Friday 28 August 2009

Shipwrecks













'Shipwrecks', first published in Japan as 'Hasen' in 1982 is set in a remote village by the sea, where the austere existence has forced the locals into selling themselves into servitude. The village is seen through the eyes of Isaku, a boy who's father has just sold himself for three years servitude, leaving Isaku to fend for the family, 'Make sure your brother and sisters don't starve' are his parting words. Isaku takes on this responsibility, and he soon starts to learn to fish, one day he is summoned by the village chief who tells him that it is his turn to watch over the salt cauldrons (a ritual that continues today),ensuring the fires don't go out over night. Isaku learns that the fires serve a double purpose,that they are also part of 'o-fune-sama', the fires are also lit to tempt ships in distress to turn in toward the shore, and get caught on the reef in the hope that they will spill their cargo. Time passes and you see how much the villagers rely on there being a good catch of squid and octopus, with maybe enough leftover to take to the next village to trade for rice, the villagers live season by season. They pray that 'o-fune-sama' comes and that they can live off the wrecks cargo. The catch of fish is poor and there are hard times, Isaku's sister catches a fever and dies, his cousin Takichi marries Kura, and she falls pregnant. Kura is chosen by the village chief to perform the ritual for 'o-fune-sama',which involves kicking over an effigy of a vessel. One night Isaku is awoken by his mother that 'o-fune-sama' has come and they rush down to the beach, to find that a ship is stuck out on the reef and is full of bales of rice, and stocks of vinegar, soy-sauce, Kura's good performance at the ceremony paid off, the villagers agree. Later Isaku learns that some of the sailors on board the ship drowned, and some were killed by the villagers.

After hearing at the next village of two men asking questions about the ship, the village chief orders the villagers to hide the rice away in the forest, there must be no sign that the ship run aground here. If they are caught they could face torture and death, but time passes and the men never visit their village, and life becomes a little easier for the villagers. One day two men are seen approaching the village, and for a moment they are suspected of being the men investigating the missing ship, but they turn out to be men from the village returning from a period of servitude, the men had worked at the same place as Isaku's father, and they tell him that his father is doing well.

The seasons change and Isaku has become an experienced fisherman, time passes and again its time for the 'o-fune-sama' ceremony, surely it couldn't happen two years in a row, the villagers surmise, and to their astonishment it does, although this time there appears to be no sign of life aboard the ship, as the villagers stare out at the vessel from the beach. A small boat goes out to the stricken ship and when one of the villagers gets on board and goes below, he discovers that all the men on board are dressed in red, and have rashes and blisters on them and all are dead. After some consideration about what has happened to this ship and it's sailors the village elder thinks it safe to at least strip the bodies of their clothes and set the vessel out to sea again. Make sure to wash the garments before using them and it will be safe, the village elder advises the villagers. But even after washing the clothes the village is hit by a terrible disease, Isaku's brother, mother and surviving sister are struck by the disease. Huge rashes appear on their bodies, and they suffer from terrible headaches, bedridden and nearly too weak to eat. Isaku fears that they will die and his father will return from servitude to find that Isaku is the only surviving member of the family. Their condition deteriorates, and many in the village die, the village chief also catches the disease. You'll have to find a copy to find out what happens to Isaku's family, and if his father returns from servitude, and if the village will survive.

'Shipwrecks' blends fable, morality play, pathos into a highly readable novel, it also gives an interesting picture of religious ritual set in a remote village, where the spirits of the dead travel across the sea, and eventually return to the village, sheltering in the wombs of pregnant women. I think this is the first novel I've read that features traditional Japanese time, a description here. Canongate publish Akira Yoshimura's 'One Man's Justice', also translated by Mark Ealey. Akira Yoshimura also wrote the book 'Yami ni Hirameku' which was adapted into a film by Shohei Imamura called The Eel/Unagi.

Thursday 20 August 2009

Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude





















Recently bought this, a little pocket edition, (although in Japan paperbacks are pocket size), of poetry by Shuntaro Tanikawa. 'Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude' first published in 1952, (it's been in print ever since), written between 1949-1951 and translated by William I.Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura, brought out by Shueisha Bunko . I think another collection of his sonnets has also been recently re-issued in an edition very much like this one. It also contains a small section of facsimiles of Shuntaro Tanikawa's original notebooks. This, so far, is one of the most rewarding book purchases I made this year, as stated in another post, Shuntaro Tanikawa has been the subject of speculation over the Nobel Prize, not really sure how true these speculations are, but reading through this collection, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

A theme that seems to me to be prominent in Tanikawa's poems, well in this collection, is the passing of time, some of the titles of the poems are the names of the seasons, and another re-occurring subject is the weather, mentions of the rainy season, downpours, cloudy days, quiet rainy nights, but mainly Tanikawa makes us consider time and how we perceive it, prompting us to question our interpretation of what 'now' actually means to us and to maybe re-evaluate our sense of our position in time, I think Tanikawa acknowledges that we are here for such a small fraction of time, but not for a moment considering it meaningless. The poems are in modern style, and still retain their modern feel, 'Impromptu Poems On The Desk' has an experimental feel, the poems are observational, non-judgemental, with a certain optimism to them, although many are tinged with sadness, as if the narrator has been abandoned/lost in time, but seeming not to fall into despair. Few of them mention God, in some the narrator will talk of just watching God, not believing, and others include prayer, but they don't have much of a religious tone to them,they do have a very humanistic sentiment. Others encapsulate a world whilst stirring a cream soda, the underlying theme most prominent is solitude, and most of these poems talk about solitude in a universal scale, but although they pinpoint to a certain moment, they also have a timeless quality to them, I think that's why their appeal is long lasting. He has a great way of tackling something like a sense of solitude or loneliness and address it in a way that everyone can relate to. I think the poem that stands out for me at the moment is one called 'Sadness' and the title poem, which I keep returning to at the moment, and 'The Surroundings' with it's billions of years in front and behind us.

In 1989 he won an American Book Award for his collection 'Floating the River in Melancholy' also translated by William I.Elliot and Kazuo Kawamura, which is out of print for the moment.




Some other available collections of his poetry-


A Chagall and a Tree Leaf - University of Hawaii Press
On Love - University of Hawaii Press
Giving People Poems - available at Small Press Distribution
Selected Poems - available at Carcanet Press

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Fists

by Piettro Grossi
translated by Howard Curtis
















'Fists', a new book published by the ever brilliant Pushkin Press, is by Italian author Pietro Grossi, it is his debut in English, it contains three stories each about the size of a novella, translated by Howard Curtis. I'll give a little run down of the first story and then let you discover the rest!. The first story is 'Boxing' and is based around one young man's desire to box, in the beginning there's one thing in the way....his mother, and also there's the piano lessons she's forcing him to continue, although he summons the courage to lay it on the line,that if he continues with the lessons then he wants to learn to box too, a week of the silent treatment pays off and he's on his way to the gym. He seems to be naturally gifted, so his trainer Gustavo tells him, he gets known as 'The Dancer' as he's quick on his feet, and even though he's not yet been in a fight, he gains a great reputation, but he keeps it from his friends, apart from one who he takes to watch a fight with him, (he tells his mother that he's going to watch a play by Pirandello!). Here they witness a fighter called 'Goat', a deaf mute who lays out his opponents with ease, and that's when the fear hits him, maybe this guy could actually beat him, for the first time our protagonist begins to question his assumed invincibility. Goat lets his trainer (Buio) know, that he won't fight anyone else until he's fought the Dancer, just to know once and for all who's the best, between the trainers a date is set for three months in advance. Before he knows it he's there in front of Goat, standing opposite him in the ring,they touch gloves, the roar of the crowds goes up..... I'll also leave you to discover the ending for yourself!. I thought this story is really well paced and demonstrates how Pietro Grossi can pick up a story and run with it, I was immediately caught up in the tension and exhilaration. The descriptions of the savagery and complexities of the psychology of boxing are exacting.


The second story in 'Fists', is called 'Horses' which is about the relationship between two brothers, Daniel and Natan, who are given a horse each by their father, in slightly parabolic fashion, and tells of their lives which are heading in different directions. The third story is 'The Monkey', it's about Nico and Piero, Nico's boyhood friend. Nico receives a phone call from Piero's sister asking for help as his old friend has started behaving like a monkey, this last story really stayed with me after I had put the book down and gave me alot to think over. Really recommend reading these three very different stories, and would very much look forward to seeing a full novel.

Thanks to Pushkin Press.

Fists at Pushkin Press.

Friday 14 August 2009

The Glass Slipper and Other Stories















The first story in 'The Wandering Minstrel' has a very Murakami-esque beginning with the character awakening from a strange dream. In it he finds himself in a field with grey cows dotted around, with him he has two babies, who he feels are his own. The field is like a Spanish bull ring, encircling it are men aged between 30-50, each holding a bottle of milk, and moaning that their wives don't give them enough money. The main character in 'The Wandering Minstrel' feels very Murakami-ish too, although you get the impression he's struggling through life, you get the impression he could handle whatever might come his way. He's very laid back too, when a proposal of marriage is arranged by his boss, (whom he fears), his main concern is, does she have a round face or an oval face?, he is working as a translator, and spends most of his time avoiding scorn from his colleagues. But just like Murakami, there's a lot more to it than just cows, (or sheep), Shotaro Yasuoka gives us a great portrait of a man living within the parameter's of his fears, to the extent that he tries to play one off against the  other, his fear of cows, seems to lessen the fear of his boss.
The second story too, the title story, 'The Glass Slipper' opens with quite a surreal piece of dialogue, although in a story like 'Homework' the tone changes a bit, a closely observed story, it's one of my favourites. It is set near the end of the war, and centres around a boy's experiences at school, and growing up in a family which is facing financial ruin. Yasuoka Shotaro has a great ability portraying the rites of passage that most children go through, being bullied, realizing he can cheat money from the woman at the counter at the local baths, but of course set against the backdrop of the war, not only the boy's story is covered, but also of the whole family, Uncle's committing suicide due to stock market crashes. 'A Room in Tsukiji', is a sometimes humorous look at the thwarted dreams of a group of boys, influenced by Komai Kumakichi, (the groups leader/source of inspiration), they drop out of their Kyoto high school, and head for Tsukiji in Tokyo, to try and live the artistic life in the manner of 'old Edo', although none of them are quite sure what this actually might entail. After episodes of bedbugs, poverty and strange room mates, (a writer of onomatopoeic poetry), the group try and extort money from the girlfriend of one of the group, which comes to nothing, failing in an anti climatic way.

'The Glass Slipper and Other Stories' is quite a slim volume, but well worth exploring, I think most Murakami fans might see some familiar things going on in these stories, especially the opening story's dream, it seems like a metaphor, or maybe just a strange dream, that combined with well crafted story lines, that well convey each of the character's dilemmas. The stories selected here were written by Shotaro Yasuoka between 1951-54 and are mostly set during the war and the immediate years after it, but interestingly these stories focus on the individual's stories. Shotaro Yasuoka has received many literary awards including the Akutagawa Prize, Noma Prize, and in 2001 received the Order of Culture.