Japanese Literature discussion
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Emily wrote: "I'm just starting Goze: Women, Musical Performance, and Visual Disability in Traditional Japan as research for a paper. After getting derailed multiple times while tracking down sou..."East Asian studies was one of my undergrad majors, and I started at U of Hawaii in grad school in Asian Studies (switched to Philosophy). I recently noted a couple of items on Ainu art (woodblook prints):
https://blogs.loc.gov/international-c...
http://tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blo...
In my last year of undergrad, I went to the Asian Studies department to see what it would take to get a second degree. The department said I'd fulfilled all the requirements, and sent me to the college of liberal arts. The college was full of people who are such sticklers for detail that they said I didn't have any applicable math classes. My first major was math, but apparently I didn't take anything low enough level to fit into their spreadsheets. I quickly realized it wasn't worth my time to fight with these people for a degree I'd never use.
Bill wrote: "In my last year of undergrad, I went to the Asian Studies department to see what it would take to get a second degree. The department said I'd fulfilled all the requirements, and sent me to the col..."Wow. Even for a large u, that’s absurd. Pretty impressive that you’d fulfilled all of the degree requirements for Asian Studies in any event.
I am currently reading the first novel of Haruki Murakami, called Hear The Wind Sing. It is also the first book I am reading of him. I am almost halfway through. It reads faster than I thought. I plan to read all of his books in publication order.
D. wrote: "I am currently reading the first novel of Haruki Murakami, called Hear The Wind Sing. It is also the first book I am reading of him. I am almost halfway through. It reads faster than I thought. I p..."That's a very interesting idea, D. I haven't read his earlier works yet, it would be so fascinating to see how his style and writing has evolved over time (some of my friends who have read all of his works claim that his earlier works are much better).
Yes exactly! I can not wait to find out :)
I started The Inugami Curse by Yokomizo Seishi. So far so good, I'm always happy to read about Kindaichi and the mystery looks to be good.
I am almost done with "Convenience Store Woman" and just saw that this group is reading "Earthlings." I'll have to pick it up and read fast!
Fear not. Monthly book discussions stay open long after their month is done. There's no deadline for contributing to the Earthlings discussion.
Bill wrote: "Fear not. Monthly book discussions stay open long after their month is done. There's no deadline for contributing to the Earthlings discussion."good to know :-)
Reading The Voice by Matsumoto Seicho - this is a short story collection on crime.
Just finished the 'Another' series by Yukito Ayatsuji. (What a wild ride that was! I wonder whether this series is mentioned often on this group.) I'm currently reading The Decagon Murder Houses and so far, it's great.
I have not read “Another” but The Decagon House Murders was a fun read. Characters felt a bit too flat for my tastes, but when viewed less as a novel and more as a mental game between author and reader, I found it a fun time.
I'm halfway through it and I've indeed been enjoying the mental game very much. If you're into mystery/horror genre, Tim, I highly recommend 'Another'. It's considered as Ayatsuji's magnum opus, and for good reason.
I thought Another was a good example of impersonal Japanese horror (i.e. there's no 'monster' or 'villain'). I first saw the anime adaptation and then went back and read the novel. Two the are so close that you really only need one or the other.I didn't know Another was a series, though. The first 500-page volume seems to wrap things up completely.
Another has a side-novel/sequel called 'Another Episode S/0' (some mistake it for a spin-off, but the author himself acknowledges it as a sequel). And another sequel (pun intended) came out in Japan two months ago called 'Another 2001' which is a direct sequel. (And apparently a chunker—its 1000 pages or so long.) It's not yet translated in English, but I really hope it gets translated soon!
RyeCather wrote: "If you're into mystery/horror genre, Tim, I highly recommend 'Another'.”You just described 80% of what I read between the two genres. :D
I've just picked up Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination (on recommend by this group :-)) So far, I've read "The Human Chair" and "The Caterpillar." Both are disturbing (which I like, in stories)- the first in an amusing, O'Henry-ish way and the second in a more depressing way. Glad I found this author
I recently finished Judith Pascoe's On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan a highly entertaining mix of academic exploration and personal experience, as Pascoe sets out to understand the immense, continuing popularity of Bronte's novel in Japan. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alwynne wrote: "I recently finished Judith Pascoe's On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan a highly entertaining mix of academic exploration and personal experience, as P..."How cool! I’d not heard of this book before. Sounds intriguing in a fun, quirky way.
It was Carol, she's an academic so she has a strong literature background but she's writing for a more general readership, and I liked that combination of memoir and intellectual exploration. I'm not really a huge fan of the novel either but this still managed to keep me engaged.
Alwynne wrote: "I recently finished Judith Pascoe's On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan a highly entertaining mix of academic exploration and personal experience, as P..."Anne of Green Gables is very very very popular too in Japan. I wonder why.
Mutsumi wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I recently finished Judith Pascoe's On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan a highly entertaining mix of academic exploration and personal ..."Yes! Pascoe mentions that but only briefly, a friend also pointed me to an anime version of Montgomery's novel and I recently ordered Eri Mouraoka's Anne's Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables.
Yes! The translator of Anne's series became a drama series too! I think partly Japanese people like orphans' stories.
I read somewhere that the story particularly resonated when it was published after WW2 because there were so many orphans and displaced people in Japan but I wasn't sure how accurate that explanation was.
Sure, I was born well after the war and still fascinated by those orphans' stories. The popular Japanese animes for children in the 70s to the beginning of the 90s were occupied by such stories: Heidi, Daddy-Long-Leg, Hector Henri Malot's story of an orphan boy and also another story of an orphan girl by him. Not exactly orphans, but there are many translated stories of foreign children who struggle without parents or father were read and adapted to animations, such as Little Women. There is even an original story by a Japanese author on foreign orphan girl called "Candy Candy", and this one was a huge hit as manga and also anime. What is this Japanese fetish of foreign orphans? It will be an interesting analysis. lol
Thanks that's really interesting, in Pascoe's book she interviews Minae Mizumura who talks about growing up with a series called 'The Girls' Library of Western Literature' which boasted a selection of titles in deliberately simplified Japanese translations including 'Little Women' and 'Anne of Green Gables.' Mizumura talks about how the series was a staple in Japanese schools during the 50s and 60s, so I wondered how far the popularity of certain books related to post-WW2 schemes to spread so-called Western values? So something similar to the way the British and American occupiers used Hollywood movies in post-WW2 West Germany? Or the operations of the British Council pre-WW2. But I suppose that that wouldn't account for why certain books had enduring appeal or were appropriated and creatively transformed in the way 'Wuthering Heights' or 'Anne of Green Gables' clearly were? Only for how particular works were introduced.
Oh how fascinating you say Hollywood movies were deliberately introduced to West Germany. The Allies (practically the American) occupied Japan only until 1952. And after that Japan was filled with foreign cultures, particularly American films and music. Hmm you are right, it is hard to explain why a certain books such as Wuthering Heights and Anne have been particularly chosen and favored by Japanese. There must be good reasons.
Yes it was a very deliberate strategy, there's a very readable account of post-war Berlin that covers some of this that you might like, if you haven't come across it already, Lara Feigel's The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love, and Art in the Ruins of the Reich which also discusses the commissioning of films by exiled German directors like Billy Wilder, all part of this particular cultural strategy. I've read a little, but not very much, about the American occupation of Japan after WW2, so I suppose it's very likely that they used similar techniques, ironic of course that official representatives of a nation that used the atomic bomb considered their culture the more civilised one!
Thank you for introducing the book! I will certainly have a look. :) Post War Japan craved for the liberalism and wealth of America so it was a perfect match I guess. Surely the atomic bombs were experimental and unnecessary. The victims were mostly children, women and old people who couldn't be drafted. I don't think they dropped the bombs if we were Europeans... So it is a strange relationship between the American and Japanese and still continuing.
Obviously accounts/arguments about the rationale for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki vary but personally I'm entirely unconvinced of any necessity for their use and totally against them for ethical reasons. And I think it's very likely that various forms of prejudice played a role in their deployment. I read an account of the after-effects of the bombing of Nagasaki by Susan Southard Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War based on research and interviews with survivors, which, if I recall correctly, also mentioned the deliberate withholding of research/information that would have aided in the treatment/rehabilitation of the hibakusha in the period following the bombing.
Yes, and also the hibakusha was severely discriminated in the post war Japan. The women were said they were not fit to marry, treated as if they had an infectious disease, at places like a public bath. Very unreasonable. They were suffering already but some people add more hardship as if that was not enough....
When Books Went to War is an excellent account of the political use of books by the USA before/during/after WWII.
Thanks Alison I haven't seen that, will look out for it.
Not Japanese literature as such but I just finished translator Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds, I've read some of her translations so I was interested in finding out about her take on Japanese language and culture. I think her book's worth reading, and it's certainly well-written as far as her style goes, but I also found it frustrating and her tendency to reinforce stereotypes about Japan and Japanese society was very annoying and uncomfortable at times.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alwynne wrote: "Not Japanese literature as such but I just finished translator Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds, I've read some of her translations so I was interested in finding out about her take on J..."That last is an unpleasant surprise. I was interested in this one; will have to consider anew.
Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Not Japanese literature as such but I just finished translator Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds, I've read some of her translations so I was interested in finding out abo..."I thought maybe it was just my perception but another reviewer who works in Japan teaching had a similar reaction so maybe not. But part of the problem I think is, and Barton acknowledges and is clearly struggling with it, is that while she was there she was having some sort of ongoing personal crisis and a lot of her issues seemed to end up being projected onto Japan and the encounters she has there. but I still think it's worth reading, although there was a lot more about Barton and lot less about Japan than I anticipated, and I think it's more idiosyncratic memoir than study of Japanese language and culture.
Alwynne wrote: "Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Not Japanese literature as such but I just finished translator Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds, I've read some of her translations so I was interested in f..."Yes, and I'm less interested in the memoir aspects and would really be reading for linguistics/language and Japan, so perhaps not a good line-up with my motivations. Your insightful comments have been really helpful.
Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Not Japanese literature as such but I just finished translator Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds, I've read some of her translations so I was..."Me too Carol, I wanted to read it for the same reasons as you, but as it progressed there was more and more about Barton's emotions, relationships, conflicts and less and less about Japan. And I did find that a big disappointment, also found it hard to review because she really goes into a lot of detail about her personal conflicts that make it uncomfortable to comment on because she's alive and I didn't want to be too mean. Even so think I probably was a little.
Would anyone like a copy of this:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
I am about to put it and a bunch of others in a Free Little Library, or take to Salvation Army. . .
Started Nao Cola Yamazaki’s little collection of short stories “Friendship for Grown-ups” today. Polly Barton translated. Really enjoyed the first two stories. Meaningful, but subtle.
Sounds good Jacob, will see if I can track down a copy, I've read some of the Yeoyu series of Korean writers that Strangers Press put out in the same format but nothing from the Japanese equivalent.
I finished Shizuko Go's incredibly impressive, Requiem which is based on Go's experiences of WW2 and the US-led firebombing raids that laid waste to many of Japan's cities. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alwynne,We read that as a monthly group read some time ago. Feel free to contribute to that old discussion, if you wish!
I would say that people who participated there will get a notification and may respond, but email notifications seem to be broken again (sigh).
Thanks Bill will check it out, my notifications seem to be working at the moment but they seem to switch off and on without warning, rhyme or reason!
I've just started Tsushima Yuko's Laughing Wolf very different so far from the others of hers I've read, and prefaced by a brief, fascinating but tragic, history of wolves in Japan and their slow extinction. Although it's disappointing, since it's a university edition that this doesn't include any notes or contextual material of any kind, just Tsushima's text.
Thanks for sharing, Alwynne. Territory of Light is one of my favorite things I’ve read in years. I will look into Laughing Wolf. In what ways are you finding it different from Tsushima Yuko’s other works?
Alwynne wrote: "I finished Shizuko Go's incredibly impressive, Requiem which is based on Go's experiences of WW2 and the US-led firebombing raids that laid waste to many of Japan's cities. Link to..."
Alwynne, here's a link to the group discussion, if you're interested in commenting there, which would be really cool.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Thanks Carol, a bit overwhelmed at the moment but will definitely add something in the near future.
Japanese Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
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Tale of the Princess Kaguya Picture Book (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kotaro Takamura (other topics)Iori Kusano (other topics)
Fehu Kazuno (other topics)
David Guterson (other topics)
Donald Keene (other topics)
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PS I just created an online Meetup book club yesterday and The Pillow Book will be its December read. Please join me if you are fascinated by the sensitivity of Sei Shonagon. :) The meeting will be held on the 12th of Dec. starting at 12pm GMT(9pm Japan Standard Time). You can read it in any language but the discussion will be made in English. Tsugumi by Banana, Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo are picks for the future.
https://www.meetup.com/no-book-no-lif...