Japanese literature, authors

[Taka 33]

And supposedly he is a very untypical japanase author, but he sure is amazing and unique, and I want to recommend him to everyone who loves books. It is (I'm tempted to say of course) Haruki Murakami.

The first book of his I read was "A wild Sheep Chase" and it took my by storm. The plot is as mindboggling as anything you will ever come across, the writing is fluid and the highlight for me is the wonderful dialogue in between the characters. So very clever and so very funny.

"Dance Dance Dance" is the followup to "A Wild Sheep Chase" and a very unusual one at that. Once again it is an incredible and in so many ways original story. And unlike in some of his other works, which is the only criticism I have (and it's not even valid since it is not what Muramaki wants with his books. He wants improvisational free flowing/floating jazz), he in many ways holds the story together right till the end. So if it didn't happen to be a follow up to "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Dance Dance Dance" is what I would recommend to a first time Murakami reader.

I haven't read it yet but "Norwegian Wood" could very well be "that" first Murakami book instead. It was a huge hit in Japan and these days apparantly has "Catcher in the Rye" status there. Maybe mostly so among young people.

His true masterpiece though is without a doubt "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle".

I'm not sure where to even begin describing this incredible book. It holds several stories, both historical (japanese history) and present. It moves and takes place on a lot (and I really do mean a LOT) different levels. Subconscienly too.

It's a mammoth of over 600 pages but to me just about every page is rewarding.

It's also the one of his books that's mostly about Japan. In fact there is no doubt that in many ways this book is about Japan. It's also about the human mind and character and yes about love too.

As a rule I'm horrible at describing books so here is a lil something from a Murakami website http://www.murakami.ch/main_5.html :

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is many things: the story of a marriage that mysteriously collapses; a jeremiad against the superficiality of contemporary politics; an investigation of painfully suppressed memories of war; a bildungsroman about a compassionate young man's search for his own identity as well as that of his nation.   

 

All of Murakami's storytelling genius -- combining elements of detective fiction, deadpan humor, and metaphysical truth, and swiftly transforming commonplace realism into surreal revelation -- is on full, seamless display. And in turning his literary imagination loose on a broad social and political canvas, he bares nothing less than the soul of a country steeped in the violence of the 20th century.

A Wild Sheep Chase:

A marvelous hybrid of mythology and mystery, A Wild Sheep Chase is the extraordinary literary thriller that launched Haruki Murakami's international reputation.   

 

It begins simply enough: A twenty-something advertising executive receives a postcard from a friend, and casually appropriates the image for an insurance company's advertisement. What he doesn't realize is that included in the pastoral scene is a mutant sheep with a star on its back, and in using this photo he has unwittingly captured the attention of a man in black who offers a menacing ultimatum: find the sheep or face dire consequences. Thus begins a surreal and elaborate quest that takes our hero from the urban haunts of Tokyo to the remote and snowy mountains of northern Japan, where he confronts not only the mythological sheep, but the confines of tradition and the demons deep within himself.

Quirky and utterly captivating, A Wild Sheep Chase is Murakami at his astounding best.

Dance dance dance

Dance dance dance continues the extraordinary adventure of an ordinary man. At thirty something, Murakami's nameless hero lives in a hi-tech, high-rise world where old virtues die fast and success is all that matters. He has shared in the glittering city's spoils, and while he has not sold his soul, he knows that something is lacking in his life.   

 

Now, in dreams, a mysterious woman weeps softly - for him. Yet, even as he tries to understand why, the voice that beckons is not hers. And still he dreams. Bizarre dreams that propel him down byways of his life in search of ... ?

His is a strange odyssey: en route, a thirteen-year-old girl, distressingly beautiful and clairvoyant, is his constant companion; a classmate, now oozing charm on TV soaps, grapples with murder; a lady of the night becomes his guardian angel; and an eccentric Sheep Man materializes to counsel and cajole. What's a fellow to do? Dance. You gotta dance as long as the music plays. And dance is what our hero does ... in the most unexpected ways!

And last but definitely not least....since I've only read Murakami, does anyone else have experiences with Japanese literature they want to share?

Edited February 20, 2005 by Taka

[Doyobi 0]

Cool, I bought the Norwegian wood, but didn't read it yet. We'll see how it works for me :)

As for other authors, I read some novels by Yasunari Kawabata (Nobel prize winner), and liked it very much. It was a long time a go, as I was a teenager, so I can't describe them properly.

Who wrote Musashi? I forgot :(

[Sasanishiki 57]

Eiji Yoshikawa wrote Musashi. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

And supposedly he is a very untypical japanase author, but he sure is amazing and unique, and I want to recommend him to everyone who loves books. It is (I'm tempted to say of course) Haruki Murakami.

Great thread and nice introduction to Murakami! Never heard of hin before as Japanese literature has not yet infiltrated my life much. Will try that "A Wild Sheep Chase" immediately. The comment of yours about the dialoque in the book makes me recall Dostoevsky's "Idiot" which had some of the most hilarious and captivating dialoque ever. In this light I am looking forward to feeling Murakami's book's dialoque dynamics. Thanks a lot for the introduction!

And last but definitely not least....since I've only read Murakami, does anyone else have experiences with Japanese literature they want to share?

Not much. I have read some short story collection by a famous Japanese author who committed a suicide at rather young age. Can't remember the name now and can't check it atm either.

Only Japanese novel I have ever started was the most famous one (Being ninja...)

Genji monogatari. Considered to be the first "modern" novel in Japan's history written some 1000 years ago or so by a woman who lived in court. Have to confess that that book went into extremely rare category of books that I didn't finish. I knew the book covers mainly love affairs and other kinds of affairs in Japan's court but wanted to try it especially since the translation into Finnish had been given such praise. But too long book to read without extra enthusiasm.

[Sasanishiki 57]

Not much. I have read some short story collection by a famous Japanese author who committed a suicide at rather young age. Can't remember the name now and can't check it atm either.

Was this Mishima Yukio perhaps? I've read a couple, and don't really have an opinion. He is quite popular with some people because he represents the militaristic Japan and the search for bushido in a post-modern setting. I found him a little too hung up on blood and homo-erotic imagery

[madorosumaru 7]

Yukio Mishima is arguably the most important Japanese writer of the 20th century. He definitely was the best known Japanese writer of his time and was perhaps the very first to have any kind of following in the West. In fact, in the 60's, if any half-educated Westerner were asked to name a single Japanese writer (besides Lady Murasaki), the name Mishima would come up 90% of the time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature three times, and it was rumored at the time that Kawabata won the Prize only as a "safer" alternative.

Mishima was prolific. He wrote novels, short stories, essays, plays--both modern and in Kabuki and Noh form. Very well-educated, Mishima was influenced by Western and Japanese writers before him and, in turn, he was an influence to writers all over the world. In Japan, he was considered the only living writer accomplished enough to write a traditional Kabuki play. Overseas, guys like Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal show definite signs of Mishima in their works. A major(?) English-language film starring a very alluring Sarah Miles and Kris Kristofferson, "The Saikor Who Fell From the Grace of the Sea," was made from his "Gogo No Eiki." Paul Schrader, who wrote the screenplays of "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," directed a fictionalized account of his life, "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters."

Mishima is a difficult read in either Japanese or in translation--I have done both. One has to do quite a bit of "homework" in order to fully appreciate his works. As mentioned by others, he was obsessed with ultra-rightist, militaristic themes and sado-masochism pervades throughout. Mishima may not be one's cup of tea, but he is, without a doubt, a writer of the first magnitude and very much worth one's time and effort.

Some of his major works:

Kamen No Kokuhaku - Confessions of a Mask

Kinjiki - Forbidden Colors

Shiosai - The Sound of Waves

Kinkakuji - The Temple of Golden Pavilion

Haru No Uki - Spring Snow

Homba - Runaway Horses

Akatsuki No Tera - The Temple of Dawn

Tennin Gosui - Five Signs of God's Decay

The last four form the tetralogy, Hojo No Umi - The Sea of Fertility, which he finished just before he committed seppuku in 1970.

[Manekineko 200]

I've read many books by Japanese authors, but it was in my omnivore high-school days, and I forgot a lot about them. (Oops! )

First one, reread some time later when I had better feel of 17th century Japan, was Miyamoto Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. Good book.

Yukio Mishima's "Golden Pavillion" was read in omnivore phase, and I don't remember much... I wasn't impressed then, but I wasn't mature either.

Shusaku Endo's "Silence", about challenges to faith under persecution (Christians in shogunate Japan). Maybe it impressed me so much because of my own religious leanings, but I found it captivating.

Masuji Ibuse's "Black rain", novel about the end of war and what it brought. Unreal almost in the detachness when describing the destruction of the bomb... it focuses on the destruction and rebuilding of one man's world. Great book. Really great book. Marvelous, wonderful, beautiful book. Read it.

Genji monogatari - maybe you have to be a woman to enjoy it. I read it during the summer break (lugging a encyclopaedia-sized book to beach every day) like it was pulp. It tended to get a bit confusing at times, keeping track of all Genji's loves, but it was magical.

That concludes my presentation! (Being ninja...)

[Hakuyobaku 33]

It's been rumoured that the seppuku was more due to the refusal to get the nobel prize rather than what it was then said.. Mishima i'm talking about

[madorosumaru 7]

It's been rumoured that the seppuku was more due to the refusal to get the nobel prize rather than what it was then said.. Mishima i'm talking about

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who knows for sure what was in his convoluted mind. It is true that he was bitterly disappointed by not getting the Nobel Prize that many felt he rightlfully deserved. The case can also be made that as prolific a writer as he was and with the completion of his magnum opus, the tetralogy, he had exhausted his "creative juices." More titillating theories had it that, as he approached his middle years, the pathologically vain Mishima found it intolerable that he was losing his meticulously chiseled physique.

In any case, from what I've read, his last day was most Mishima-like. He occupied the Self Defense Force HQ with two aides from his private army, The Shield Society. After his demands were denied as he had expected, he unhesitatingly took to the sword. As ritual would have it, his second-in-command immediately lopped off his head so that he would not suffer. (Some of you may recall the seppuku scene in "The Last Samurai.") Then the aide committed seppuku himself with his junior peforming the coup de grace. Alas, the hapless third guy didn't have anyone left so he had to endure the slow, painful death of ritual harakiri in its entirety

[Mark Buckton 1]

Mishima's 'second' Morita missed his neck first time and a (note I don't say 'his' - only the general emeged alive from the room and with two blokes minus heads) 'third' did the deed. The first cut bit into Mishima's shoulder (as a bloody sharp sword would tend to do!) The second decapitated him. The paper and brush he intended to write his last poem on (in his own blood) were unused and lay by the body.

Morita (IIRC) died with Mishima - a third wasn't reported. I have seen the unpublished picture taken in the room by an Asahi reporter (first allowed in) and there were just 2 heads and 2 bodies. The others were taken away - alive.

In addition - the popular myth of just finishing the 'Sea of Fertility' before his death isn't accurate in that it was finished several months prior. Confirmed by publishers and family after 'the incident'

Interestingly, the general (name I forget) who was tied to the chair in the room later became a priest in Shikoku (again IIRC).

Also - the mind was way away I guess but his chiselled physique only reached his waist - his legs were weak and rather puny his whole life. (sen a little in the pics posted above)

Much of the Mishima story is myth mixed with madness mixed with a love for his nation brought on by the Chou Koron incident of 57? or so. I believe he was not a mad right wing guy and was forced into appearing as such in an appeal for acceptance - post 57 etc.

Last point - presumably readers know one of his 'followerd-cum-pupils' was called Shintaro Ishihara - now he is a rightie. (Sign of disapproval)

Edited February 27, 2005 by Adachinoryu

[Hananotaka 8]

My favorite author is Natsume Soseki, particularly his novel "Kokoro". Yasunari Kawabata uses wonderful turns of Japanese phrase. "Dancing Girl of Izu" is short, easy to read, and a classic. Highly recommended.

Murakami is part of a group of young authors that came up in the late '80s and early '90s that were remarkably creative and surreal. Others I'd recommend are Masahiko Shimada and Banana Yoshimoto. Also, I've never read her novels, but Amy (Eimi) Yamada wrote a number of fantastic short stories.

Hopefully Amanogawa will see this topic and chime in. We'd just been discussing this kind of thing a while back.

[Amanogawa 79]

Yes I like Natsume Souseki too! And I think Kawabata's style is truly

aesthetic. Voluptious and stoic, and purely beautiful. His "Tenohira no

Shousetsu ( stories on a palm )", a collection of over 100 ( very ) short

stories.. I read this many times but I'd still want to take it out from my

bookshelf sometimes to taste it - his gift is here. I like Akutagawa Ryunosuke,

Dazai Osamu, Abe Kobo, Nakajima Atsushi, Endo Shusaku ( "Silence" is a

great book! ), Tsutsui Yasutaka ( oh how I love him!!!! especially when

he is at serious "literary" ones! ). Hayashi Mariko. Kyogoku Natsuhiko.

Tanabe Seiko - her writing is so humorous and delicate that you'd feel

as if you were hypnotised -if you were a woman. (Nodding yes...) Murakami's

Chronicle is a very good one too. As for children's books - Hayashi Akiko!

Kako Satoshi! Chou Shinta!

I also like tanka ( 5-7-5-7-7 thing..). Most popular, "friendly" modern poet

may probably be Tawara Machi. I like Kawano Yuko and Okai Takashi,

but my best fav is Nakajo Fumiko who lived such a passionate life and died

too young a death. Her "Chibusa Soushitsu ( The Loss of Breasts )" is

extraordinary. The ancient poet I like is Izumi Shikibu, another passionate

lady who wrote powerful love poems.

I know some of you here like Ozu Yasujiro very much, btw, and here's

one of his romanchikku haiku:

Kuchizuke mo

Yume no naka nari

Haru no ame

( Spring rain -

I kissed her on the lips,

Or was it but a dream )

[Jonosuke 28]

I also like tanka ( 5-7-5-7-7 thing..). Most popular, "friendly" modern poet

may probably be Tawara Machi.  I like Kawano Yuko and Okai Takashi,

but my best fav is Nakajo Fumiko who lived such a passionate life and died

too young a death. Her "Chibusa Soushitsu ( The Loss of Breasts )"  is

extraordinary. The ancient poet I like is Izumi Shikibu, another passionate

lady who wrote powerful love poems.

--------------------

昔はものを思はざりけり

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can tell how romantic Amanogawa san is by reading her post but you may have missed Amanogawa san's signature, not realizing how "romanchikku" that poem really is.

For those who are familiar with Japanese traditional card game of "Karuta" know "Hyakunin Isshu" (百人一首), often played during the New Year holiday. A reader will start reciting the first half of a poem and you try to pick up the card with the last half of the poem written on it among up to the hundred cards lined up in front of you before anyone else does by knowing all these Tanka poems by heart.

The "Haykunin Isshu" Tanka poems were written over 1,000 years ago and can be called the All Time Top 100 Tanka songs selected by Fujiwara no Teika (lived from 1162 to 1241) with some minor revision.

The one Amanogawa san quotes is Number 43 on the list (not necessarilly 43rd best, it's just commonly known as the 43rd poem). This was written by "Fujiwara no Atsutada" (906-943), later known as "Gonchu Nagon Atsutada", known to be an expert Biwa player (Japanese lute). He was welll known for having many lovers in his rather short life.

Here's the full text of this:

「逢ひ見ての　のちの心に　くらぶれば

　　　　昔はものを　思はざりけり」

("Ahimiteno Nochinokokoroni Kurabureba

Mukashiwamonowo Omowazarikeri")

I am sure Amanogawa can interpret it much better than me but let me try my spin on this:

"Before I eventually got to see her and spent a time with her, I thought of her often and how I felt I wanted to be with her."

"But after having been with her, I realize what I felt before is nothing compared to what I feel for her now. I worry about her, I can't get her out of my mind. I wonder what she thinks of me. If I knew all this, maybe I was better off not having seen her at all. I had a much simpler life then. Now I am killing myself, constantly thinking of her. Oh how much I love her."

And who is saying Japanese classic literature is boring....

Edited March 26, 2005 by Jonosuke