८ डिसेंबर, २०२०

"I think the riskiest kind of novel is the one that tries to rescue us from mundane existence—by taking a closer look at mundane existence."

"If the tone falls flat, than the action is simply a series of discrete encounters, recreated on the page. In the best of these novels—from the work of Haruki Murakami to Albert Camus—the writer finds a tiny gap between the simple nature of things, and how they appear to us."

From "In Praise of Sayaka Murata/John Freeman on a Young Japanese Writer We Should All Be Reading." 

That review — in Literary Hub — was written 3 years ago, when the current Murata book was "Convenience Store Woman," which I thought was great. I'm reading it today because I'm reading her new book "Earthlings" and I don't want any spoilers to that.

ADDED: Sample text from "Earthlings":
“Deep down everyone hates work and sex, you know. They’re just hypnotized into thinking that they’re great.” My husband was always saying that. 

His parents, his brother and his wife, and his friends sometimes came to spy on us. My and my husband’s womb and testes were quietly kept under observation by the Factory. Anyone who didn’t manufacture new life—or wasn’t obviously trying to—came under gentle pressure. Couples that hadn’t manufactured new life had to demonstrate their contribution to the Factory through their work. My husband and I were living quietly in a corner of the Factory, keeping our heads down.

The first person character regards her town as a "factory for the production of babies." 

३४ टिप्पण्या:

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

Sayaka what...who? I'm going to venture a guess that you would have been pretty safe on spoilers anyway.

mccullough म्हणाले...

Looks like the same Japanese-to-English translator for all her works.

I’m always hesitant to praise the original author when I read a translation. The translator might be the better artist.

Michael K म्हणाले...

There is a way to teach history by using fiction. Sabatini's novel, "Scaramouch" is an example and I recommend it to people who want to began a study of the French Revolution.

Dull books about dull people are unreadable unless you need to boast about your reading.

Wince म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
William म्हणाले...

She dies in the end. They all do. That's the biggest spoiler in every book with the exception of the New Testament.

Laslo Spatula म्हणाले...


"..by taking a closer look at mundane existence" followed by "...I don't want any spoilers to that" first struck me as amusing.

But then also made me think of "Do I dare to eat a peach".

Which then makes me think of "that gum you like is going to come back in style," one of Lynch's most perfect lines that kinda connects everything together when things need connecting..

Which in turn made me wonder if peach is involved in the flavor of the Wrigley's gum "Juicy Fruit".

So, from Wiki:

Which fruit serves as the model for its flavor is kept vague in advertising, though in 2003, advertising agency BBDO characterized it as a combination of banana and pineapple,[1] and some people[2] say it resembles jackfruit. According to two books in the Imponderables series, peach is one crucial flavor among many others.

I am Laslo.

Paddy O म्हणाले...

Thanks for recommending that book. Read it. Loved it. Used it in some of my academic work. Really so fitting for what I was thinking about. I've really fallen away from online involvement other than work but keep remembering how many important recommendations/insights I've come across here over the years, so don't quite check out checking in here.

Wince म्हणाले...

I think the riskiest kind of novel is the one that tries to rescue us from mundane existence — by taking a closer look at mundane existence.

"It is mundane. It's great, I know."

Churchy LaFemme: म्हणाले...

I’m always hesitant to praise the original author when I read a translation. The translator might be the better artist.

van Vogt always said his books did better in France because his french translator was a poet.

rehajm म्हणाले...

The riskiest kind of novel is where the publisher lets the author's OCD fag fly free.

Whiskeybum म्हणाले...

rehajm said...

The riskiest kind of novel is where the publisher lets the author's OCD fag fly free.

Is that some kind of travel perk during Pride Week?

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"I think the riskiest kind of novel is the one that tries to rescue us from mundane existence—by taking a closer look at mundane existence."

I think the silliest kind novel is the one that assumes mundane existence is something one needs to be rescued from by a novelist taking a closer look at that mundane existence.

Amexpat म्हणाले...

Never heard of Sayaka Murata. Just reserved two of her books from the library on the chance that she's in the same league as Murakami.

Murakami's novels often start with a protagonist living a very mundane existence. But something occurs that radically shakes things up. Not sure if his novels would be as good if things were just mundane.

Earnest Prole म्हणाले...

There's a term of art for things we should all be reading/watching/taking: castor oil.

Two-eyed Jack म्हणाले...

M.K. -- Sabatini's Captain Blood is great too.

I went through a phase of reading adventure novels. I also heartily recommend Beau Geste and King of the Khyber Rifles.

I have never gotten into this thin-wedge-between-boring-reality-and-the-plane-of-existence-slightly-outside-of-boring-reality genre. Perhaps in another lifetime.

MayBee म्हणाले...

Tag: Althouse should go to Japan.

Howard म्हणाले...

Thanks for the tip, Althouse. Just read short story "Barn Burning", it was good. A bit Hemmingway-esque. It's like he strips down the words to create what seems like a visual memory of an experience. Koreans made it into a movie

RMc म्हणाले...

"Scaramouch"

Can you do the fandango?

Michael K म्हणाले...

Blogger Two-eyed Jack said...
M.K. -- Sabatini's Captain Blood is great too.


Yes and is largely based on Morgan's career. His history of the uprising that got Blood transported is pretty good, too.

Laslo Spatula म्हणाले...

Books to read in Tiny Houses.

I am Laslo.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

In 'Earthlings,' everybody thinks she dies, but she wakes up in the mortuary.

Oops, sorry.

MayBee म्हणाले...

Convenience Store Woman is currently free to those who have an Audible subscription. It's only 3 hours!

Ambrose म्हणाले...

I never thought novels should be judged on a riskiness scale.

LordSomber म्हणाले...

"What's Japanese for "Cherish the cabin"?

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

"Tag: Althouse should go to Japan."

Everyone should go...wonderful place...just try to blend in.

Richard C-W म्हणाले...

Thanks Ann, enjoyed Convenience Store Woman, forgot it was your recommendation. Looking forward to this new one. Just finished Ogawa Yoko's Memory Police. Also liked "Housekeeper and the Professor."

rcocean म्हणाले...

Thanks for posting this. I'm always meaning to read some Japanese fiction, but I get sidetracked.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Wonderful post. This is why I love the Althouse Blog. The Professor always teaches us interesting art and literature I just never find anywhere else. She is quite a charming Encyclopedia of civilization.

stephen cooper म्हणाले...

C.S. Lewis, in his 40s, thinking of himself as quite a middle-aged person, wrote, on his first encounter with the Zimiamvian novels of Eddison, that it is "not often" that a person of his then-impressive age of 40-something "meets with a new author" who astounds the way he was astounded with Eddison's ability to create a world, to use the English language to so many different and wonderful effects....

Anyway, Japan is a big place, with lots of people who like words. There is a good chance that in some big place like Japan, or the Philippines or Vietnam or Thailand (probably nearer Chang Mai than the beaches, I would guess, but I have been wrong before), there is someone writing things right now that you would be very very happy to read - anyway, why wouldn't there be lots of fascinating writers in places like that? Of course, time is limited, and none of us read much of even the very best of today's poems and stories and novels and works of history and so on, but I am never surprised when someone says this or that author whom I have never heard of is fascinating and supremely gifted (taking the word supremely, of course, in its not quite literal sense - a supremely gifted "writer" is no longer possible, because someone with that level of talent would be doing other things than just writing, today, even if , back in the day, they may have been simply writing)

For example, check out, if you get a chance, the novels of Bernanos, mostly forgotten today, called "the imposter" ("L'Imposture") and "Joy" ("La Joie"). First time I read them, I thought, this as good as Shakespeare and better then Dante. When I read them a second time, I felt the same way. Even if you don't check them out, trust me, there are really really good writers out there who are not well-known at all.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

The first person character regards her town as a "factory for the production of babies."

As Hakuo Yanagisawa (then Minister of Health and Welfare) put it in 2007: "The number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 is fixed. The number of machines, equipment, for giving birth is fixed, so after that, there's nothing for it but to ask each person to do her best."

(15-50歳の女性の数は決まっている。産む機械、装置の数は決まっているから、あとは一人頭で頑張ってもらうしかない。)

rcommal म्हणाले...

Anyone here read the book?

tim maguire म्हणाले...

The town can be a factory for producing babies if the babies are the bricks that the factory is built from and they last about 80 years, so the factory needs constant maintenance and no matter how big and strong and complicated the factory gets, it will still fall into nothing within a few decades if people stop making new bricks,

MayBee म्हणाले...

Joe Smith said...
"Tag: Althouse should go to Japan."

Everyone should go...wonderful place...just try to blend in.


Joe Smith- I lived there for 3 years, so I know blending in isn't an option. But it was a wonderful 3 years.

Readering म्हणाले...

Covid prevented me from being in Japan last month for family wedding. Very sad about that.