/lit/ - Literature

>>18082137
Mishima, unironically.

>>18082144
Really? I gotta get to sea of fertility but everything i've read from him (mask, sailor, temple and some short stories) has been just good.

>>18082144
Mishima is probably the least shitty of all the canon great Japanese writers. Which isn't saying much.

>>18082296
Imagine getting filtered by an entire country

>>18082310
Not entire country just their limited body of authors

>>18082317
What have you actually read of em?

>>18082137
I agree but Soseki is great too. Tanzaki(so?) as well.

>>18082334
All the biggies.

Tanizaki is good

>>18082158
That's was my opinion, I've read sailor and temple, I liked both but wasn't really blown away I have to say.

>>18082310
Let's go through the heavy hitters then.

>Soseki
Only read Kokoro, but it is limp-wristed homoerotic slice of life anime. The definition of forgettable.
>Akutagawa
One hit wonder. And that one hit isn't even good.
>Dazai
Pure autism. No Longer Human is one of the worst books ever written.
>Tanizaki
Might be decent, but Some Prefer Nettles is such a culture shock, it's basically Greek if you aren't from Japan.
>Kawabata
Boring. I don't mind slow stories if the writer has the prose to back it up. But spoiler alert: Kawabata doesn't have the prose to back it up. Got the Nobel because "Oh fuck we didn't give it to a Japanese guy yet."
>Mishima
Edgelord. People like his aesthetics and image, but ignore the fact his novels and stories are dogshit. It's actually crazy he's the least terrible of these guys though.
>Murakami
Tolerable if you only read his short stories, but his novels are pure neurotic nonsense. He's basically an honorary Jew.

Oe is the only Japanese writer who genuinely writes good prose and actually deserved the Nobel. He is autistic as well, but it's balanced and properly channeled autism.

>>18082137
I read one of Kawabata's short stories a few days ago. Nothing happened, but it was so comfy to read.

>>18082436
Stop being a cringe weeb. If you read a story by anyone else where nothing happened, you'd call it boring and a waste of time.

>>18082453
> you’re a weeb if you like a book
I don’t know who’s worse honestly, the actual weebs or people like you

>>18082385
>doesn't like Mishima's prose
Come on now, lad. Also "edgelord" is not even a critique.

>>18082385
Kawabata's prose isn't for everyone, i'll give you that. It's very clean and cold. I think the way he imbues tiny stories with huge importance through super subtle symbols is in a league of its own. SUPER economical.
Tanizaki is pretty great. Havent read some prefer nettles but he gives me edgelord vibes in the best way possible.
Murakami is trash, but at least in the wind up burd chronicle he attacks the expectations most readers have for a novel pretty relentlessly. I just think the writing isnt good.

>>18082472
All Japanese writers are almost objectively mediocre. The only logical explanation for liking them is that one is a weeb.

>>18082472
People like him.
There is literally nothing wrong with liking Japan, or the culture of any country.

I really loved Akutagawa. I got a collection of his short stories and it's amazing.
What would you suggest from Kawabata?

>>18082492
I actually found some of his novels thrilling once you crack into the symbols. Also he is the prose embodiment of haiku in the best way possible

>>18082524
From kawabata i say start with snow country and the sound of the mountain, then go to the palm of the hand stories and my fav novel of his - thousand cranes

>>18082317
>limited body of authors
>japan
read more and lurk moar

>>18082137
Soseki, Dazai, and Haruki Murakami

Dazai

>>18082385
You haven't read any of these writers have you? Kek

>>18082436
I read that short story with the geisha family and finished it thinking that the girls were prostitutes and the family commited incest. Dont ask me why.

>>18082524
the Charles De Wolf translation of Akutagawa is fuckin beautiful

>Kawabata (Snow Country)
Liked it but didn't think it was amazing. Tone was good but it didn't really impact me or stick with me. Maybe I need to read more haikus or something.

>Dazai (No Longer Human; Run, Milos!)
I felt like NLH is overrated. I didn't find the character sympathetic at all, just pathetic, and thought the "He was a good boy" framing was a cheap heavy handed move ("C'mon reader, reassess!"). I might give it a second read, I don't build empathy with fictional characters well and think that I might be being unfair (but someone else in another thread agreed and recommended I read The Setting Sun instead). RM! was the same. All I can say is that the writing is clear (like NLH) and the themes jump out...but in the end it doesn't feel like there's much depth.

>Mishima (Spring Snow, Runaway Horses)
I loved both books. I've never read another author who layers motifs and symbols together in such a cohesive way. I read that a common criticism of SS is that it's build up is slow; I didn't find that at all and found the last section of the book benefitted from the build up (i.e. I think the pacing was perfect). RH was a great sequel...I actually haven't finished it yet but so far (1/3 in) I'm enjoying it just as much as SS.

>Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood; After the Quake; South of the Border, West of the Sun; Sputnik Sweetheart; Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage; A Wild Sheep Chase; Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World)
NorWood and Quake were my favorite of what I read by him (I suspect his short stories are probably better than his novels). I also didn't mind CTYP. Sput was a huge disappointment. South wasn't very good until the last 30 pages (then it was almost great...I've never read another book that was saved by it's ending). I think South is what he was going for with Sput but South did it much better. Anyway, Murakami is repetative and I'd consider him light reading (not deep lit). He probably shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the other authors in this list (except maybe Kirino). I've read a lot of him because I haunt used bookstores and his novels are the easiest to get. We also have him to thank for the surge in popularity of Japanese list over the last decade (I hunted for Misima for about 5 years before I managed to get my hands on one of his books). His books are quick and light. I'm not big on magic realism (hence only reading HBW, meh, and WSC, pretty good).

TBC

>>18084184
>Natsuo Kirino (Real World)
I really liked this book. The characters felt like teenagers and the plot was tight...I liked the ending and thought it was a solid resolution to the story. The male character (Worm) was kind of flat and his motivations were cliched and simplistic though. It's not high brow lit, but it was a fun read.

>Yoko Ogawa (Revenge)
I really liked this book. Great atmosphere and she's great at imagery (the kid in the fridge). I fell like she conveys the flat emotionality of her characters really well (but that's a common trope in Japanese Literature). Anyway, it was good.

>Kobo Abe (The Woman in the Dunes)
The author Murakami wishes he was. Japanese Kafka

I'm going to read Ryu Murakami (In the Miso Soup) this weekend and look forward to lucking into anything by Soseki Natsume one day.

I own a copy of Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki and might read it this weekend as well. I know almost nothing about him and if anyone wants to recommend another book by him I'd appriciate it (someone above mentioned Some Prefer Nettles...but also refered to Mishima as "dogshit" and Kawabata having poor prose, so I'm not putting much weight in his opinion)

Unless you read them in Japanese you cant really judge their prose.

The Japanese is a language full of connotations that are lost in translation. You read a completely different book.

t. N2 JLPT

>>18084513
Oh, fuck off with your obvious/basic opinion midwit.

Spring Snow gave me an existential crisis

>>18082385
>>18082493
>>18082453
what are you doing nigger

>>18082310
>>18084069
Imagine being so subconsciously brainblasted by consumerism (probably anime) that you think that Japan has good literature

>>18082385
Mostly fair assesement, but make sure you follow up on Tanizaki, he is really good at times. Also, Kokoro is Soseki's weakest, his more magical stuff is better but still not great. Miyazawa is probably their best, check him out. Don't worry about "muh children's literature" tags.

>>18082137
Toss up between Kawabata, Tanizaki and Soseki.

ITT: weebs

>>18084513
I've read them in translation and still loved the prose. I'm not really sure what people dislike about them.

bump

>>18082137
Where do I start with him? Kowabunga is hard t find in my language desu.

>>18084183
Fuck, the Penguin and McVittie translations are garbage
Time to re-buy the same stories again

>>18086868
/thread

Anyone see this: https://youtu.be/eEjnhOsTsMo

I wanted to read the books that are dramatized in it before watching (in case of spoilers). Would have been cool to watch it on the 50th anniversary of his seppuku last year.

I love Abe most. I feel like he's a little underappreciated. Kind of like what Murakami would be like if his works had substance and weren't all one note.

>>18082137
You only know like four or five of them.

>>18082137
Open question, is Dazai any good? I love Mishima and apparently he was somewhat obsessed with Dazai, and thought of himself as "Dazai's assassin."

>>18089401
Out of Kawabata, Mishima, and Abe: I liked him the least (and by a wide margin).

Dazai's writing is clear and the emotion is there...but it's more like an exercise where he hits the notes hard but doesn't play a song that sticks with you. The themes are clear but they aren't really examined...just shown to you. I think that it's a case of subject matter elevating the writing and not the other way around.

>>18089401
>>18089559

He's kind of like Louis-Ferdinand Celine if it were written with the emotionality of Haruki Murikami.

>>18086584
I been collecting books for more than a decade and own around 1000 of them. I have to say, I've come by the opinion that Penguin is an awful publisher (their books cheaply made and their typesetting/layouts are usually awful).

So, I wouldn't be surprised if they also cheap out on the translators they use. I only buy penguin if it's the sole option available when it comes to owning a physical copy of a given book.

>>18085445
Yes.

>>18090023

>>18090023
>>18090194

>>18090203
>>18085445

I've been thinking of reading Sea of Fertility. I've always enjoyed stories that take place over a long period of time and the themes I've seen mentioned, such as decay of Japanese society and aristocracy, as well as the whole idea of a man being reincarnated being the premise of the story all interest me greatly. But is it actually worth it? I read a few pages of a PDF of Spring Snow one day when I was bored and wanted to get a sense of it before buying anything, and I enjoyed what I read.

>>18090730
>>18084184

>see Mishima above

>>18082436
Which one?

>>18082453
It really depends on what kind of nothing was happening, and the tone of the story.
If it's a comfy read, I can enjoy it if nothing happens. If it's extremely dull and dry than yes I would say it's boring and a waste of tiem.