Parting is such sweet sorrow, but when your event is called January in Japan, there comes a time when the welcome has been well and truly out-stayed. Sadly, that time is now, and today's Nichi-Yōbi News is the official wrap-up post for the event :(
Before we all get our hankies out though, there are still a few loose ends to tie up...
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Firstly, I'd like to say a big thank you to all those bloggers who have contributed reviews to our Review Page. At time of publishing this post, there were 71 reviews listed (and I've had promises of a few more!). That is far more than I expected :)
I haven't yet closed off the Linky, so if you're quick, you might just be able to get a sneaky last-minute post in. Hurry though - I will be closing it off at some point over the next few days...
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Thanks also to all those who participated in the readalong of Hiromi Kawakami's The Briefcase. While not all the opinions were the same, the overwhelming consensus was that it is a book which is well worth reading :) Any more reviews that come in will be added to the Linky and linked from my review.
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Our first series of J-Lit Giants also came to an end with my piece on Haruki Murakami, leaving us with seven giants in our initial pantheon. Naturally, in a such a select group, there are some glaring omissions. Neither of the Japanese Nobel Laureates were covered (although I actually thought at one point that I *had* posted on Kawabata...), and - as several people pointed out - there were no female giants/giantesses in the group.
To which I can only say gomen - hopefully this will be rectified in the future...
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Speaking of women and writing, the recent furore over the horrendous cover for the new edition of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar inspired Morgan at All Wrongs Reversed to look at how the covers of some female Japanese writers (namely Risa Wataya and Hiromi Kawakami) fared in translation. For a fascinating look at how their books look in English, French, German and Polish, please click through :)
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And, as promised, I have the result of my second giveaway! Everyone who had submitted a review on the Review Page by this weekend was eligible (only one chance each!), and the winner, as chosen by Random.Org, was:
Congratulations Jackie! I'll be in touch soon to organise the prize :)
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And that's it - January in Japan is officially over :(
It's been great fun, if a little hectic at times, and I hope you all enjoyed the chance to share in the J-Lit love. The January in Japan blog will remain online as a resource, and there's always the chance of a new J-Lit Giants post every now and then.
Next year? We'll see ;)
Well, we're rapidly approaching the (calendar-dictated) end of January in Japan, but before February sweeps us off the stage, there's just enough time for one more J-Lit Giant to get up there and strut his stuff. So, who gets the honour of closing the show? You might just have heard of this one...
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Haruki Murakami (born on the 12th of January, 1949) is quite possibly the most famous Japanese writer ever. An exaggeration? I don't think so. In the English-speaking world, he has no rival for the title, and I'm sure that the same is true in most other countries. Even in Japan itself, his fame may have outstripped that of traditional writers such as Natsume Soseki or Yasunari Kawabata. But who is Murakami?
Murakami studied drama at the famous Waseda University in Tokyo, but before even finishing his degree, he got married to his partner Yoko, and they opened a bar (Peter Cat) together. His life consisted of bar work and translation until, in a moment which could come from one of his works, he decided at a baseball game that he should try his hand at writing a book himself. The rest, as they say, is history...
His early works earned him healthy sales and a certain amount of respect, but with the release of Norwegian Wood (his most conventional novel), Murakami's fame skyrocketed to such an extent that he was forced to flee Japan to escape the attention. The later release of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, a book many consider to be his best, brought critical acclaim to match his commercial success. Kenzaburo Oe, who had been a critic of Murakami's work, praised the novel (which won one of Japan's most prestigious awards, the Yomiuri Prize).
The release of 1Q84 saw Murakami's fame at its peak in the west with publicity and hype at levels unheard of for a novel in translation. However, in terms of literary success, Murakami's reputation is very much on a knife-edge. Many believe that 1Q84 was overblown and repetitive, and that the book needed serious editing before being released in English. Then again, many of these are probably the same people who complained that the English translation of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was majorly cut...
Murakami's literary legacy is uncertain (and probably best left to future generations!) - what is clear is that he has successfully crossed over into the English-language scene like few foreign writers before him. He is prolific, and in addition to his fiction work (and his numerous translations of modern American literature), he has written volumes of non-fiction on a wide variety of topics, the majority of which are unlikely to see the light of day in English. For anyone who has an interest in Murakami, Jay Rubin's biography (which I reviewed earlier in the month) is also a great read - but I'd recommend that you try a good few of his fiction works first ;)
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One of the questions I've been asked most often in all my blogging career is which Murakami work to start with, and like all good questions, it is not an easy one to answer. I've given different answers on many occasions, but here are three that might help you to ease your way into Murakami's world:
1) The Elephant Vanishes - Although Murakami considers himself a novelist, many readers prefer his shorter work. The stories in this collection are a great introduction to his bizarre world, and if there are any which don't really take your fancy, there is always another one just over the page :)
2) Norwegian Wood - This is a wonderful, nostalgic novel looking back at a crucial time in the main character's life. In terms of Murakami's ability to evoke images and emotions, this is as good as it gets. Be warned though that the realistic style adopted for this novel is very unlike the themes he explores in most of his other work.
3) A Wild Sheep Chase - I would have chosen Murakami's first two novellas (Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973) here, were it not for the fact that they are once again almost impossible to find in English. Instead, why not join Boku and the Rat in the third-part of The Trilogy of the Rat, a mesmerising hunt for a very special sheep, taking in a woman with beautiful ears and a very special hotel. I doubt you'll regret it :)
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So there we have it - a very short guide to one of the biggest J-Lit Giants around! Please feel free to contradict me, suggesting alternative titles to start with (or slamming my choices). The floor is now yours...
January is drawing to a close, and sadly this is the penultimate Nichi-Yōbi News - January in Japan will be officially closed in next week's edition :( But don't despair - we still have a lot more J-Lit fun to get through before then :)
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As always to start off, I'd like to point you in the direction of our Reviews Page - the total is now pushing fifty, and I'm sure there's something there for everyone to enjoy. Also, this week's J-Lit Giants post was Gary's take on Kobo Abe - if you haven't already done so, please check it out. I'll be contributing one last post to the series on Wednesday (any guesses?!), so make sure you come back then too :)
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I received a couple of review copies this week, but unfortunately I won't have time to review them for our event. However, I though this might be a good time to introduce the publisher to those of you who are unaware of their work. Kurodahan Press is a small publisher based in Japan, with an interesting catalogue of works. They offer a variety of genres, and perhaps the most interesting books for many people are their Speculative Japan collections (three so far) of Japanese science-fiction and fantasy stories. I'm not such a fan of those genres myself, but one of the books I received, Osamu Dazai's Blue Bamboo (mentioned in Patrick's J-Lit Giants post!), is more to my taste :) Take the time to browse the catalogue - you never know what you might find...
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I've been trying to bring you all the J-Lit news over the past few weeks, but who is going to do this when January in Japan has finished? Well, you could do worse than follow Junbungaku, a blog which concentrates on what is going on in the world of Japanese literature. Consider this link a public service for those of you who can't cope with going cold turkey ;)
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Finally, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my second giveaway for our event, and in the end I decided that rather than try to attract lots of page views and comments, I would rather use it to reward the people who have taken part. As a result, I have decided that I will be giving away any J-Lit book (up to the value of approximately AU$15 - I won't quibble about cents!) to one lucky person, sent via the Book Depository (the book, not the person...).
How can you enter? Many of you already have... This contest is open (and limited) to anyone who has posted a review (or J-Lit Giants post) on the January in Japan blog. I will be closing the Review Page linky next weekend, so if you've got your review up and posted by the end of Friday, the 1st of February, you'll be in the draw. Good luck :)
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That's all for this week, except for a brief reminder about our readalong. I'll be posting my review of Hiromi Kawakami's The Briefcase next Thursday, and I hope that some of you will be joining me. I can't wait to see if you had similar feelings to mine...
It's Wednesday - and that means it must be time for another J-Lit Giant! Gary, of The Parrish Lantern, is back again to introduce us to another great of Japanese literature - and after visiting the world of poetry in his last post, he is back to prose this time :)
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A Man of Many Masks – Kobo Abe
Kōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房), was born on March the 7th 1924 in Kita, Tokyo, but he grew up in Mukden (now Shen-yang) in Manchuria during the second world war. In 1948, he received a medical degree from the Tokyo Imperial University, yet never practised medicine. As well as being a prose writer, he was also a poet (Mumei shishu - "Poems of an unknown poet" - 1947), playwright, photographer and inventor. Although his first novel Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street") was published in 1948, which helped to establish his reputation, it wasn’t until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
Often described as an avant-garde playwright and novelist, he shared the same literary map as the likes of Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka and Eugene Ionesco through a shared sense of the absurd and the central theme of an alienated and isolated individual at a loss in the world. Kobo Abe manages to do this within the realms of genres that would be recognised by most: if you fancy a detective novel, there's The Ruined Map; for Science Fiction, Inter Ice Age 4; for Fantasy, Kangaroo Notebook. There’s even a love story aspect to The Face of Another.
In the 1960s, he worked with the Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara on the film adaptations of The Face of Another, plus The Pitfall, The Woman in the Dunes and The Ruined Map. Then, in the early 1970s, he set up an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
Among the honours bestowed on him were the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for The Crime of S. Karuma, the Yomiuri Prize in 1962 for The Woman in the Dunes, and the Tanizaki Prize in 1967 for the play Friends. Kenzaburō Ōe stated that Abe deserved the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he himself had won (Abe was nominated multiple times).
Kobo Abe, through his work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, has had names of the calibre of Albert Camus, Alberto Moravia and Franz Kafka, (as well as those mentioned above) thrown at him, and like Kafka there is an apparent clinical detachment in the writing, as though Abe’s medical background has had a direct influence upon his writing style. Yet with this there is also an elegance that makes his work an immensely enjoyable and also an incredibly satisfying read – on all levels.
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Two Great Books by Kobo Abe
The Face of Another (1964) - A plastics scientist loses his face in an accident and proceeds to obtain a new face for himself. With a new 'mask', the protagonist sees the world in a new way and even goes so far as to have a clandestine affair with his estranged wife. There is also a subplot following a hibakusha woman who has suffered burns to the right side of her face. In the novel, the protagonist sees this character in a film (click link for my post).
The Ruined Map (1967) - The story of an unnamed detective, hired by a beautiful, alcoholic woman, to find clues related to the disappearance of her husband. In the process, the detective is given a map (a ruined one), to help him - this turns out to be more like a metaphor of the guidelines one should have in life. The impossibility of finding any relevant clues to solve the mystery leads the main character to an existential crisis, building slowly from inside, and this finally puts him in the position of identifying himself with the man he was supposed to find.
These are just two of around eight English translated novels and at least one short story collection from this fabulous writer, and I mean fabulous with all its connotations. Kobo Abe, manages to astound and amaze and yet remain within the realms of what could be defined as the mundane reality of the world about us.
For more information I will be posting a version of this post on my blog at a later date, with all the Novels and a synopsis of them.
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Thanks again, Gary :) Abe is another writer I should really have read more of. Apart from a couple of short stories, I've only managed to get to his most famous work, The Woman in the Dunes. More to come, I'm sure...
And how about you? What is your favourite Kobo Abe book? Just leave a comment in the usual place if your favourite hasn't been mentioned :)
Some of you may have caught last week's discussion on the great Ten-Ten controversy (in the comments section of last Sunday's post), and being the avid linguist I am, I googled a few things researched the matter thoroughly on your behalf. Having come to the conclusion that, in usage at least, Matt was correct, I have used my great technological skills to manipulate the image on the left accordingly (Momotarō is still less than impressed...). Let's all move on, shall we?
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As always, I'll start by pointing you in the direction of our in-house posts. This week's J-Lit Giants submission was a great piece by Patrick on Osamu Dazai. If you haven't already done so, please check it out :)
While you're here, why not have a look at the reviews page too? The list is growing very nicely, and by the end of the month we should have a wide range of interesting and well-written posts. If you haven't submitted your review yet, please leave your link on the page. Next week, I'll let you know why that might be to your advantage...
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One of my favourite J-Lit blogs, Nihon Distractions, pointed me in the direction of Asymptote magazine this week, where you can read an excerpt from Toh EnJoh's Akutagawa-Prize-Winning book Harlequin's Butterfly. It's a book which has yet to be fully translated into English, but on the strength of this extract, it's one which would be worth trying :)
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While we're on the topic of the Akutagawa Prize, the latest award was announced this week, and as the Japan Times reports, it has gone to Natsuko Kuroda. What is especially interesting here is that at the ripe old age of seventy five, Kuroda (for her book ab Sango) has become the oldest ever winner of the prize - one which is for up-and-coming literary talents!
Also this week, Ryou Asai & Ryotarou Abe were jointly awarded the Naoki Prize, the popular equivalent of the more-literary Akutagawa Prize. We can look forward to seeing all three books in English - some time around 2033...
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...and speaking of Akutagawa-Prize-winning authors whose works are still unavailable in English, a tweet courtesy of @wrongsreversed sent me to an old post written by Risa Wataya about a lecture tour she went on in Germany and Italy. It's an interesting piece by a writer whose books should be translated into English - hopefully, this oversight will be rectified very soon...
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That's all for this week, but come back on Wednesday for another J-Lit Giant - and there'll be more news next Sunday, of course! I'll have some more interesting links, and I'll also be letting you know about my second giveaway (which will be a little different from the usual kind...). See you then!
