Japanese Novels, Ho!
Jul. 5th, 2006 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanI've been doing a lot of reading recently, and I've decided to let you all know about it. First on the list, Suika no Nioi, by Ekuni Kaori.
Ekuni is neck-to-neck with Yoshimoto Banana in the race to become my favorite Japanese novelist. What I love about both of them is the minimalist approach they take to writing, and the way the stories just start and finish in the middle of the protagonist's life. Things may happen, or they may not. It's a refreshing change from the overly plot- and resolution-driven style of Western novels.
I'd assumed SNN was a novel, but it's really a collection of short stories. Again, very well written, very atmospheric (occasionally bordering on the surreal), very psychological (although the reader is left to develop most of the characters' pathos themselves).
Suika really made me wish I'd learned Japanese composition in grade school like I learned English, because I'm certain Ekuni is pulling some very deliberate stylistic punches, but I have no idea what they mean. Most noticeably, Ekuni left many words commonly written in kanji in hiragana in this book: declensions of いく/いう, わたし, おもう, かんじる, ちゅう/じゅう etc, while using the kanji for many words commonly written in hiragana: 蟻, 欅, etc. It's obviously a deliberate stylistic device; I just wish I understood what sort significance it has for native readers.
Anyway, the stories are all very real, the motivations and reactions honest and believable, and some of the stories are frighteningly clever, and I can't say more without givng them away.
That will be all.
Ekuni is neck-to-neck with Yoshimoto Banana in the race to become my favorite Japanese novelist. What I love about both of them is the minimalist approach they take to writing, and the way the stories just start and finish in the middle of the protagonist's life. Things may happen, or they may not. It's a refreshing change from the overly plot- and resolution-driven style of Western novels.
I'd assumed SNN was a novel, but it's really a collection of short stories. Again, very well written, very atmospheric (occasionally bordering on the surreal), very psychological (although the reader is left to develop most of the characters' pathos themselves).
Suika really made me wish I'd learned Japanese composition in grade school like I learned English, because I'm certain Ekuni is pulling some very deliberate stylistic punches, but I have no idea what they mean. Most noticeably, Ekuni left many words commonly written in kanji in hiragana in this book: declensions of いく/いう, わたし, おもう, かんじる, ちゅう/じゅう etc, while using the kanji for many words commonly written in hiragana: 蟻, 欅, etc. It's obviously a deliberate stylistic device; I just wish I understood what sort significance it has for native readers.
Anyway, the stories are all very real, the motivations and reactions honest and believable, and some of the stories are frighteningly clever, and I can't say more without givng them away.
That will be all.