/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19770072]

What are essential reads for someone who wants to get into Japanese literature?

[Anonymous No.19770084]

>>19770072
Monogatari and Haruhi Suzumiya.
Also Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

[Anonymous No.19770099]

Yukio Mishima's tetralogy "The Sea of Fertility".

Ignore Murakami at all cost.

[Anonymous No.19770155]

>>19770072
Junichiro Tanizaki - Some Prefer Nettles. The Makioka Sisters
Natsume Soseki - Kokoro, The Gata
Yasunari Kawabata - Snow Country, Beauty and Sadness
Yasushi Inoue - Tun-Huang

[Anonymous No.19770160]

>>19770155
>The Gata
The Gate.

[Anonymous No.19770183]

>>19770072
Alongside all the titles that have already been mentioned, Tale of Heike, Tale of Genji, and the Pillow Book come to mind.

[Anonymous No.19770195]

Natsume Soseki. Possibly Yasunari Kawabata and Ryonusuke Akutagawa as well.

Speaking personally, I love Kawabata’s stories even though I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is I love about them.

[Anonymous No.19770207]

Is "Silence" by Shusaku Endo any good?

[Anonymous No.19770251]

>>19770195
Kawabata is better than Soseki.

[Anonymous No.19770628]

>>19770072
Donald Keene's Japanese Literature: An Introduction for Western Readers

[Anonymous No.19770675]

>>19770072
i think you can start something simple first like light novel. My favorite is Hyouka by Honobu Yonezawa. I think baka-tsuki has the english translations

[Anonymous No.19770685]

>>19770251
Kawabata is great but some translations are significantly better than others. Be very cautious of this and do your research before buying one of his books

[Anonymous No.19770713]

>>19770072
You already posted it bro

[Anonymous No.19771884]

>>19770713
This desu

[Anonymous No.19772513]

>>19770099
>Ignore Murakami at all cost.
why?

[Anonymous No.19772526]

>>19770685
Probably most any translation done after he won the nobel will be decent.
>>19772513
He is terrible.

[Anonymous No.19772549]

>>19770072
Soseki, Tanizaki, and Kawabata are the father, the son and the holy spirit. Essential titles are, respectively, Kokoro, The Makioka Sisters, and Snow Country. Akutagawa and No Longer Human by Dazai are also essential.

Haruki Murakami can be fun but some in Japan don't consider him "serious" literature by the standards of the West. The side of Murakami that is less well-known outside of Japan is that he's a very prolific translator of American literature, much of which was completely unknown Japanese audiences until he came along. His celebrity status domestically is due to more than just his fiction.

[Anonymous No.19773728]

>>19772526
>Murakami
>terrible

[Anonymous No.19773729]

>>19770072
>tranime

KYS, stick to your visual """novels""" weeb faggot

[Anonymous No.19773735]

>>19773728
Yes

[Anonymous No.19773742]

>>19770072
Kenji Miyazawa and Ryokan
I don't like most post-Meiji Westernized Japanese like Mishima.

[Anonymous No.19773750]

>>19773729
Visual novels is the pinnacle of what modern literature can achieve. Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.19773762]

>>19773750
You're an illiterate AGP manchild who reads at a 3rd grade level.

[Anonymous No.19773770]

>>19770072
Also, Kenko's Essays in Idleness and Hojoki. There's a good English translation from Penguin including both. Japanese doesn't have that much cultural continuity to pre-Meiji times.

[Anonymous No.19773775]

>>19773762
Fuck you TERF. There's nothing wrong with being trans and light and visual novels are better than anything the west has ever produced.

[Anonymous No.19773804]

>>19773770
>Japanese doesn't have
Japan doesn't have*

[Anonymous No.19774100]

>>19773762
Go play Katawa Shoujo and try saying that with a straight face.

[Anonymous No.19774133]

>>19773775
>Fuck you TERF. There's nothing wrong with being trans and light and visual novels are better than anything the west has ever produced.
You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER be an anime girl

Or any kind of girl, for that matter

[Anonymous No.19774698]

>>19774100
Based. Who is your favorite KS?

[Anonymous No.19774731]

>>19770072
subarashiki hibi

[Anonymous No.19774735]

>>19774698
My savior complex / 17 year old self says Hanko. Realistically Lilly of course. Not who you replied to btw

[Anonymous No.19774987]

>>19773750
This.
>>19773762
Seethe and cope.

[Anonymous No.19774996]

>>19772513
Murakami is basically a reverse weeb. He worships western culture and doesn't represent Japan at all.

[Anonymous No.19775081]

>>19770072
first you need to read anime subtitles for 1000 hours first to get past the prebeginner stage

[Anonymous No.19775109]

>>19770207
I liked it. A priest who means well has to make a difficult material and spiritual decision. I never saw the movie and don't plan too if it helps.

[Anonymous No.19775121]

>>19770072
Yasunari Kawabata, Otome no minato 「乙女の港」
It's regarded as the predecesor of shoujo manga (also the origin of the yuri undertones you see in platonic kohai x senpai schoolgirl stuff )
also i really love those wide eyes Junichi Nakahara draws
I hope there's a translation for it

[Anonymous No.19775141]

>>19775121
Also this
https://youtu.be/4sN5iszqzqo

[Anonymous No.19775147]

>>19774996
>reverse weeb
westaboo. I don't know if japan has their own homegrown term for it, unless whitepig actually get used outside of the internet

[Anonymous No.19775254]

>>19775147
>I don't know if japan has their own homegrown term for it

[Anonymous No.19775359]

>>19774698
Rin ofc

[Anonymous No.19775392]

>>19775141
>Kawabata’s use of the idealized shōjo is consistent in his writing for girls and adults, and is a parallel to the fascist aesthetics and colonial ideology in his work of this time period.
wut

[Anonymous No.19775577]

>>19773775
Holy shit. Why are people like you even on here.
I’m not really a transphobe but the picture you painted of yourself with just that comment tells me you are not a viable human and you need to end your own life.

[Anonymous No.19775582]

>>19773762
This.
>>19774987
Cope and sweet and continue to read your children’s books.

[Anonymous No.19775587]

>>19773762
This.
>>19774987
Cope and seethe and continue to read your children’s books.

[Anonymous No.19775615]

>>19770072
Japanese literature is really terrible. Read Akutagawa and Tanizaki, study Shinto and read the poetry, that's probably better than reading Genji's horrible soap opera.

[Anonymous No.19775733]

No one in this thread like Natsume souseki's
Bocchan and i am a cat?
Those are my favs

[Anonymous No.19775838]

>>19770072
I've been reading in the miso soup on lit's request its okay pretty far

[Anonymous No.19775870]

Mieko Kawakami, Banana Yoshimoto, Kenzaburo Oe

[Anonymous No.19775885]

>>19775733
OP did not ask for our favorites.

[Anonymous No.19775887]

>>19772513
Japanese Paulo Coelho.

[Anonymous No.19775948]

>>19775577
is this double bait

[Anonymous No.19775971]

Cannot recommend Genji Monogatari highly enough. Waley's version is fine if you're just reading for the narrative, more recent translations are more linguistically accurate but extremely dry and having a working knowledge of the narrative for a second read is better.
Genji is essentially Japan's Quixote, being an extremely modern psychological novel similar to English 19th century novels like Wuthering Heights but in the classical Asian chronicle format.

[Anonymous No.19775993]

>>19772549
>No Longer Human by Dazai... essential
No Longer Human is navel-gazing sexually frustrated japcrap of the post-war variety at its worse. The same kind of shit Mishima wrote for his female dilettante audience only to later profess he despised. This trend only came over to the West and became the de facto standard of Japanese literature for a time because Western literary critics found the Japanese attempts to replicate European sensibilities to be quaint.

[Anonymous No.19776044]

>>19770207
It’s heretical

[Anonymous No.19776121]

>>19774698
Lilly my love

[Anonymous No.19776309]

the thing no one wants to admit is the best japanese authors were visual novel writers

[Anonymous No.19776375]

>>19776309
There are like 10,000 visual novels in the Japanese market. Most of them are really bad. Only the rare gems(in a literary sense) ever get translated. I did really like >>19774731 though. Find me a novel that can come close to replicating that madness.

[Anonymous No.19776391]

>>19776375
>There are like 10,000 visual novels in the Japanese market. Most of them are really bad.

the same applies to any market for artistic 'products'

and i hate to break it to you but subahibi is a one of a kind work of art and trying to find something like else like it is denying its masterpiece status

[Anonymous No.19776502]

>>19776309
the problem with japanese novels is that I find they really don't have the same ambition as western classics. maybe it's just me not being able to relate much to the japanese mindset idk, i'm just not as impressed by the classic authors in comparison to everything else.
>>19776391
what is so great about subahibi?

[Anonymous No.19776882]

Making*Lovers > Subahibi

[Anonymous No.19777152]

>>19772513
Haruki is garbage yes. Ryu Murakami is based though

[Anonymous No.19777154]

>>19776502
>the problem with japanese novels is that I find they really don't have the same ambition as western classics
Maybe you're not reading the right ones. Have you read Inter Ice Age 4 (or anything else by Kobo Abe)? How about Project Itoh?

[Anonymous No.19777169]

>>19775147
Murakami ran a jazz bar and translated Fitzgerald into Japanese. That's far more dedication than any weeb has.

[Anonymous No.19777174]

>>19770099
Sea of Fertility requires a decent knowledge of Japanese history (and especially culture) to get anything out of. It's not a good starting point at all.

[Anonymous No.19777484]

>>19773775
lmao good bait

[Anonymous No.19777559]

>>19776375
SCA-JI posts on /lit/. There is no way he doesn't considering contents of subahibi. If you are reading this, give me sakura no toki, don't make me wait any longer.

[Anonymous No.19777567]

>>19770072
>The Sailor Who Fell from Grace
>Kokoro
>The Sisters Makioka
From what I've read, those are the very best.

[Anonymous No.19777592]

>>19777559
I knew it! Milk is for the pussy by Wittgenstein is a classic.

[Anonymous No.19778935]

>>19777559
it makes sense now

[Anonymous No.19780065]

>>19777169
Based

[Anonymous No.19780069]

>>19777169
holy based

just finished norwegian wood, i liked it.

[Anonymous No.19781306]

>>19777174
Didn't know that.
Newfound resect for the man.

[Anonymous No.19781414]

>>19775971
Don't even actual japs have difficulty reading Genji?

[Anonymous No.19781741]

>>19776882
really? is it gonna change how i think about things like the meaning of life and reality?

[Anonymous No.19782740]

>>19781741
Yes, Karen’s route in particular will.

[Anonymous No.19782767]

>>19782740
well i finished downloading it ill start reading it tonight and see if i like it

[Anonymous No.19782790]

>>19770072
I read Japanese light novels and imagine the characters as real people in my head. They're much better this way. I completely ignore the dumb cartoon illustrations.

[Anonymous No.19783060]

>>19776391
>subahibi is a one of a kind work of art and trying to find something like else like it is denying its masterpiece status
come back when you finished high school please

[Anonymous No.19783192]

>>19783060
ok i finished high school what's your next rage ''argument'' against subahibi? do you say these things because you are offended that a porn game is better than your favorite ''literature'' authors?

[Anonymous No.19783347]

>>19783192
>ok i finished high school
so not too long ago am i right, anon?

[Anonymous No.19783400]

>>19770072
Some fun ones are the when they cry trilogy, higurashi, umineko, and ciconia. No knowledge of ciconia, but both umineko and higurashi are visual novels that surround mysteries enclosed within sets of events localized within a time frame. Hate to make the description so brief, but much more partly ruins the rollercoaster of emotions that are these vn’s.

[Anonymous No.19783411]

>>19780069
He also has a very good knowledge of Western classical music and has ran a marathon at Marathon. All while making bucketloads of money from lonely young men and horny young women.

[Anonymous No.19783438]

i shouldn't even call subahibi a porn game since it's really only using sexual scenes to evoke a sense of disgust, horror, and empathy in the reader and to generally make them think. they are not used to arouse the reader in any way

[Anonymous No.19784512]

>>19783438
Ok

[Anonymous No.19784675]

>>19783438
>they are not used to arouse the reader in any way
Well let me tell you it sure did not work that way on me.

[Anonymous No.19784758]

>>19770099
Murakami is somewhat unique, pleasant, popular enough to be incontrovertibly representative of modern Japanese lit, and has several good works that can be gotten through easily in a week. OP should check out Norwegian Wood at least.

[Anonymous No.19786202]

Karen Wood

[Anonymous No.19786216]

>>19777559
He doesn't know english. I do want to know if Nicholas Taleb knows he's in a porn game though kek.

[Anonymous No.19787553]

>>19782790
>dumb

[Anonymous No.19787615]

>>19770072
You'd have to know how to read Japanese first

[Anonymous No.19787647]

start with Manyoushyuu, Kokinshyuu and Sinkokinshyuu if you're interested in genuine Japanese aesthetics, some treatises by Bashou and Teika would also be great
read anything else suggested itt (namely Mishima and Dazai) if you aren't intending to step beyond your Western worldview

[Anonymous No.19787702]

>>19770072
Redo of Healer
The light novel that will never see an official English translation ever

[Anonymous No.19787792]

>>19783438
True, the anal with cute Kimika really made me think.

[Anonymous No.19788140]

>>19770099
wrong

[Anonymous No.19788588]

>>19770099
Checked

[Anonymous No.19788893]

>>19777169

Jazz fucking sucks. It's the most midwit shit ever, since if you like it you either have tin ears or are a jewnigger

[Anonymous No.19788919]

>>19776375
>>19783438
Aren't we just stuck waiting for a translation of Sakura no uta at this point?

[Anonymous No.19789337]

>>19788919
idk i'm fluent in japanese and can read whatever i want. sakuuta seemed more like a classic galgame to me, i didn't read a lot of it out of boredom. interesting discussions about art and artists

[Anonymous No.19789610]

>>19770072
UnIronically monogatari

[Anonymous No.19789626]

>>19789337
>sakuuta seemed more like a classic galgame to me, i didn't read a lot of it out of boredom. interesting discussions about art and artists
Oh damn, really? That thing's like my one motivation to learn jap. I'll just imagine you as a schizo or something to keep my resolve.

[Anonymous No.19790856]

Karen story

[Anonymous No.19791914]

>>19788893
You fucking suck.

[Anonymous No.19792574]

>>19788893
Let me guess, you enjoy Real Music like Led Zeppelin or Beethoven.

[Anonymous No.19794056]

>>19792574
He's right, anon. A Love Supreme sounds great until you listen to its live session, which was a complete clusterfuck.

[Anonymous No.19795721]

Karen sounds

[Anonymous No.19796002]

>>19777174
The OP was about books to get into Japanese literature, not books about how to get into Japanese culture. OP might have perfect knowledge about everything concerning Japan except for literature.

[Anonymous No.19796574]

>>19770072
Check the Japanese canon:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature#Significant_authors_and_works

[Anonymous No.19797781]

>>19796574
>wikipedia

[Anonymous No.19797790]

>>19796574
Most of those aren't essential at all, especially for a beginner

[Anonymous No.19797797]

>>19770072
start from the beginning and also learn some of the cultural background/history

[Anonymous No.19798881]

>Karen on /lit
what is this

[Anonymous No.19798900]

Ryokan's poems.

[Anonymous No.19798930]

>>19775147

The anatomy of the Miku is way out of proportion. Why do anime fans have no discerning eyes? Anime music is also fucking terrible, as bad or worse than jazz and rap

[Anonymous No.19799925]

>>19770072
Start with Akutagawa and Soseki

[Anonymous No.19800250]

this thread has lasted a while holy moly

[Anonymous No.19800285]

>people constantly shitting on murakami
>because "muh westophile"
so ?
it doesn't discredit him from being a comfy author and he's still japanese, hence considered japanese literature.
kafka on the shore, Norwegian wood and the wind up bird chronicles are all comfy books.
the lattermost has a very powerful passage on divine ascension as well.
hes a best selling author, there must be some reason for that.

[Anonymous No.19800701]

One Piece

[Anonymous No.19802221]

Karen Piece