Il libro dei morti

by Shinobu Orikuchi, Alessandro Passarella (Translator)

Giappone, VIII secolo. Un morto si risveglia nel proprio tumulo ma non riesce a ricordare chi fosse stato in vita. L'unico legame che lo trattiene in questo mondo è il ricordo di una donna. Nel frattempo, una giovane di nobili natali fugge nella notte inseguendo una visione luminosa apparsale sulla sommità di un monte. In questo romanzo modernista, impressionistico e inquietante, il Giappone dell'antichità riemerge dalle tenebre del tempo con la gravità sacrale di un mondo in cui il mistero faceva ancora parte della vita. La vicenda della giovane protagonista diventa l'occasione per guidarci alle scaturigini stesse di ogni letteratura, dove i temi universali della vita, dell'amore e della morte tornano a pulsare della primordiale vitalità dei miti.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Gothic, Classics

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

Reviews

[Books on Asia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of the Dead is great, but the reader should be aware that most of this book is dedicated to literary criticism about Orikuchi's story. The actual story by Shinobu Orikuchi covers only pp 61-158 of the 338-page book. In addition, there is so much repetition it becomes annoying. The 58-page Translator's Introduction is fascinating, until you realize that much of it is a reiteration of the footnotes throughout the book. By the end of the volume, I had read some information four different times at various points in the book. It seems to me that a lot of this could have been edited out. Japanese language allows for much more repetition than English does, and it would have been nice if the translator had accounted for that.

[Serdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

(More detailed review here: https://www.ganriki.org/article/the-b... )

Deduct one star if you're not a fan of deep-cut Japanese literature in translation. The first 60 or so pages are a detailed introduction to the historical context of this work -- both the period it was written in and the period it's depicting -- and the entire second half of the volume consists of essays by a Japanese critic about the work. If you're not a fan of this kind of scholarly detail, you won't enjoy this the way you'd enjoy something like a novel by Murakami (either one). Of course I dug it.

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note on Japanese Names
Bringing the Dead to Life: Translator's Introduction, by Jeffrey Angles

--The Book of the Dead

Glossary of Nouns, Place Names, and People

Essays from 'The Mandala of Light', by Andō Reiji:
Unraveling the Mysteries of 'Shisha no sho'
The Mandala of Light: On the First Version of 'Shisha no sho'
The Revolution of Religion in the Meiji Period: The Origins of Fuji Musen

Translator's Acknowledgments
Translator's Notes
Bibliography

[GONZA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probabilmente il grado di complessità di questo libro era tale che la difficile lettura me lo ha reso inviso. Il numero esagerato di note a pié di pagina lunghe quasi quanto i paragrafi, non hanno certo aiutato poi un libro costruito con delle linee cronologiche completamente sfasate.
Insomma non lo rileggerei né lo consiglierei.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the amount of commentary is overkill, but the actual book was interesting.

[Andrés R. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me pareció muy interesante el manejo del tiempo narrativo, un poco caótico, a veces y con una conclusión, para mí, enorme. Sin duda, se necesita leerlo en una edición crítica como esta para poder extraerle mucho jugo no solamente a las referencias concretas, sino a mucho de lo que subyace en la elección de personajes, acciones o diálogos. Lo disfruté, es en realidad, una novela corta (no sé bien si podríamos llamarle novela, igual) que, aunque a ratos parece un poco desigual, los pasajes poéticos —que no los poemas— destacan y con una trama simple, pero contexto complejo. En fin, habrá que guiñarle un ojo al traductor académico por fijar esta edición e incluir tantos paratextos que faciliten la interpretación-comprensión del texto.

[Edwin Pietersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating work, but properly the most cultural dense work I have ever read, especially in Japanese (it requires an expert in Japanese and Japanese folklore in order to grasp most of the references, and perhaps they would not grasp them all). Extremely hard to finish, but very rewarding. Reading the added context of Shinobu will help you to better understand and appreciate the work even more (The Egyptian book of death in a Japanese mind/adapted to 8th century Japan, his immediate reason for writing the book, namely the suicide at the temple, his own struggles of latent homosexuality, context of wars and Romantic period surrounding his life, etc.)

[Francesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi ha colpito soprattutto il modo in cui l’autore gioca con il tempo narrativo, un andamento volutamente irregolare, a tratti caotico, che però sfocia in un finale, a mio avviso, straordinario. È un testo che richiede una buona edizione critica, come questa, per poter assaporare non solo le allusioni più evidenti, ma anche tutto ciò che si muove sotto la superficie (scelte di personaggi, gesti, dialoghi che rivelano molto più di quanto sembrino)... L’ho letto con piacere, è un romanzo breve, ammesso che si possa davvero definirlo tale, che, pur mostrando qualche sbalzo, trova nei passaggi più poetici (non nei versi, ma nella prosa stessa) i suoi momenti più luminosi. La trama è essenziale, quasi minimale, ma si innesta in un contesto ricco e stratificato, che le dà profondità. Bisogna riconoscere al traduttore il lavoro mastodontico che ha fatto. Questa edizione, con l’abbondanza dei suoi paratesti, rende molto più accessibile l’interpretazione e la comprensione di un’opera tanto particolare. E, a completare il tutto, c’è la splendida copertina di Yamamoto Takato, un’immagine ipnotica, barocca e sensuale che cattura in un solo sguardo l’essenza del libro, quella sospensione tra bellezza e inquietudine, tra sogno e perturbazione. Un vero gioiello che da solo varrebbe già l’acquisto

[Carola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I found the idea of The Book of the Dead - a "sweeping historical gothic romance between a noblewoman and a ghost in eight-century Japan" - more interesting than the actual execution.

I enjoyed reading the introduction. Jeffrey Angles gives a good overview of the author's life, his research that inspired the novel, and the context in which the novel was written. The introduction was so complete, that the end notes to the actual novel (which only takes up around 100 pages of this book) felt superfluous (and I also wish they'd been footnotes instead for easier reading). I ended up skipping the three essays.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad to have this done! When I heard Japanese Gothic story I was excited because I enjoyed Dracula and have enjoyed Japanese thriller novels. This felt more like a heavy handed academic description of specific people in specific places all of which I didn't know. The story is more a grasp attempt to hold academic research about Japanese history together. Ah well, to continue the pursuit of what I am really looking for: something akin to Another with an older setting.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

58 pages explaining the story behind the book.
97 pages of translated story.
14 pages of glossary.
127 pages of essays.
17 pages of author's research.
Probably good for college courses. Not good for someone who is trying to read a folk tale from Japanese culture.
DNF

[Bill Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting to learn about the Nara period through the events described in this text, while I felt it had some interesting ideas and moments of melancholic profundity around the middle, for me it had ultimately fizzled out by the end, as there was little to keep me engrossed.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lengthy introduction was very well done. The story was good, but I think I need to read it again without chasing all the notes, to get a handle on it as a story.

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and occasionally wonderfully, vividly lovely, but also extremely opaque.

[Annapaola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kiyomizu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allucinato, allucinante, ipnotico, stupendo. Cinema espressionista su carta stampata.

[Marci · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel is a delightful retelling of a Japanese folktale. I only skimmed the essays, but was utterly charmed by the translation, the notes, the story.