbsmaXzgD4JPVfnQvuB9SMsJYy9eG8cOBO17zF39g4YvREhrMON8op8Dlebspsb3aC924sSzHirkVC-t79E_Ws5FxrMXEPc/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is just a quick post to update everyone about the challenge kicking off 2015, <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a>! We're already well underway, so if you haven't joined us so far, this is what's been happening...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Four lucky readers have already won a book each by <b>Yasunari Kawabata</b> in the first of our </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Golden Kin-Yōbi </b>giveaways, but there are more great prizes available in this week's competition, courtesy of <b>Kurodahan Press</b>. Just <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/golden-kin-yobi-2-kurodahan-press.html">click on the link</a>, choose which book you'd like to win and you might be walking away with a slice of J-Lit goodness :)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This week also saw the first of our <b>J-Lit Giants </b>posts for 2015, with </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-13-ryu-murakami.html"><b>Ryū Murakami</b></a> being inducted into the pantheon. The 'other' Murakami is the thirteenth entrant into our hall of fame, but there'll be several more coming up over the next few weeks.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This year, we have two group reads planned, and the first is <b>Hiromi Kawakami's </b>novel <b><i>Manazuru</i>. </b>Next <b>Thursday, the 15th of January</b>, I'll be posting a page at the JiJ site with some information about the writer and a place for everyone to share their reviews of the book. If you want to be involved (and you have a copy of the book), there's still time to join us...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And speaking of reviews, don't forget to have your say by adding to the list. If you follow this link to the <b><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/book-reviews-2015.html">2015 Reviews</a> </b>page, you'll be able to share all your January in Japan thoughts with the rest of the participants :)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, what are you waiting for? Enter the contest, read about our J-Lit Giants, and share some of your January reading - let's make January a time for J-Lit enjoyment ;)</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-50004654632918543452015-01-08T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-10T09:27:56.036+11:00'Almost Transparent Blue' by Ryū Murakami (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgtYW7JCmdw2F6rmCPc0UKQi6Uq9kC3cElLKt2xyGG1tGSZoNcHyvwhiSoNHFaH88i9vTNSVJMWSvanuwrW_CiNPqMAjLmJmfMo6KPcX_Og9sLUaMIeahCeBda1_0RguJqEXPQkBxPPs/s1600/IMG_5141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgtYW7JCmdw2F6rmCPc0UKQi6Uq9kC3cElLKt2xyGG1tGSZoNcHyvwhiSoNHFaH88i9vTNSVJMWSvanuwrW_CiNPqMAjLmJmfMo6KPcX_Og9sLUaMIeahCeBda1_0RguJqEXPQkBxPPs/s1600/IMG_5141.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While I was looking for a couple of Korean books in the University library recently, I accidentally stumbled upon something I hadn't noticed on previous visits - the rather larger Japanese section just around the corner. With <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> coming up, I realised that this was a sign, so in addition to the two K-Lit books I took with me, I decided to get a couple of Japanese offerings too. Today sees the first of these reviews, and while the source is new, the writer will be very familiar to regular readers of the blog ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I read my first </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Ryu%20Murakami"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> Murakami</b></a> book just in time for the first January in Japan event two years ago, and since then I've tried a few more, but one I've been meaning to try for some time is his debut work, <i><b>Almost Transparent Blue</b></i> (translated by <b>Nancy Andrew</b>). A novella running to around 120 pages, Murakami's first publication won the prestigious <b>Akutagawa Prize</b> in 1976, and it made waves in Japan with its shocking depiction of drug use and sexual freedom. Even today, it can be a confronting read at times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The book starts as it means to go on, with the first few pages not only introducing our narrator, nineteen-year-old </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span>, but also casually detailing group sex, violence, squalor and explicit drug use:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Reiko pouted and glared at Okinawa as she took the leather thong and made a tight tourniquet around my left arm. When I made a fist with my hand, a thick blood vessel stood out in my arm. Okinawa rubbed the spot with alcohol two or three times before plunging the wet needle tip in toward the bulging vein. When I opened my fist, blackish blood ran up into the cylinder. Saying Heyheyhey, Okinawa coolly pushed the plunger, and the heroin and blood entered me all at once."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">p.15 (Kodansha International, 1981)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">From there, the story continues into a description of a life spiralling out of control as Ryu and his friends drift from one 'party' to another, the playthings of American soldiers, scorned by mainstream society - at times rightly so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> is an interesting character, a bisexual, crossdressing teen at the centre of a group of friends determined to make every moment of life count. These are hedonistic times, and the friends are open to any and every experience, no matter how unsettling they might appear to the sensitive reader. The orgy (or 'party') scenes are particularly strong at times, with some of the action verging on rape, even if the participants don't see it that way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As the book progresses, Murakami widens the scope a little, and we see the group venturing into the outside world of 'normal' society. This then develops into a clash of cultures, where the drugged-up youths disturb the daily routines of the mainstream citizens, vomiting on trains and scaring schoolchildren out on an excursion. However, when police burst in on them, we see that in truth they're just a gang of overgrown kids, hiding away from the real world.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2Z3IlJV34MmNXau54MtJNlL4hbmTdU4Jt7Ve0Asn9Rcu1Cjxu-QAzh9dEQOsbTZDvjgwaZZ0O9f07xXxROUSxOW2Gpukfx5g33YPzLT31oH12J6HmRZDWhKnyLV7Ic4OXaWd8Jepc7c/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2Z3IlJV34MmNXau54MtJNlL4hbmTdU4Jt7Ve0Asn9Rcu1Cjxu-QAzh9dEQOsbTZDvjgwaZZ0O9f07xXxROUSxOW2Gpukfx5g33YPzLT31oH12J6HmRZDWhKnyLV7Ic4OXaWd8Jepc7c/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Almost Transparent Blue</i> is written in the form of short chapters which, while chronologically in order, appear disjointed and discrete, each an experience in its own right. While they depict people living for the moment, the reality is that there doesn't appear to be much joy involved; often, the scenes seem mechanical, numb, emotionless. This is a look at the lost boys (and girls) of a rebellious generation, a group of young people reliant on each other, scared about what's on the other side of their crazy years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the first characters </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> encounters in the book is Lilly, a prostitute, one of the more grounded characters in the story. The scenes in her bedroom are the calm amongst the storms, a chance for </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> to centre himself. In fact, he's a contemplative soul, teased by the others for his ability to withdraw when he wants to:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> "Well, you mean with Acid? You'll experiment with stuff like that? I don't get what you want to do."</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> "Yeah, I don't get it myself, I don't really know what I should do. But I'm not going to go to India or anything like that, nowhere I want to go, really. These days, you know, I look out the window, all by myself. Yeah, I look out a lot, the rain and the birds, you know, and the people just walking on the street. If you look a long time, it's really interesting, that's what I mean by looking around. I don't know why, but these things really look new to me."</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> "Don't talk like an old man, </span></b></i><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span>, saying things look new is a sign of old age, you know." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(pp.97/8)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> is definitely a little different to some of his friends - we do wonder though whether he'll be able to come out of the whirlpool of hedonism with soul and body intact...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The intriguing title comes from a scene near the end of the book, one in which </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> sees a broken shard of glance and marvels at the colours he can see in it. As he walks towards his apartment at the start of a new day, there's a sense that this is his opportunity to turn things around. By this time, though, it might already be too late for our impressionistic young friend. Having come too close to the eye of the storm, it's going to take a major effort to make his way out again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Almost Transparent Blue</i> isn't for everyone, but it's an excellent (quick) read and a shock to the system - little wonder that it stood out on its publication. Murakami's novella is a window into a world most of us will never be a part of, and in many ways the choice of the author's own name for his central character is apt. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū</span> is our ticket into the chaos of the scenes depicted in the book; while following him through the streets of Tokyo, we feel that we are being sucked into the hedonistic world of the sixties...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...like I said, this won't be to everyone's tastes ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-17241405354212615102015-01-05T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-05T06:00:02.515+11:00'Rivers' by Teru Miyamoto (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51R1HeqFxuX9v71aE_wW1QSP38ag_aONRAZvLF4dElhPFWsVJxoDHaXDIHUcebBT1PFn5y6AbAnsFeTk4e1kGlBAtNu49mAU6qLgPymflXcel_p89e2_7N76fRxa6qdhJJGv6nHj73QU/s1600/IMG_5137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51R1HeqFxuX9v71aE_wW1QSP38ag_aONRAZvLF4dElhPFWsVJxoDHaXDIHUcebBT1PFn5y6AbAnsFeTk4e1kGlBAtNu49mAU6qLgPymflXcel_p89e2_7N76fRxa6qdhJJGv6nHj73QU/s1600/IMG_5137.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With the new year already a few days old, it's high time for my first review for <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a> :) I'm kicking off my series of posts with a look at a writer whose work I've tried once before. Today's book, however, is where he made his name, an excellent collection of three works which, for the first time, are now available in one volume in English. Let's take a walk down to the river...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Teru%20Miyamoto">Teru Miyamoto's</a> <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0061cate.html#more"><i>Rivers</i></a> </b>(translated by <b>Ralph F. McCarthy</b> and <b>Roger K. Thomas</b>, review copy courtesy of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Kurodahan%20Press"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>) brings together three of the writer's most famous pieces. <b>'Muddy River'</b> won the <b>Osamu Dazai Prize</b> in 1977, while <b>'River of Fireflies'</b> was awarded the 78th <b>Akutagawa Prize</b> the following year. These two novellas run to about about fifty pages each, but the third story, <b>'River of Lights'</b>, which also began life as a novella, was later expanded into a 150-page short novel. The three parts of Rivers are unconnected in terms of characters and plot; however, as you'll see, there's a lot which links the stories together and justifies the decision to collect them in one volume.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The first story, 'Muddy River', is set in the mid-1950s, with eight-year-old Nobuo living above a noodle shop by a river close to Osaka Bay. It's a working-class area, fairly removed from the aesthetically-pleasing settings of some well-known Japanese fiction:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"A patch of sunlight fell on one corner of the boat's decaying wooden roof. Nobuo turned his eyes to the river. He'd lived his entire life next to those muddy waters, but now, for the first time ever, they struck him as filthy and repulsive. The horse-dung-littered asphalt, the jumble of sagging gray bridges, the soot-blackened houses - everything seemed hopelessly dismal and dreary."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'Muddy River', p.14 (Kurodahan Press, 2014)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The story focuses on a short period of Nobuo's life, one in which he meets Kiichi, a boy living with his mother and sister on a houseboat. The two boys quickly become friends, but Nobuo gradually comes to realise that Kiichi's circumstances are very different to his own, learning a few lessons about life on the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'River of Fireflies' sees us leaving the Kansai region to head to Toyama, on the Sea of Japan coast. It's now 1962, and a fourteen-year-old schoolboy, Tatsuo, is coming to terms with the impending death of his ageing father and his growing feelings for childhood friend Eiko. Over the course of a few months, the teenager goes through a pivotal time of his life, facing up to death, responsibility and confused emotions, the story culminating in a summer day to remember - a search for the elusive fireflies...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The final part of the trilogy draws us back to Osaka, but this time the focus has shifted from the bay to downtown. It's 1969, and university student Kunihiko is working at a small coffee shop called 'River' to make ends meet, a café located in the middle of the red-light district:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"All at once crowded, then as if by prior arrangement all at once vacated, River fell quiet as it emptied. The rain that had begun early in the evening was falling harder. A waterlogged drunk went staggering by. With the colors of neon lights reflected in the puddles, the surface of Soemoncho Avenue glistened in various hues. Hostesses plucked up the hems of their dresses as they held umbrellas for customers getting into taxis."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>'River of Lights', p.128 </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Starting slowly, the story gradually reveals the different facets of the Dotonbori area, introducing the reader to drag queens, strippers, billiard halls and the neon lights dominating the quarter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The greater scope of 'River of Lights' allows Miyamoto to spread his focus, and the second major character of the story is Takeuchi, the owner of the café. He becomes a kind of guardian to the parentless Kunihiko, despite the fact that he has a son of his own, a billiard player working his way up the ranks of the Osaka hustlers. In the floating world of Dotonbori, the café owner eventually decides that it's time for him to intervene in the lives of both young men, either with financial help or with his trusty billiards cue.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY_OF35qL4W0XcI3ddK_fMzWwDcNZLLzH2_l6AxlAvzL1hPigcqpwlJZH9mrZlPjNComHOf-eJQJLOzp6_TAmPMCeNf1T6rsENdP7bsRL7jSnMpwKzeggrGE5f3z2cOr6pxPQrBmt9NK8/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY_OF35qL4W0XcI3ddK_fMzWwDcNZLLzH2_l6AxlAvzL1hPigcqpwlJZH9mrZlPjNComHOf-eJQJLOzp6_TAmPMCeNf1T6rsENdP7bsRL7jSnMpwKzeggrGE5f3z2cOr6pxPQrBmt9NK8/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While I enjoyed my previous look at Miyamoto's work, the short-story collection <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/phantom-lights-by-teru-miyamoto-review.html"><b><i>Phantom Lights</i></b></a>, <i>Rivers</i> is a far better book. All three of the stories provide intriguing glimpses into the Japan of the time, with traces of the post-war poverty evident in each of the pieces. There are old soldiers with visible war wounds, bombed buildings with people setting setting up stalls amongst the rubble and businessmen with an eye for profit taking advantage of the opportunities to make a quick fortune.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's also hard to avoid the feeling that the three books form a deliberate trilogy, one in which the writer explores his own youth vicariously. While the main characters are different, each time we move on seven years, as do the boys. Each of them is forced to contemplate mortality (with the first death occurring a matter of pages into 'Muddy River'), and we move from a young boy with a sick mother, to a teenager with a dying father and then finally meet a young adult who has lost both parents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Towards the end of 'River of Lights', Kunihiko looks out over his realm and realises how empty it all is:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"When I walk through Dotonbori at daybreak, I always get so depressed I can't stand it. I feel like some kind of filthy stray dog and don't give a damn about anything."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'River of Lights', p.215</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The words come from the mouth of his walking companion, but the sentiment could be his own. Having followed the progress of the youth of the time, the trilogy actually has an open end, where we wonder what will become of Kunihiko, or his next incarnation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Miyamoto is a contemporary of the two <b>Murakamis</b>, and while he's unlikely to achieve their level of fame and success, it's definitely worth comparing the work of the three writers. In particular, with 'River of Lights' being set in 1969, there's an obvious opportunity to read it alongside <b><a href="http://www.tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Haruki%20Murakami">Haruki'</a>s <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/norwegian-wood-by-haruki-murakami-review.html"><i>Norwegian Wood</i></a></b> and <b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Ryu%20Murakami">Ryu's</a> <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/sixty-nine-by-ryu-murakami-review.html"><i>Sixty-Nine</i></a></b>. Three men on the cusp of adulthood, three different areas of Japan, three ways of coping with a changing society - these are books which all benefit from being read in a wider context. Here's hoping that more western readers will put the Murakamis aside for a little while and give Miyamoto a try - I can assure you that you won't regret it :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-11337467665916221062015-01-03T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-03T06:00:02.601+11:00December 2014 Wrap-Up<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uuNsBm0AcKCSD8R-skuEXIxyxDYcmt393bhpMWlUR9gR02nhao0lVGEmcT20rLxn_Dd52rZdPAoDe6UCPioPRJuKND4Mwc9snlO3yefYjTGMpRq8Tnjql2gX4XYsQk5t2ts0fckxT6g/s1600/IMG_3774.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uuNsBm0AcKCSD8R-skuEXIxyxDYcmt393bhpMWlUR9gR02nhao0lVGEmcT20rLxn_Dd52rZdPAoDe6UCPioPRJuKND4Mwc9snlO3yefYjTGMpRq8Tnjql2gX4XYsQk5t2ts0fckxT6g/s1600/IMG_3774.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <b>December </b>is a time for relaxation and reflection - for the most part. While I was able to snatch a few moments to look back at the year that was, a blogger's task is never done, and I've already been busy with what the coming year will hold. Despite all that, here's hoping you all had a great Christmas and New Year - and if you're still interested, here's how mine finished off ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****<b>
</b><br />Total Books Read: <b>11</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Year-to-Date: <b>130</b><br /><br />
New:<b> 9</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Rereads: <b>2</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">From the Shelves: <b>3</b><br />
Review Copies:<b> 5</b></span> </div>
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From the Library:<b> 3</b></span></div>
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On the Kindle: <b>0</b><br /><br />
Novels: <b>6</b><br />
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Novellas:<b> 2</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Short Stories: <b>2</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Non-Fiction:<b> 1 </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Non-English Language: <b>11 (8 Japanese, 2 Korean, French)</b></span></div>
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In Original Language:<b> 0</b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Aussie Author Challenge: <b>0 (1/3) - BIG FAIL :(</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Japanese Literature Challenge 8:<b> 8 (12/1) </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>*****</b> <br />
Books reviewed in <b>December</b> were:</span></div>
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/the-adventures-of-shola-by-bernardo.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) <i>The Adventures of Shola</i> by Bernardo Atxaga</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/dinner-with-buffett-by-park-min-gyu.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) <i>Dinner with Buffett </i>by Park Min-gyu</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/texas-great-theft-by-carmen-boullosa.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) <i>Texas: The Great Theft</i> by Carmen Boullosa</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/the-republic-of-uzupis-by-hailji-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4) </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Republic of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by</span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Haïlji</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/rain-over-madrid-by-andres-barba-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5) <i>Rain over Madrid</i> by Andrés Barba</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/wayfarer-new-fiction-by-korean-women.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6) <i>Wayfarer - New Fiction by Korean Women</i>, edited by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/the-flying-classroom-by-erich-kastner.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7) <i>The Flying Classroom</i> by Erich Kästner</span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/zone-by-mathias-enard-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">8) <i>Zone</i> by Mathias </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">Énard</span></span></a><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/the-bird-by-o-chong-hui-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">9) <i>The Bird </i>by O Chong-hui</span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/arpan-by-park-hyoung-su-review.html"><span class="st">10) <i>Arpan</i> by Park Hyoung-so </span></a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Tony's Turkey for <b>December </b>is: <b>Nothing</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Nothing to report this month - luckily I had four saved over the year for Christmas ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Tony's Recommendation for <b>December</b> is:</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Mathias </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">Énard</span></span>'s <i>Zone</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I reviewed several excellent books this month, and many of the writers can consider themselves unlucky to miss out on the top prize. I was sorely tempted to opt for </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Haïlji's Kafkaesque trip through Lithuania, but the reality was that one book was in a class of it own - for a week or so, I was truly in the zone ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With 2014 done and dusted, it's time to look ahead to 2015, and (of course) I've wasted no time in getting the new year off to a literary start. You see, the first month of the year is all about <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/"><b>January in Japan</b></a>, my personal attempt to get more people interested in J-Lit. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, please feel free to join us :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-74391555961177375592015-01-01T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-23T21:54:23.624+11:002015 Reading List<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Click on the link to read the review :)</span></b></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<i><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Correct up to 22/1/15 </span></span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7) <i>Feast of the Innocents</i> by Evelio Rosero</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6) <i>The Strange Library</i> by Haruki Murakami</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5) <i>N.P.</i> by Banana Yoshimoto</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4) <i>The Vegetarian</i> by Han Kang</span><br />
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/down-in-deep-dark-forest.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) <i>The Silent Cry</i> by Kenzaburo Oe (link is to 2009 review)</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) <i>The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine</i> by Akiyuki Nosaka</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) <i>The Tale of the Heike</i>, translated by Royall Tyler </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-79503655957490820872014-12-31T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-31T06:00:01.052+11:00The 2014 Tony's Reading List Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhGUsT19bNvfYDU5ipCSdFUL0SsJCvNRq_s3YzzXoqdUcXWVJH-5AVkC6G3O8Qt-RVDEeQZOPcHNq7TNO7J6K_Q5USniocUefmiEXYzFY6T5PDgbiYUIoeA5dE0ahqo90qNEVKECLgA4/s1600/IMG_5129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhGUsT19bNvfYDU5ipCSdFUL0SsJCvNRq_s3YzzXoqdUcXWVJH-5AVkC6G3O8Qt-RVDEeQZOPcHNq7TNO7J6K_Q5USniocUefmiEXYzFY6T5PDgbiYUIoeA5dE0ahqo90qNEVKECLgA4/s1600/IMG_5129.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: large;">A very good day to you all - welcome to <b>The Tony's Reading List Awards for 2014</b>! The blog has been running for exactly six years now, and as always I'm celebrating the anniversary with my round-up of the good, the bad and the downright awful by handing out a few of my cherished prizes. So, without further ado, let's see who soared and who bombed in 2014 :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Once again, we begin with the <b>Most-Read Author Award</b>, and heading the list this year are a couple of rather familiar names:</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Haruki%20Murakami"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1=) Haruki Murakami (4)</span></b></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Natsume%20Soseki">1=) Natsume Soseki (4)</a> </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/O%20Chong-hui"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3=) O Chong-hui (3)</span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Hwang%20Sok-yong"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3=) Hwang Sok-yong (3)</span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have to say that this award hasn't been completely finalised yet as the Koreans have put in a steward's enquiry. While the Japanese pair take it 4-3 according to the stats on my list, O's three include various novellas and stories which could easily have been counted differently...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Nope, the verdict's in. Haruki takes the prize, regaining the award he won back in 2009, and the Grand Master of J-Lit joins him thanks to a couple of December reads - well done, sirs :)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After that close tussle, let's move onto a more clear-cut race, the struggle for the <b>Most-Read Country</b> award:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) South Korea (30)</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) Japan (20)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) Germany (11)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4) France (7)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5) Italy (5)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Boom! After one book in six years (and one that was worst in class at that), the Koreans romped home in 2014, with only a late Japanese surge making the race look even a little bit competitive. My new-found interest in K-Lit has been the story of the blog this year, and I suspect that things will look fairly similar in 2015 as well. The ten books I read and reviewed from the <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Library%20of%20Korean%20Literature"><b>Dalkey Archive Press Library of Korean Literature</b></a> beat out every other country, aside from Japan and Germany, on their own ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If we
look at the annual statistics for English-language books versus the rest
of the world, you'll see that my focus on literature in translation continues to sharpen. Of the<b> 130</b> books I read, <b>only 8 were originally published in English</b>, meaning that an astounding<b> 122 (of which I read 15 in the original language)</b> <b>were originally written in a language other than English. </b>Even last year's 90% hit-rate has been surpassed - those are big numbers, no matter which way you look at it...</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>*****</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While it's all well and good to reward the enjoyable books of the year, New Year's Eve is also a time to reflect on the complete stinkers, which is why I always look forward to the <b>Golden Turkey Award.</b> This year, once again, there were four contenders for the drumsticks:</span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-frontier-within-by-kobo-abe-review.html"><i>The Frontier Within</i> by Kobo Abe</a> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/butterflies-in-november-by-auur-ava.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i>Butterflies in November</i> by </b></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/butterflies-in-november-by-auur-ava.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Auður Ava Olafsdóttir</span></b></a> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/why-translation-matters-by-edith.html"><i>Why Translation Matters</i> by Edith Grossman</a> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/one-spoon-on-this-earth-by-hyun-ki.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i>One Spoon on This Earth</i> by Hyun Ki-young</b></span></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And the winner is...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i>One Spoon on This Earth</i>! </b>Another award for the Koreans, then, although it's not one they would have wanted. However, it's only right that I give an honourable mention to the person who made it all possible, translator <b>Jennifer M. Lee</b>. Believe me when I say that this award really belongs to her...<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>*****</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Having dished out the minor awards, it's time to get down the real focus of the night, the <b>Book of the Year Award. </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As has
been the case for a few years now, each of my monthly wrap-ups has seen one book singled out as the pick of the month, and only these titles have been found worthy of contending for the ultimate honour (links are to my reviews). Many wonderful books have missed out because of this system, to which I can say only one thing - tough luck. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>January - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/a-true-novel-by-minae-mizumura-review.html"><i>A True Novel</i> by Minae Mizumura (Japan)</a><b> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>February - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/anatomie-einer-nacht-anatomy-of-night.html"><i>Anatomy of a Night</i> by Anna Kim (Austria)</a><b> </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>March - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/le-grand-meaulnes-by-alain-fournier.html"><i>Le Grand Meaulnes</i> by Alain-Fournier (France)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>April - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/where-tigers-are-at-home-by-jean-marie.html"><i>Where Tigers Are At Home</i> by Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès (France)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>May - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/they-were-counted-by-miklos-banffy.html"><i>They Were Counted</i> by Miklós Bánffy (Hungary)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>June - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/tirza-by-arnon-grunberg-review.html"><i>Tirza</i> by Arnon Grunberg (Netherlands)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>July - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/paris-by-marcos-giralt-torrente-review.html"><i>Paris</i> by Marcos Giralt Torrente (Spain)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>August - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/there-petal-silently-falls-by-choe-yun.html"><i>There a Petal Silently Falls</i> by Ch'oe Yun (South Korea)</a> <b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>September - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/journey-by-moonlight-by-antal-szerb.html"><i>Journey by Moonlight</i> by Antal Szerb (Hungary)</a><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>October - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/seiobo-there-below-by-laszlo.html"><i>Seiobo There Below</i> by László Krasznahorkai (Hungary)</a><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>November - </b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/alte-meister-old-masters-by-thomas.html"><i>The Old Masters</i> by Thomas Bernhard (Austria)</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>December -</b> <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/zone-by-mathias-enard-review.html"><i>Zone </i>by Mathias </a></span></span><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/zone-by-mathias-enard-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st">Énard (France)</span></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Twelve of the best, I'm sure you'll agree :) There are three nods each to France and Hungary, and two books from Austria, with works from Japan, Netherlands, Spain and South Korea rounding out the dozen. Unsurprisingly, there's no room for an Anglophone book on the list this year...</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Of course, where there's a longlist, there's also a shortlist, and here's mine:</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>A True Novel</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Where Tigers Are At Home</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Seiobo There Below</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Old Masters</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Zone </b></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At which point, after a few stiff drinks, I had a good, long think before making my final decision - and here it is. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The <b>Tony's Reading List Book of the Year for 2014</b> is (<b>highlight the blank area below with your cursor to see the winner</b>):</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i>A True Novel</i> by Minae Mizumura</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>(translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, published by Other Press)</b></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Much more than an updated Japanese version of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, <i>A True Novel</i> explores how much you can trust other people's versions of a story - and the wonderful product <b>Other Press</b> have developed makes the book even better. Well done to everyone involved :)</span><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>*****</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">That's all for this year - it's time to look ahead now to the seventh year of the blog, a year that's going to get off to a quick start as <b><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/">January in Japan</a> </b>is about to begin! Here's hoping it's a good one for all of you, and I do hope you'll join me again occasionally in 2015 :<b>)</b></span> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-18219175992457951862014-12-29T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-29T06:00:02.500+11:00'Arpan' by Park Hyoung-su (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheXTpP3yYPDenVdLmUsJUzhwlhrJ_07f2OKOqzcsLJtwbW3vPbiVsxscNYI914clI0lbf5lPY4a8-Zu23JpdoUBa6qLJKfgC2-fRMqiKhcnwiQklIZ-9USA7lhzCDgU-0cURVgdW54BZo/s1600/IMG_5136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheXTpP3yYPDenVdLmUsJUzhwlhrJ_07f2OKOqzcsLJtwbW3vPbiVsxscNYI914clI0lbf5lPY4a8-Zu23JpdoUBa6qLJKfgC2-fRMqiKhcnwiQklIZ-9USA7lhzCDgU-0cURVgdW54BZo/s1600/IMG_5136.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With the year fast drawing to a close, there's just enough time to fit in one virtual trip to Korea before the clock strikes twelve. Today we're looking at the second book from the <b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Asia%20Publishers">Asia Publishers</a> <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/K-Fiction%20Series">K-Fiction</a></b> series, and where <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/dinner-with-buffett-by-park-min-gyu.html"><i><b>Dinner with Buffett</b></i></a> examined capitalism in the big city, this one is a little more exotic in its themes...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Park Hyoung-su's <i>Arpan</i></b> (translated by <b>Sora Kim-Russell</b>, review copy courtesy of the publisher) is a story about a story, an examination of what it means to be a writer and how closely what we write is linked to all that has come before. The narrator is a Korean writer helping to organise a third-world writers festival in Seoul, an undertaking which is not quite as altruistic as it may appear.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In his youth, the writer spent time with the Waka people on the Thai-Burmese border, and during his time abroad, he encountered Arpan, the only writer of a tribe with an oral culture. Helping out with the festival, then, is merely a means for getting the affable storyteller to visit Seoul, his first trip away from his mountain home. In reality, though, while the narrator is happy to see Arpan again, the reason for the invitation has little to do with the festival - our friend has a secret, and the time has come for it to be told... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Arpan</i> is another excellent story from the K-Fiction range, a piece which has as one of its focuses the preservation of minority cultures and languages. Park examines what it means to preserve a culture, asking whether the idea is even possible. Whereas no change means it is doomed to extinction, too much outside influence will inevitably lead to a dilution of traditions and perhaps total assimilation. It's a fine line to tread, and keeping the balance is often impossible.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The reader is shown an example of a minority culture in the figure of Arpan, a member of the Waka (a tall people from the mountains). In the Waka culture, height has a heightened(!) significance, with size or volume less important than how high items can be stacked. You can imagine the impression the lofty skyscrapers of Seoul make on a man who lives in a small settlement of rude huts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At the festival itself, the man from the mountains is even more out of place. There's a clash of cultures, with the audience laughing silently at Arpan, looking down on a man much bigger (in many ways) than they are. While the narrator despises the people in the room, he has his own confused relationship with the visitor:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"I cared more about Arpan than anyone else in the world. Still, I couldn't deny the fact that lurking on the other side of that love was an indefinable hatred. Maybe it was similar to the hatred that later generations feel towards an unconquerable original."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>p.21 (Asia Publishers, 2014) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The truth is that the writer is no different to the audience - as we are to discover.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The second main theme concerns the idea of inspiration, being part of a literary tradition, and the temptation of crossing the border into plagiarism. When the writer finally sits Arpan down to reveal the secret he's been keeping, he gives an example of a song evolving across countries and centuries:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"The human arts have never once been pure. Every act of creation we undertake is footnoted and amended with respect to an existing point of view. It builds up layer by layer." </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.65)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's an interesting idea, and possibly true - but (to lean on literary tradition myself) methinks the writer doth protest too much...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As the writer sits down opposite his imposing visitor, the reader is confronted with a question: which is more important, the writer or the story? The way <i>Arpan</i> ends seems to answer the question decisively. The truth, though, is that no matter how ingenious his justifications are, the writer will always wonder whether he's done the right thing...<i> </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>***** </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Arpan</i> is an excellent, thought-provoking story, enhanced (as the Asia Publishers books always are) by the added extras. The inclusions this time are especially good as we are treated to the writer's own views on the story, in which he explains what he was trying to achieve. It also features an excellent translation by Sora Kim-Russell (translator of, amongst other works, <b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Kyung-Sook%20Shin">Shin Kyung-sook's</a> <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/ill-be-right-there-by-kyung-sook-shin.html"><i>I'll Be Right There</i></a></b>). In fact, both the books in this series that I've read so far have been far better in this regard than those in the Bilingual series - a welcome sign that the standard of translation is getting better and better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you're new to K-Lit, and hesitant to dive into the longer (and more culturally-loaded) seminal works, the K-Fiction series looks like a nice place to start - particularly if you're keen on the idea of having a bilingual version. For those of you outside Korea (i.e. almost everyone...), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00PBHUV1A/ref=tmm_pap_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&sr=8-1-fkmr0&qid=1418810527">the whole set is available on Amazon</a>, and buying all five would probably be the cheapest way to get hold of them. I've got one more to look at - hopefully I'll be writing more about this series very soon :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-72485255196213526952014-12-25T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-25T06:00:00.476+11:00'The Bird' by O Chong-hui (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintg2CrI2zPqbQnBXzljVa1_lpf2JjaE66Jlm9txYnRPp83loe45i3ghRYsIAxSEpXKpe5IVHtpaKNF_zTWH3a24JBIKUuBcIQuM5qLT4HBdS1b04KFbyCW031IAhxs-sWebIEYRqupJM/s1600/IMG_5134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintg2CrI2zPqbQnBXzljVa1_lpf2JjaE66Jlm9txYnRPp83loe45i3ghRYsIAxSEpXKpe5IVHtpaKNF_zTWH3a24JBIKUuBcIQuM5qLT4HBdS1b04KFbyCW031IAhxs-sWebIEYRqupJM/s1600/IMG_5134.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not many people will be posting Christmas Day reviews, but mine is a blog that never sleeps (besides, what better present can I give you all than another review?). With that in mind, Merry Christmas, and happy reading ;)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of the best discoveries I've made during my look at Korean literature is <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/O%20Chong-hui"><b>O Chong-hui</b> (<b>Oh Jung-hee</b>)</a>, a writer whose stories of ordinary people stand out among the many works I've read this year. She's known as a master of the short form, so I was interested to see how a longer piece would read - hence the book covered in today's post. It's a work which begins simply enough, but as O is not an author who creates happy shiny people, we know that there'll be some darker tones just around the corner...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>The Bird</b></i> (translated by <b>Jenny Wang Medina</b>) is set in Korea in the 1990s. Young U-mi and her little brother U-il have been abandoned by their mother, with the father then forced to venture far afield for work, promising to return one day. After some years spent with relatives:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Father had arrived without warning to take us away. I could hear a voice solemnly and tragically recounting my fate just like in a fairy tale, saying how it came to be so that one day they had to leave the house. It was as if I had always known that there would come a day when I would have to follow that call to leave unquestioningly."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>p.21 (Telegram Books, 2007) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For the two children, life is about to change. As well as being reunited with their father, they are about to encounter another surprise in the form of a new mother...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With a clean new room, even if it is devoid of luxuries, and friendly new neighbours, it looks as if life has turned a corner. However, the reality is that the high hopes are unlikely to last.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Neither the father nor his new wife are the type to stick around when times get tough, and the events to come will have their effect on the two children. They're used to being by themselves, but can they really survive all alone?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>The Bird</i> is a little different from the majority of the stories I've read by the author, mainly in its focus on the children (especially U-mi). The story starts innocently enough, a story of life in the nineties for poor working-class kids. The reader soon warms to the clever U-mi, who is doing her best to look after herself and her brother in the absence of parent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She can expect little help from her father. He's a dreamer, ambitious and violent by turns, but he's also a man caught by the times. In order to survive, he needs to keep moving to where the work is (which, to be honest, probably suits him...). After a few drinks, his violent streak appears, and the events the children witness are bound to leave their mark. A question which repeatedly haunts the reader is that of the mother's whereabouts, and while U-mi accepts her father's story, the reader is a little more suspicious...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In any case, U-mi has no time to speculate as she needs to look after her younger brother. U-il is a dreamer, an innocent, slightly backward boy, who is obsessed by a cartoon character, to the extent of believing he too can fly. Again, what seems like an innocent, childish belief will later be shown to have a more sinister origin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For the first half of <i>The Bird</i>, I felt that it was a book more aimed at teenagers, not bad but perhaps lacking in range and emotion, with U-mi's limited voice restricting the story. Of course, I should have known better - O is a writer known for her depth, and slowly, gradually, the optimistic tone turns sour. To start with, it's little things, such as the children's destructive tendencies (for example, in cutting faces from photos) or the treatment of poor Mr. Bear, the take-home toy from U-mi's class at school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The last third of the book then casts away all pretence at the innocence of youth as disturbing events begin to pile up in a masterful development of a descent into darkness. There's violence, sexual awakening and painstaking description of the filth of the underclass (there's one scene in particular which might be rather distressing for westerners...). By the end of the book, I'd have to say things have turned almost <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Yoko%20Ogawa">Ogawaesque</a> - and I mean that in a good way ;)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The writing is excellent, and Wang Medina has done good work in capturing U-mi's young voice. The book begins with fairly simple writing that gradually darkens as the story progresses, more from the content than the style. A nice touch is the childlike use of the word 'Mummy', a choice I found a little questionable at the start - by the end, the word seems almost sinister and mocking...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The title isn't merely drawn from U-il's dreams of flying as there is an actual bird involved. Belonging to the children's neighbour, Mr. Yi, the tiny creature is kept safe in a cage, high above the floor:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"If I put it on the floor, she'd get eaten by a rat faster than I could move a muscle. And birds are meant to live in the heavens like angels or fairies aren't they? What's so great about a dirty, muddy world of land that's swarming with bad people who want to catch you for their dinner?" </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(p.36)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>The Bird</i> is an apt symbol of the theme of the novel, a creature representing hope and freedom, but one who is unlikely to ever obtain it. Just like the bird, U-mi is likely to have a bleak future - the story, however is a very good one. Chalk up another success for O Chong-hui :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-51833494459092419612014-12-23T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-23T06:00:03.231+11:00'Zone' by Mathias Énard (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjhKe5VqbBZtZV1_Iiz6cx9PznkoQeI4NjYKKUX9Zndz8_iZ6zkSFJRjy8tPiNtGzgIVcVibz2Nnyycn_UdPx6-4GujNGKEHI3YDDlcX0-etXrso2fXLHj2U7DQRwU7FZp4ecZjbXEWQ/s1600/IMG_5135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjhKe5VqbBZtZV1_Iiz6cx9PznkoQeI4NjYKKUX9Zndz8_iZ6zkSFJRjy8tPiNtGzgIVcVibz2Nnyycn_UdPx6-4GujNGKEHI3YDDlcX0-etXrso2fXLHj2U7DQRwU7FZp4ecZjbXEWQ/s1600/IMG_5135.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/"><b>Fitzcarraldo Editions</b></a> is a new press in the UK, publishing quality books in plain, sleek designs. Their first offering is a book which, while previously translated into English, had never been released in the UK. A lengthy novel, it's a 520-page journey, one you're unlikely to forget - let's go and visit the Zone...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/publications/zone"><i><b>Zone</b></i></a> by <b>Matthias Énard</b> (translated by <b>Charlotte Mandell</b>, review copy courtesy of the publisher) begins at Milan's main train station. Frenchman Francis Mirkovic, having missed his morning flight, is two-thirds of the way through an epic train journey from Paris to Rome. As the wheels start moving once more, the tired, hungover Mirkovic starts thinking of the end of the journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With five-hundred-and-fifty kilometres to go, there's ample time for thoughts, and Francis is a man with a lot to think about. He's leaving the world of the French intelligence service, in possession of a suitcase which is to be sold in Rome, the proceeds of which will help him start a new life. Ignoring the passers-by at the station, he prepares for the hours ahead:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...I have to be strong I can't linger over the faces of young women I have to be resolute so I can gather momentum for the kilometers ahead of me then for the void and the terror of the world I'm changing my life my profession better not think about it..."</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>p.15 (Fitzcarraldo Press, 2014) </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As his experiences flash before his eyes on the long run to Rome, we wonder how he'll ever forget what he's been through...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Zone</i> is an excellent book, a sweeping novel acting on several levels. Ostensibly, it's a description of a train journey; in reality, it's an opportunity to delve into the bloody past of the Mediterranean region. Yes, there's plenty of sun and relaxation on the beaches, but it's also a place of constant struggle and bloodshed. This is the Zone of the title, and as the wheels roll smoothly over the tracks, lulling the tired passengers to sleep, the reader is confronted with a tangle of war memories, as Mirkovic reminisces about 'work' and his personal life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We move from the first level of the exhausted, hungover agent on the train to the second level, his experiences as both a soldier and a spy. He's a veteran of the Balkan wars, a volunteer fighter in the Croatian army fighting for his mother's homeland. The time available for reflection allows flashbacks to surface, atrocities both witnessed and undertaken, and he remembers the fate of Andrija and Vlaho, his comrades in arms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">His subsequent career as a spy, a seller and buyer of information, may seem slightly less violent, but only on the surface. The information still leads to death, only this time at arm's length, and it's this suitcase full of the dead which is being brought to new owners. It may appear to be his ticket to freedom, but it could also be a container full of guilt, a burden weighing him down. Énard cleverly uses Mirkovic's stories to gradually unveil more about the agent's personal life, his character being revealed over the course of the journey. His war crimes, his personal relationships, his mental torment - the closer he gets to his destination, the more we see him unravel. This is a man on the verge of falling apart completely...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Zone itself, from Gibralta and Morocco to the Middle East, is a cradle of life, a region which has given birth to civilisations for millennia; however, it's also a setting for war and death. The third level of the novel lifts us above Mirkovic's personal experiences, expanding upon the interconnections between the wars: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"...do we always know what the gods are reserving for us what we are reserving for ourselves, the plan we form, from Jerusalem to Rome, from one eternal city to the other, the apostle who three times denied his friend in the pale dawn after a stormy night perhaps guided my hand, who knows, there are so many coincidences, paths that cross in the great fractal seacoast where I've been floundering for ages without knowing it..." (p.76)</span></b></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While the writing and structure are very different, there are shades of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/review-post-17-gps-for-soul.html"><i>Cloud Atlas</i></a> here in the way that the events of different eras overlap.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The book goes back and forth in time, looking at the history of war in the Mediterranean,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">giving us a four-dimensional view of the Zone. Énard skilfully weaves in stories of the </span>Spanish Civil War, the Great War struggles and Holocaust massacres, along with older tales of Hannibal and his elephants and the siege of Troy. This is a region soaked in blood, home to legions of bones:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>"...on the beach of Megara you still find, washed up by the waves, tiles of mosaics torn from Punic palaces sleeping on the bottom of the sea, like the wrecks of the galleys of Lepanto, the breastplates sunk in the Dardanelles, the ashes thrown in bags of cement by the SS of La Risiera along Dock No. 7 in the port of Trieste..." (p.106) </b></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We begin to understand that the procession of soldiers and corpses is never ending...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Zone</i> is a wonderful work, one with a dizzying array of references and ideas. One of its more noticeable features is its style - it's a book without sentences, for the most part reflecting the motion of the train. The words push the reader smoothly onwards, just as the train surges powerfully on through the Italian countryside, and Mandell has done sterling work to recreate this fluid style in English. The book starts mid-sentence, and although it ends with a full stop, in a sense it really doesn't finish here. It's just a part of the one, big sentence that is life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Énard has created a great novel, one that deserves to be read, and it'll probably be among my best few books of the year. It's a work I could have written far more about, a novel to be both read and studied. Above all, it's a reminder that the conflicts of today are shadows, echoes of those of yesterday and antiquity - the soldiers may change, but the Zone doesn't...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Open Letter</b> published the American edition of <i>Zone</i>, and they have just published another of Énard's books, <i><b>Street of Thieves</b></i>, again translated by Charlotte Mandell. Anyone who enjoyed <i>Zone</i> may want to check that one out too...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-8303829714826040712014-12-21T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-21T06:00:02.366+11:00'The Flying Classroom' by Erich Kästner (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WO9UP7OY9K0Kgs0byUQ8ujrIgw8X5s05A3QZtLNJe6XyAD4dM-07RglwTYRZOc25NsDa5cVm828u-Yx5MJtKH_9K0ThAGq3-nNcg-9REtWqiVVhsIc5cSEWSd_SIeOEhS_P6hVuCWTM/s1600/IMG_5132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WO9UP7OY9K0Kgs0byUQ8ujrIgw8X5s05A3QZtLNJe6XyAD4dM-07RglwTYRZOc25NsDa5cVm828u-Yx5MJtKH_9K0ThAGq3-nNcg-9REtWqiVVhsIc5cSEWSd_SIeOEhS_P6hVuCWTM/s1600/IMG_5132.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My budding review assistant, <b>Emily</b>, made her blog debut last month, and today marks her third appearance on the site. Yet again, it's to discuss a book she received from the kind people at <a href="http://pushkinchildrens.com/"><b>Pushkin's Children's Books</b></a>, and after the success of <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/the-parent-trap-by-erich-kastner-review.html"><i><b>The Parent Trap</b></i></a>, it's time to look at another by the same author. I wonder what Miss Emily will make of this one...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What's the name of the book, and who is it by?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The book is called <a href="http://pushkinchildrens.com/the-flying-classroom/#more-2212"><i><b>The Flying Classroom</b></i></a>, and it's by <b>Erich Kästner</b>. </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What's it about?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's about some boys at boarding school and their friend, No-Smoking (a man who lives in a railway carriage!). The boys get in trouble with the grammar school boys for burning their dictionary books - they also tie the students up and keep them prisoner! 'The Flying Classroom' is a play where the teacher takes the students on geography trips, and the boys perform the play at the end of the book.</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you like it? Why (not)?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was sort of a bit confusing, and sometimes it was a bit boring, but at other times it was exciting (like when Uli, one of the boys, did a difficult jump off a ladder and had a nasty surprise...). I liked it, but not as much as <i><b>The Parent Trap</b></i> :)</span><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What was your favourite part?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Probably when the boys did 'The Flying Classroom' play because it was very exciting, and they had a surprise sentence for the teachers...</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Was it difficult to read?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Maybe at some times, maybe the names of the places, and I got confused with the names of the characters - but I could understand the story :)</span><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Would you recommend this book to other boys and girls? Why (not)?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Perhaps it would be a sort of book for boys because there weren't many girls in it. In fact, there weren't ANY girls in it except for the ladies</span>!<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>Emily, thank you very much :)</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As expected, Emily wasn't quite as enamoured with this one as she was with <i>The Parent Trap</i>, but that's because she's a very girly girl and isn't overly keen on reading about naughty boys ;) However, she did enjoy it, and it's an interesting tale of life at a German boarding school, set within a frame narrative in which the writer (Kästner) talks about how he was pressured into writing the story!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Once again, the translation work is done by the excellent <b>Anthea Bell</b>, and having neglected to mention him last time, it's only fair that I talk about the illustrator <b>Walter Trier</b>. On the back cover, <b>Quentin Blake</b> is quoted thus:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kästner's words; I never tire of them."</span></b></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And as he's far more of an authority on the subject than I am, I'll leave that there :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Emily's had great fun with the two books of Kästner's she's read, but I suspect that the books are probably aimed at someone a little older than her - I'm sure she'll still be enjoying these in a few years' time. Which is not to say that she wouldn't mind trying more of his work - and I've heard that there's more from Kästner to come from Pushkin next year with the publication of <i>Dot and Anton</i>. So, if you have children who enjoy reading, and you're looking for something a little different... ;)</span>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-90678252041731250692014-12-18T06:00:00.001+11:002014-12-18T06:00:00.079+11:00'Wayfarer - New Fiction by Korean Women', edited and translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The next stop on my cruise through the history of Korean literature is the latest book from my recent visit to the local university library. It's a book which comes highly recommended (e.g. <a href="http://www.ktlit.com/review-wayfarer-new-fiction-by-korean-women/">by <b>Charles</b> over at <b>Korean Literature in Translation</b></a>), and having read it, I can see why. A great collection of stories, this is definitely a book more people should be aware of :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>Wayfarer - New Fiction by Korean Women</b></i> is a 1997 anthology from <b>Women in Translation Press</b>, edited and translated by (of course) <b>Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton</b>. It introduces eight female writers from South Korea, each represented by one story. Originally released between 1974 and 1994, the stories are a representation of the influence female writers are having on Modern Korean Literature.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The title comes from a story from <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/O%20Chong-hui"><b>O Chong-hui</b></a> (and an excellent one it is too) about a woman trying to rejoin society after a traumatic incident. However, I won't say too much about it here as it was one of the stories I featured in my post on the <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/modern-korean-fiction-ed-bruce-fulton.html"><i><b>Modern Korean Fiction</b></i></a> anthology earlier this year, and one that piqued my interest in female writers from the country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Even if we overlook O's story, though, there are several other great pieces, with a few common themes. One of those is the struggle women have with gender roles, with <b>So Yong-un's</b> excellent <b>'Dear Distant Love'</b> being a prime example. It features a woman obsessed with a no-good lover, a man who walks all over her (and took her daughter </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> away soon after the birth). Yet somehow she still feels a need to treat him as a (Korean) husband should be treated</span>:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Before Han-su could knock on the door, Mun-ja recognized the sound of his steps and went out to welcome him. She helped him off with his coat, she removed his socks, she brought a basin of hot water and washed his feet, and each of these objects turned the color of gold."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Dear Distant Love', p.125 (Women in Translation Press, 1997)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's a twisted tale, and poor Mun-ja is a martyr to her no-good lover, a woman who believes that no sacrifice is too great for the man she has decided to devote her life to...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A shorter story is <b>Kim Chi-won's 'Almaden'</b>, which describes the life of a Korean woman at a bottle shop in New York. The story alternates between the dull description of her work routine and her fantasies of the rugged man who comes in every day for a bottle of cheap wine. Almaden (her name for the man, but actually the brand of wine he drinks) comes to be a symbol of escape from everyday life, representative of the life she'd like to lead if only she dared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A more subtle approach</span> is provided by a writer I've encountered a couple of times before, namely <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Ch%27oe%20Yun"><b>Ch'oe Yun</b></a>. In <b>'The Last of Hanak'o'</b>, a man on a business trip to Italy attempts to pluck up the courage to meet up with a female friend from his younger years. As the story evolves, events of the past are revealed, slowly emerging from the mist:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"It is forbidden to venture near the canal railing on stormy days. Take precautions in the fog, particularly the winter fog... Then enter the labyrinth. And bear in mind, the more frightened you are, the more lost you will be."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'The Last of Hanak'o', p.11</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">These words start the story, taken from a sign near the Grand Canal, but they could just as easily refer to the man's struggles to come to grips with the past. This one is a wonderful tale of men struggling to deal with women for who they are, a story with a nice (if fairly obvious) twist in the tail.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Not all the stories are as good, though. Two later pieces which look at the role of housewives are the weakest of the eight (perhaps I'm not the right reader for this kind of story). <b>Kong Son-ok's 'The Flowering of Our Lives'</b> looks at a woman struggling to come to terms with her relationships with her mother and daughter, preferring drinking to looking after her daughter. Meanwhile, <b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Park%20Wan-suh">Park Wan-suh's</a> 'Identical Apartments'</b> provides another typical tale of a housewife dying of boredom, never satisfied, whether living with the in-laws or moving into a new apartment. Once again, as I've discovered several times before, Park's privileged whinging proves not to be to my taste...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">However, the remaining stories are much better, and the final two summarised here have a more political edge. <b>Kong Chi-yong's 'Human Decency'</b> portrays a magazine journalist working on two different stories: one is on a former artist, a beauty who has written a book on meditation; the other deals with a recently released political prisoner. This second assignment brings back memories of the journalist's own time as a protester in the 1980s:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"How single-minded we children of the 1980s were to believe that right would triumph whatever the circumstances; how firmly we grew up believing that justice would win out in the end."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Human Decency', p.75</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The question here is which story she should prioritise in a country that would prefer to forget the past...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are more politics on show in <b>Kim Min-suk's 'Scarlet Fingernails'</b>. In this one, a woman gets to meet her father for the first time after he has spent decades in prison for being a suspected spy from the North. It's an excellent story looking at the problem of guilt by association, an issue which was only recently resolved. Many of the family members resent the prisoner, not because of the years he's spent away from them, but for the shadow he has nevertheless cast over their dreams and ambitions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Even if not all of the stories were to my taste, <i>Wayfarer</i> is a great collection, one I'd definitely recommend. Some similarities in style are evident across the stories, one being the gradual reveal, switching between the present-day setting and pivotal moments of the past to colour in the whole picture (perhaps the influence of O Chong-hui on later writers). There's also sterling work, as always, by the Fultons, including an introduction giving a background of female writing throughout Korean history. While I would have enjoyed more stories (eight is a fairly small selection), the overall quality is unquestionable - <i>Wayfarer</i> is well worth a read and a</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> great first step into the area of female-written Korean fiction :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-2942049011800152402014-12-16T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-16T06:00:03.211+11:00'Rain Over Madrid' by Andrés Barba (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Despite the <strike>best</strike> worst combined efforts of Royal Mail and Australia Post, I recently received some more reading fare from the wonderful <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Hispabooks"><b>Hispabooks</b></a>. The first of the three is by a writer who was included in <b>Granta's Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists</b> issue, a man whose sentences flow smoothly and whose stories entertain and intrigue. So, without further ado, let's take a trip to Spain...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Andrés Barba's <a href="http://www.hispabooks.com/Rain_Over_Madrid.html"><i>Rain Over Madrid</i></a></b> (translated by <b>Lisa Dillman</b>) is a collection of four novellas running to just over two-hundred pages. Each takes place in the Spanish capital, and the stories are mostly about people coming to terms with love and family - fairly commonplace topics, but handled nicely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The first piece,<b> 'Fatherhood'</b> sees a semi-successful musician becoming a father when his rich girlfriend unexpectedly falls pregnant. While the relationship with the mother is fairly shortlived, he realises that fatherhood is something that lasts forever:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"It seemed then, for the first time, that a sort of transference took place; he didn't know how else to explain it - a boundless well of emotion, and also pain at the fact that intimacy and natural behaviour were not possible between them. Until that moment, he'd only ever sensed it in the vaguest of ways, but now it seemed undeniable."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'Fatherhood', p.33 (Hispabooks, 2014)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The story extends over several years, with Barba chronicling the man's attempt to stay close to the boy he rarely sees. Will he ever be able to break through the barrier of politeness separating them?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The other stories then move on to see matters through the eyes of women. In <b>'Guilt'</b>, a married woman is forced to act as the focal point for her family, with matters coming to a head when she is forced to look for (yet another) live-in home help for her ageing, cantankerous mother. The main character of <b>'Fidelity'</b>, by contrast, is a teenage girl discovering sex for the first time and generally having a wonderful time. However, her summer in the sun turns a little sour when she finds out that she's not the only one in her family having some fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The final piece, <b>'Shopping'</b>, follows a woman approaching middle age and her glamorous mother, Nelly. This is no maternal figure, rather a whirlwind in Prada, and her idea of being 'natural' is not what the daughter would hope for:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Not so for Nelly. Nelly is natural like a typhoon is natural, like all self-centered egotists, like a disaster, like the Grand Canyon, like a luxury item ensconced in an absurdly minimalist display case in a glittery shop window."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'Shopping', p.171</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As they go shopping in the snow for Christmas presents, the daughter sees chinks in her mother's armour for the first time, making it easier for her to make allowances for Nelly's bossy behaviour. After all, everyone gets old...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Rain Over Madrid</i> is an enjoyable read with four excellent stories. Despite the extended time span of the first two stories, it almost seems as if the book is divided into seasons, as we move from the eternal spring of 'Fatherhood', to the winter streetscape of 'Shopping'. Each story looks at a moment of realisation, a time when a life changes direction. Not all of the turning points are dramatic, but they're all important in their own way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The protagonists (mostly written in the first person) struggle with relationships, and each must deal with big personalities in their lives, whether they be lovers, sisters, fathers or mothers. Introverts for the most part, yet desiring emotion and human contact, the central characters are confronted by people who are completely self-absorbed and self-obsessed. In order to get what they want from their relationships, Barba's creations must make an effort to assert themselves, even though it may seem easier at times to just go with the flow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The stories are written in an excellent style, calm, casual and very easy to read. I enjoyed Dillman's work with the translation as the stories flow nicely. There are no jarring tones, and the dialogue and description are seamlessly integrated, making for an excellent read. There are a few obvious Americanisms, but you can't have everything, especially when the translator comes from the States ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Rain Over Madrid</i> is another enjoyable work from Hispabooks, and it's definitely a book many will enjoy. The four stories are interesting, very accessible and easy to read in a single setting, despite their length - hopefully this bodes well for getting more from Barba into English soon :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-31649569890795550162014-12-14T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-14T06:00:00.935+11:00'In Other Words' from the British Centre for Literary Translation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm a big fan of the good people at the <a href="http://www.bclt.org.uk/"><b>British Centre for Literary Translation</b></a>, the hub of all things concerning literary translation back in the UK, so I was intrigued to hear about their twice-yearly journal <a href="http://www.bclt.org.uk/publications/in-other-words/"><i><b>In Other Words</b></i></a>. Recently, I was lucky enough to be sent a PDF of the latest edition after a discussion on Twitter - particularly so as I was actually name-checked in one of the articles ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The journal runs to about 100 pages of articles on literary translation, with the submissions covering a variety of topics. The main focus of the latest edition is on the effects of the digital age, with a piece by translation doyenne <b>Anthea Bell</b> on how she has kept up to date with technology throughout her long and distinguished career. Another interesting article looked at the concept of video game 'localisation', where the translators have to deal with issues not only of language but also of visuals and sound (and usually on a rather tight schedule).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are many areas covered outside the digital focus. As well as a round-up of conference events and a description of what some translators are doing inside British schools, there's an intriguing look at a close reading of some translation (from Finnish!) and a lovely piece by <b>Roland Glasser</b> in which (lucky man) he describes his experiences of a translation residency near Zurich...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A couple of familiar names popped up as contributors. <b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Peirene%20Press">Peirene Press'</a> Meike Ziervogel</b> looked at <b>Joseph Conrad's <i>Heart of Darkness</i></b>, focusing on the influence Conrad's linguistic background had on the book, and <b>Esther Allen's</b> article was a plea to reviewers to engage more with the work of the translator when looking at translated fiction (which isn't quite as easy as she makes it sound...). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My main reason for reading, though, was the article written by <b>Robert Burdock</b> (AKA the creator of <a href="http://robaroundbooks.com/"><b>Rob Around Books</b></a>). His piece explained the evolution of his career as a 'literary evangelist' and was a stirring call to arms to all involved in bringing fiction in translation to the notice of the wider public. It was nice of him to acknowledge others fighting the good fight, and <a href="http://robaroundbooks.com/"><b>Stu</b></a>, <a href="http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/"><b>Lizzy</b></a> and myself were all mentioned in dispatches ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'd have to agree with his main point as it really is good to feel part of a community (I've heard of - and tweeted with - a surprising number of the people mentioned in the journal). Like Rob, I find that it's easy to feel a little isolated at times; living on the far-flung outer-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, I'm probably more isolated than most from the centres of the translated fiction world. I do like to get involved with these things, though, whether in Norwich/London (the British side of the Atlantic) or Rochester/New York/San Francisco (across the pond), so it's good to hear from all the names I see mentioned so frequently :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you're interested in the field, you could do a lot worse than have a look at <i>In Other Words</i>. There's something for everyone, whether you're a writer, translator, agent or reader. And let's face it - in a world of Dan Browns and Tom Clancys, we need as much support as we can get ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-13343136673949424422014-12-11T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-11T11:33:18.478+11:00'The Republic of Užupis' by Haïlji (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This year has seen a fair bit of Korean literature reviewed on <b>Tony's Reading List</b>, and the instigator for this was definitely the <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Library%20of%20Korean%20Literature"><b>Library of Korean Literature</b></a> project brought about by <a href="http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/"><b>Dalkey Archive Press</b></a> and the <a href="http://www.klti.or.kr/e_main.do"><b>Literature Translation Institute of Korea</b></a>. The number of K-Lit reviews has already passed twenty-five for the year (fairly impressive when you think that prior to 2014 I'd only read and reviewed one...), but today is a landmark day anyway. You see, this post is my tenth review from the Dalkey series - and, luckily enough, it turns out to be on my favourite book from the series so far :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Haïlji's <a href="http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/product/the-republic-of-uzupis/"><i>The Republic of Užupis</i></a></b> (translated by <b>Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton</b>, review copy courtesy of the publisher and Australian distributor <a href="http://www.footprint.com.au/"><b>Footprint Books</b></a>) is a wonderful addition to my burgeoning K-Lit library, a novel much more experimental and western-influenced than most of what I've read before. The novel begins with an Asian man arriving in Lithuania, attempting to get past the rather tall guards at immigration. When asked if he plans to stay long in the country, his reply is rather unusual - he intends to depart within a day or so, as soon as he has worked out how to get to his intended destination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, where is he off to? Russia? Poland? Belarus? No... Hal, our inscrutable Oriental, is actually a native of a land which has just reclaimed its independence after decades under foreign control. His goal is the Republic of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis, the land of his birth, the home of the language he understands but can no longer speak. If only he could find someone who knows where his country is actually located...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Republic of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis</span></i> is a superb book, one-hundred-and-fifty pages of inventiveness, the story of a man trying to find a country which may not exist. It's full of a deliberately confusing series of events including encounters with strangers, beautiful women, tall men and lots of snow, geese and grandfather clocks (really). Trust me, it all makes some kind of sense (to the author, at least).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In Vilnius, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis#The_Republic_of_U.C5.BEupis">there is a real </a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis#The_Republic_of_U.C5.BEupis">Užupis</a> (a semi-official micro-state), a place which inspires jokes from the locals, and the book acknowledges the real-life situation:</span></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"The people of this city call this particular area </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis - it means 'the other side of the river'. It is the most run-down area in Vilnius. As a joke, the struggling artists who live here began calling it the Republic of </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis. They even wrote a Declaration of Independence and established April Fool's Day as their Independence Day.</span></span></span></span>"</span></span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">pp.19/20 (Dalkey Archive Press, 2014) </span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This mock republic, however, is not the place Hal is looking for:</span></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"That's interesting - a bogus Republic of </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis. But where I'm going is not a joke, it's the actual Republic of </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis." With that, Hal pulled the postcard from his pocket and displayed it. "This was mailed from the actual Republic of </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis." </span></span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.20)</span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Exiled for most of his life in the land of Han (a thinly-concealed Korea), where his father was an ambassador, all Hal has to guide him on his way is a suitcase with photos showing people and flags. Oh, and memories of the haunting anthem...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">On the search for his elusive homeland, he heads onto the streets of Vilnius and is thrown straight into a whirlwind of parties and chance encounters. Just who are these 6' 6'' men he encounters (and seriously, what's with the obsession with the grandfather clocks...)? Eventually, he catches up with a woman he spotted during his first hours in Lithuania, the beautiful Jurgita, and hears about her involvement in the past with an </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis man of Asian appearance. With time running out, will this chance connection show him the way home?</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Republic of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis</span></i>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">is a short book, but it's one which throws up a million questions. Time loops around (this isn't a book to follow the laws of time and space), and over the course of his constant encounters with his new friends, the reader begins to suspect that they might actually be old ones. Everywhere Hal goes, he sees places he vaguely remembers, photos that look oddly familiar:</span></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"In another photograph, taken in a study, people sat around a huge table engaged in conversation. The walls were lined with bookshelves packed with ancient tomes in ornate bindings. The walls to the right, as you looked at the photo, bore windows, the source of light for the scene. Prominent in the photo was the marble sculpture set between the windows, a bust of a man whose agonized face was cupped in his hands. The study was virtually identical to the room in which Hal now sat with Vladimir. But the three men failed to notice this." </span></span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(p.38)</span></span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's almost as if he keeps walking into another time, his memory failing to remind him that he's seen these things before...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The book is a superb look at the importance of home and the impossibility of reaching that different country, the past, and while Haïlji is a writer with his own style, a western reader would be hard pressed to read this novel without being reminded of Kafka. There's the snowy beginning, the aimless wandering through menacing streets, the large ramshackle houses, the cafés, the meandering corridors in government offices - all recounted in the writer's own calm, casual voice. The reader is never quite sure exactly what's happening - they're sure to enjoy it, nonetheless.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the keys to the novel is language. <i>The Republic of Užupis</i> is set in Lithuania, but as Hal doesn't know the language, much of the dialogue takes place in English (a story of our times...). However, as the book progresses, there are more occasions when Hal suddenly hears </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Užupis being spoken. He knows what's being said, but, having lost the ability to communicate in the language, he finds himself in the frustrating position of being unable to make himself understood. This miscommunication only adds to the difficulty of finally getting home...</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">All of the above makes for a clever, mind-bending book which will appeal to anyone who enjoys novels which require more than simple page-turning. It's superbly translated by the Fultons (which goes without saying), catching the slightly off-kilter tone and the unnatural conversations which often occur between people communicating in a third language. <i>The Republic of Užupis</i> is a book I want to reread when I find a few spare hours, and it's one I hope will get some decent recognition. Just as is the case with <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/no-one-writes-back-by-jang-eun-jin.html"><i><b>No One Writes Back</b></i></a> and <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/pavane-for-dead-princess-by-park-min.html"><i><b>Pavane for a Dead Princess</b></i></a>, this is a book which deserves to rise above the status of merely one work in the Library collection. Here's hoping it finds the audience it deserves :)</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Footprint Books, as always, assure me that this book is available in Australia, either at bookshops or <a href="http://www.footprint.com.au/product-detail.asp?SubSection=%27uzupis%27&product=9781628970654&ParentPage=product-listing.asp%3Fkeywords%3Duzupis%26scope%3Dbooks%26Category%3D">through their website</a> :)</span></b></i> </span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483418542889012105.post-20348932889472609032014-12-08T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-08T06:00:00.459+11:00'Texas: The Great Theft' by Carmen Boullosa (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbvLNSsNdMrjxQHMGO3E_9nNeXL2_XAi3yBKXCsypRB1C6b9epcpPQNlSIP9EoTxe5Kn2Z_g9VnM6t248nleneiqnrfwogIfbfE3SbXK3rmsVxBvMFSEFmRlt6vdolNDSaya8_cl9foY/s1600/Texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbvLNSsNdMrjxQHMGO3E_9nNeXL2_XAi3yBKXCsypRB1C6b9epcpPQNlSIP9EoTxe5Kn2Z_g9VnM6t248nleneiqnrfwogIfbfE3SbXK3rmsVxBvMFSEFmRlt6vdolNDSaya8_cl9foY/s1600/Texas.jpg" height="320" width="203" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A recent addition to the family of publishers translating fiction from foreign languages is <a href="http://deepvellum.org/"><b>Deep Vellum Publishing</b></a>, a small press working out of Dallas. The energy behind the venture is <b>Will Evans</b>, a man distinguished by his energy in setting up the project (and his moustache, which would go well with a Stetson). Perhaps, then, it's apt that Deep Vellum's first offering is a book that looks at life in a multicultural society - and also provides a glimpse into the frontier past of the Lone Star State...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Carmen Boullosa's <a href="https://squareup.com/market/deep-vellum-publishing"><i>Texas: The Great Theft</i></a></b><i> </i>(translated by <b>Samantha Schnee</b>, electronic review copy courtesy of the publisher) takes place in 1859, some time after Texas was annexed by the United States. We're down on the border in the town of Bruneville (on the American side of the Rio Grande), and it's high noon in a dusty, sun-baked street. Now that's an ominous sign if ever there was one...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">... </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and we're not mistaken:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In the market square, in front of Café Ronsard, Sheriff Shears spits five words at Don Nepomuceno:</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> "Shut up you dirty greaser."</span></b></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">(Deep Vellum Publishing, 2014)</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It doesn't take a genius to work out that Nepomuceno, one of the most respected and powerful Mexicans in the region, isn't likely to take kindly to the insult. It's also fairly clear to see that once the shooting starts, it's going to be hard to stop. Life in Bruneville is about to become a whole lot more interesting - and, for many people, rather short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Texas: The Great Theft</i> is a novel that looks at the border region in a time when matters were still unsettled. The Mexicans are still unhappy about the way their land was stolen, both by force and by legal tricks, while the Americans are in a constant state of unease, aware that they're living life on the edge. The high tension evident in the region means any spark can ignite an explosion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, a story of Yanks against Mexicans? It's not quite as simple as that - this is a rather diverse region:</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"On the other side they also have people of all stripes - Indians, cowboys, bandits, Negros, Mexicans, gringos - as well as profitable mines and endless acres of land, but it's different. The Río Bravo divides the world in two, perhaps even three or more. No fool would say that the gringos are all on one side and the Mexicans on the other, with separate territories for the Indians, the Negros, and even for sonsofbitches. None of these categories is absolute."</span></b></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The cosmopolitan towns make for a political nightmare, forcing both the Americans and the Mexicans into shifting, temporary alliances with the various native tribes. It's a case of everyone trying to stay one step ahead of everyone else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">From the start, the average reader assumes that this will be a story about gun fights; in fact, the novel takes a good while to get moving in terms of action. <i>Texas: The Great Theft</i> is much more a description of the world the incidents take place in, and as the sheriff's words travel from mouth to mouth, through the town, across the river and out to the Indian settlements, Boullosa paints a picture of the time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course, the 'incident' is the backbone upon which all of the description hangs, and the Mayor of the Mexican town of Matasánchez isn't the only one who sees the dangers ahead: </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">He curses up and down, left and right.</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>When he's vented this string of insults he asks loudly, "And now what are we supposed to do? There's no doubt that Nepomuceno will retaliate, and how! Where does this leave the rest of us?" </b></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">By the time we return to see what Nepomuceno actually does about the insult, dozens of pages have passed, and we are now acquainted with the majority of the cast who will play out the aftermath.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Eventually, the action does get underway, with Nepomuceno retreating across the Rio Grande/Río Bravo to plan his next move. There's tension on both sides of the river, but that doesn't stop normal life completely - the card sharps keep playing, the drunks keep drinking, the whores keep whoring. All the while, everyone knows that soon something big is going to happen...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>Texas: The Great Theft</i> is a fascinating story, one which is well told. There isn't a great amount of descriptive, literary writing, but it's not that kind of book. Boullosa's story is one that balances description with action, and does it well on the whole. It doesn't have the magic of some writers, but it's fascinating enough to keep drawing the reader ever deeper into Nepomuceno's struggle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Schnee's translation is excellent, bringing across the tone of the book, casual, light story-telling (with a dry, disinterested narratorial voice). Events start off slowly, but they do eventually turn ugly, with atrocities from <strike>both</strike> all sides. Interestingly, the tone stays fairly casual, even when the killing increases - this is Texas, after all...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I enjoyed <i>Texas: The Great Theft</i> immensely, but I can't help thinking that it's a daring move for a new publisher based in Texas. This is a book which, despite the bitter actions and language of all sides, probably has the Americans coming off worst (I do wonder if this one might be a hard sell up in Dallas...). However, it's well worth trying, and hopefully, Deep Vellum will gather enough support to continue with their plan to bring translated literature to Texas - and beyond :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.com