/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.494716]

Yukio Mishima! Has anyone else read him? Spring Snow manages to be a beautiful love story and a commentary on the Westernisation of Japan at the same time.

[Anonymous No.494794]

I guess not ;~;.

[Anonymous No.494798]

I did, he's good.

[Anonymous No.494804]

Sorry, can't stand him. His characters are too flat. Someone correctly characterized his work as 'a gallery of ornate picture frames with no pictures in them.'

Abe Kobo > Kenzaboro Oe > Kawabata > Dazai > Mishima

[Anonymous No.494820]

>>494804

Recommended works from these authors would be lovely, or a short summary please. I don't think his characters are flat, but each has their own opinion. I thought Isao in Runaway Horses provided a wonderfully complex version of obsession. Also, his writing style is so beautiful.

[Anonymous No.494823]

>>494804
They aren't flat... That's just how Japanese people are.

[Anonymous No.494832]

>>494823

I laughed and then >:('d.

[Anonymous No.494853]

>>494804
no soseki?
fuck off.


op, i have spring snow and thirst for love. haven't read either. they're next on my list.

[Anonymous No.494858]

>>494804
you're missing soseki and akutagawa.

[Anonymous No.494860]

reading spring snow next, op. well either next or after a borges book i'm thinking of going through. i've never read mishima before. i recently got spring snow and thirst for love though. i'm excited. i keep hearing good things.

[Anonymous No.494885]

>>494860

It's really good but it's not a light read. It's not one of those books you read all in a day.

[Anonymous No.494926]

My favorite is "The Temple of the Golden Pavillion".

[Anonymous No.494946]

I got Spring Snow a few weeks ago, haven't started yet.

I'd be dead surprised if it compares to Soseki.

[Anonymous No.494982]

"Silence" by Shusaku Endo is really good, but it's about a priest so some may not enjoy it.

Anyone have an opinion on "I am a Cat" by Soseki? Which translation is best?

[Anonymous No.495261]

>>494823
I should mention this fact to any weeaboo.

I love making fat people rage.

[Anonymous No.495272]

What would be a good book to start with from Mishima? I was thinking of picking up Death in Midsummer... since it'd be easily digestible.

[Anonymous No.495277]

>>495272

I haven't read it, but I know The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea is sometimes assigned to high school kids, so maybe that?

[Anonymous No.495300]

>>495272
I started with this >>495277 too. Then I read The Temple of the Golden Pavillion. Either of them will work for you.

Now I'm waiting for Confessions of a Mask and the 4 volumes of the Sea of Fertility.

[Anonymous No.495321]

I don't particularly like Mishima either...

>>494820
I'd say Abe=Oe, but they're totally different. Oe deals with subject matter and themes that Mishima (pain, masculinity, beauty) does, but is way different tone and style-wise. Abe is batshit insane.

For Oe, I'd recommend A Personal Matter. Easily one of my favorite books by any author. Silent Cry is awesome too, but it's one of those long, hard books you need to commit yourself to. Shoot the Kids is worth reading--an earlier work that's a bit different from his later stuff. His most recent stuff (Echo of Heaven, Somersault) is lighter, and I enjoy it, but I think it might be hard to appreciate without having read the darker, earlier stuff.

Abe: Woman in the Dunes is a good intro. Box Man is fucking weird and super fractured. Kangaroo Notebook is also weird but easier to follow. They're short enough and I don't think I can explain any of them in a way that really does them justice. If you like surreal and experimental literature, Abe's your guy.

[Anonymous No.495326]

>>495321
I feel that Murakami (in his weird parts) draws heavily from Abe, yet I've never read anything about Abe in the mainstream press here in Germany, nor have I heard about the guy.
Stumbled upon him by chance in the local library.

What does anon think about the Murakami/Abe-connection?

[Anonymous No.495393]

I have read "Patriotism" by Mishima. It is a glorification of ritual suicide, in this story performed by an officer and his wife.

The effect on oneself while reading it is quite interesting. The story also shows that Mishima researched this topic quite deeply before, as you may know, he committed ritual suicide himself. He must have been fully aware of the "unglorious" nature of dying.

I recommend to read it although I do not agree with the underlying patriotic streak of the story.

[Anonymous No.495440]

>>495326
hm...I never thought of them as particularly connected. I suppose they both use surrealistic imagery, but otherwise I think they're very different. Abe is like a scientist who has the reader observe what goes on when he puts his mice-characters through his strange experiments. Murakami is more of a musician--trying to use the story to evoke some other kind of parallel thoughts in the reader.

[Rodney_Dangerfield !jHDnJkFXPM No.495442]

I for one, think he's a fantastic writer. I would just like to read more Japanese literature (not Murikami though, already done that). Can anybody recommend some more "modern" Japanese lit (no "Genji")?

[Anonymous No.495498]

>>495442
Here's a shortlist other than what's already been mentioned:
Soseki: Kokoro
Dazai: Setting Sun
Kawabata: Snow Country
Tanizaki: Makioka Sisters

[Anonymous No.495510]

>>495440
>evoke some other kind of parallel thoughts in the reader.

Please elaborate, I don't understand.

[Anonymous No.495526]

>>495393

I don't see why you would, since you're not Japanese.