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/lit/ - Literature

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2550427 No.2550427 [Reply] [Original]

So /lit/, I want to get more into Japanese Literature after reading some Murakami, and Mishima seems like my best bet. Is the Sea of Fertility the best starting point?

>> No.2550428

Its not your best bet.
I suggest reading someone else.

>> No.2550431

>>2550428
But if not Mishima, then who?

>> No.2550432

Haha, murkamomy.

Fuck off.

>> No.2550437

Reading chronologically is not often a bad idea.

I've read quite a fair bit of Mishima, including The Sea of Fertility. I'd say you should start with The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea. It's short, sharp, and gives you a good taste of what Mishima's about.

If you do get into him, be aware that his fantasy of death, especially through harikiri and other gruesome natures is prevalent in quite a fair bit of his smorgasbord of stories and novels.

However, his grasp on Eastern religion is amazing, especially for his age and he's validly been compared with Dostoevsky and Stendhal for the psychological depth to his characters and the darkness that often embeds them.

I've never read any Murakami (except Ryu Murakami's 'Almost Transparent Blue') because of my silly reading rules, but I've heard he's unlike any other Japanese author, more suited to Western authors, especially with his fascination with Western culture. Be aware of this when reading other Japanese authors.

Have fun reading Mishima, I sure as hell did.

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is an amazing starting point as well, especially if you get to visit the place!

>> No.2550441

>>2550431
Soseki's Japan's best author (or at least modern author)

Any disagree?

No

>> No.2550446

>>2550431
I don't know. I just know I don't like Mishima's worldview.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature#Significant_authors_and_works

>>2550432
Please go back to /pol/

>> No.2550451

>>2550432
calm down you basement-dwelling aspie. nobody cares about your opinion.

>> No.2550460

>>2550437
Thanks! I'll definitely read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
>>2550441
I'll also try Soseki. Any specific novel you want to recommend?

>> No.2550468

>>2550460
Yeah man.

Start with Botchan to see Soseki's lighter-side, the humourous side of him. Then follow that up with Kokoro, to see what he wrote best at, isolation and guilt. These two titles are required reading in Japan.

Since I'm in a good mood I'll dig up /lit/'s Japanese folder, many titles not made readily available online but purchased/scanned by people here. More titles will soon be added. I'll be buying To the Spring Equinox and Beyond and uploading it soon.

http://www.mediafire.com/?d453bqeqi7hv22b

I believe Kokoro and Botchan are both in there. Alongside with plenty of other Japanese authored works, including shit by Mishima

>> No.2550534 [DELETED] 

No don't start with that book, it is brick.

It is only my opinion.

>> No.2550538

>>2550534
It's not even one book, it's four.

The fuck?

>> No.2550604 [DELETED] 

>>2550538

You're right man!!

This is the edition I bought:

http://www.renaud-bray.com/Livres_Produit.aspx?id=560592&def=Mer+de+la+fertilit%C3%A9%28La%29%2c
MISHIMA%2c+YUKIO%2c9782070768431

>> No.2551384

>>2550446
>>2550428
i've been saying this and catching flak for it. i like you, anon!

>>2550468
i agree with botchan first. then maybe sanshiro THEN kokoro. :)

>> No.2551388

I'm a fan of Kinkaku-ji

>> No.2553469

>>2550432
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running seems to copy the Sun and Steel. MMMMM training..... training .... training.....

>> No.2553478

>>2553469
You don't happen to have an ebook of Sun and Steel, do you?

>> No.2553495

>>2553492
To the translator of the work, if you read it in a language other than Japanese. It's not like these books get magically translated with no work involved. They do need to be paid.

>> No.2553498

>>2553478

No, I bought the book for less than 15$, but Mishima is dead where goes the money?

>> No.2553501

>>2551384
Sorry, forgot it was in a series. Although in Japan they almost never bother with Sanshiro in schools...

>> No.2553502

>>2553498
Scan and upload it.

Fuck the translators. Probably they're dead too

>> No.2553524

>>2553502
Fuck the translators? They are kind of the only reason you're even capable of reading these works, since you're too lazy to learn Japanese.

John Bester is not dead, either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bester

>> No.2553529 [DELETED] 

>>2553495
I have no scanner and it is not in English and I prefer huge boobs!

>> No.2553549 [DELETED] 

>>2553495


And so the book in Japanese, where goes the money?
Does is it for building the Golden Temple?
:)

>> No.2553576

>>2553524
too lazy for learning japanese hahaha

>> No.2553579

>>2553495
So If I buy the Sun and Steel in Japanese the money will go for building the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, wow!

>> No.2553715

I also recommend Yasushi Inoue and Kenzaburo Oe for your further modern Japanese readings, OP

>> No.2553754

>>2553524
They should do it for the love of literature and the author or their work.

>> No.2554910

When it begins, when it ends?
Where it begins, where it ends?
Mishima stories never end because we are talking and writing about his books.
Each person reading it see himself in his creations.
Books are mirrors, but we like mirrors that make us forget who we're or mirrors that reveal us sharper than we're.

So MAGIC finger to WALL

>> No.2554931
File: 2.84 MB, 1900x4194, japaneselit.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2554931

Mishima is perhaps one of the greatest writers in Japan. He is mostly infamous for his right-wing views--however, these views are surely not to be taken seriously. He wanted to create a persona--a romantic hero defying the wasteland of postwar Japanese society. It is merely an act, a form of art.
His works are all great, but I highly recommend _Confessions of a Mask_ and _Temple of the Golden Pavilion_, which I personally consider to be the perfect representation of postwar Japan.

Some other Japanese authors that I like are: Oe Kenzaburo, Kawabata Yasunari, Natsume Soseki, Endo Shusaku, Ogawa Yoko, and Enchi Fumiko

>> No.2555161

>>2554931
He is mostly infamous for his right-wing views--however, these views are surely not to be taken seriously -- /pol/

>> No.2555192

>>2553501
soseki had more than one trilogy. for sanshiro it was sanshiro, and then, the gate. i like kokoro. probably the best of his moodier books. i never suggest it as an intro though. the way it's organized is awkward too. not sure why he did the same format in quite a few of books later in his career.

>>2554931
his act of being retarded was spot on. xD good proseman though.

>> No.2555194

>>2555161
?

>> No.2555287

>>2555194

Text dissection