1Q84 Book Two

So I've given it a little time to digest Book One and nearly spoiled Book Two by over reading about it on another blog's post about it, but thinking it over I've still got Book Three to read yet and with rumours that Murakami well may write a Book Four, or did I read that possibly there might be a Book Zero, (or maybe this was a joke?), the  conclusion of 1Q84 still seems to be a distant thing. Considering the Knopf edition will contain all three books in one volume, a tome that will be difficult to read on a bus or train, maybe books of this size are an ebook publisher's dream come true?. 1Q84 almost appears as a saga in it's length,  although reaching the last hundred pages or so you'll still find yourself wishing that it wasn't coming to an end, you get the impression that if you were to spread out the story and characters of 1Q84 on the floor, the books Murakami has written so far could be seen as him hovering over it with a magnifying glass in hand, revealing these selected scenes and details of an even much larger and more complex story, as with much of Murakami's writing the book resonates on differing levels, and at times maybe within itself. Book Two seemed to pass alot quicker than Book 1, there's obviously alot less devoted to character descriptions and history as certain things that were alluded to in the first book come into fruition, Book Two continues with alternating chapters on the progress of Aomame and Tengo, posting on Book Two becomes difficult if not wanting to reveal too many aspects of the plot. Two new characters appear in Book Two though, Ushikawa, a man who visits Tengo out of the blue, a representative for an agency that aids young talent which offers Tengo a generous amount of money, Tengo turns down the offer sensing that theres something wrong about Ushikawa and the agency he works for, as the novel progresses and repeated visits to Tengo, Ushikawa reveals a thorough knowledge of Tengo's private life, also implying he knows about Tengo's links with Fuka- Eri and also details about  Tengo's mother, the money offered is to be in part protection money. Tengo becomes resolved to the fact the man he thought was his father is actually not his father, (rather incredulously I think he remains unnamed), the man he collected NHK subscriptions  with now resides in a sanatorium, Tengo visits him. The other big character is the Leader of Sakigake, whose meeting with Aomame is when the novel begins to turn again in it's more fundamental direction, this is quite a definitive moment in Book 2 and alot of things are clarified.

1Q84 reads much like a thriller, combining and picking up on any number of differing genres; contemporary novel, modernist fable, futuristic detective, Murakami's ability to write all of these into one narrative is simply an awe inspiring thing, Murakami's prose is pitch perfect, his writing balances the flow of the narrative with that of the reader's expectation. One of the central themes which is apparent in some of Murakami's novels is a sense of dualism in both some of his characters and also the worlds they find themselves inhabiting, this can be seen again in 1Q84, but giving it a full definition without a reading of Book Three is a difficult thing. Murakami has turned his attention to the dark world of a secret religious sect, but the demarcations between right and wrong  become blurred and Murakami can be seen as exploring the relationship between good and evil, recently I read about his admiration for Dostoyevsky whose writing is famed for including many layers of writing which included incidental passages, in Book Two Murakami includes a brief life history of Tamura, the Dowager's gay bodyguard, although it flows neatly into the narrative, so far it has no bearing to the main story, although who's to say what constitutes a central story, isn't it the whole text?, perhaps it will resurface again in Book Three. Quite early on in Book Two the connection between Aomame and Tengo becomes more explicitly explained, and another enlightening scene is of Aomame actually reading the book 'Air Chrysalis', we get to learn the details of this mystifying book. Another aspect which occurred to me whilst reading the two narratives, is how they correlate to each other in regards to the timing of events, it's not until the ending of Book Two that you get the impression that the two narratives are juxtaposed together at the same time, but I think this is used to add tension to the flow, Book Two ends on a massive cliff hanger with Aomame returning to the scene of the novel's opening, but I think I'm going to end here before I over do it. Needless to say I'm really looking forward to reading other blog posts and articles on this book, undoubtedly 1Q84 is set to be one of the biggest novels of the year, not only in physical form but also in presence.

1Q84 at Knopf
1Q84 at Harvill Secker
1Q84 at Shinchosha  (check out the Q world illustrations, this one catches the eeriness of the Little People really well.)

It's Only A Paper Moon

Wedlock

Sometimes it's odd how reading choices or inspiration for reading plans come about, whilst reading Plainsong, two other author's stories came to mind, Nakagami Kenji, who is mentioned in Plainsong is an author I've been meaning to re-read for some time, one of his short stories - Gravity's Capital seems to stand out to be read again for me at the moment. Another story that sprang to mind to read was Furui Yoshikichi's Yoko which won the Akutagwa Prize back in 1970, a story concerning a man's relationship with an emotionally fragile woman, translated by Donna George Storey in Child of Darkness,  sadly I don't have a copy of this story to read yet, although looking through my copy of Contemporary Japanese Literature edited by Howard Hibbett I realized that it contains the story by Furui called Wedlock, which originally appeared in Japan in 1970 with the title Tsumagomi,  in the introduction to his translation Howard Hibbett notes that Tsumagomi is an archaic word translating as 'wife keeping', the word appears in an early waka poem from dialogue attributed to Susanoo no Mikoto, the shinto God of the sea and storms, Furui as well as being novelist and short story writer also translated works by Austrian novelists Robert Musil and Hermann Broch, Furui studied German Literature at the University of Tokyo. As well as having an unusually disarming opening scenario, the sequencing of the scenes in Wedlock are seamlessly presented to the reader, although Furui reverses the events of the novella to a period before that of the first opening and then flows on past it adding to the flow of  events a momentum that draws the reader in. The novella is largely seen through Hisao who at the start is stood outside his apartment when out of the trees nearby an old woman approaches him asking after Hiroshi, the neighbouring apartment to Hisao's is occupied by a group of rowdy day labourers who are a source of irritation, keeping the neighbourhood awake with loud t.v, singing and drunken behaviour. The old woman mistakes Hisao as being a member of this household and begins to harangue him about wasting his time and that if he were to attend one of her meetings she could fix him up with a nice young bride, adding that if he doesn't change he'll be stuck with a bad woman, she leaves asking him to get a message to Hiroshi about that nights meeting. Hisao goes back inside his flat and relays what happened to his wife, Rieko, she in turn begins to berate Hisao for talking to the woman. Hisao's illness of the week before is described in very lucid prose, describing him passing out at work, his sense of location shifts a number of times, recalling being at the infirmary at work he also has the sensation of a car journey and of lying out on the tatami in their apartment, eventually Reiko revives him by feeding him slices of peach. His convalescence is mainly spent observing his wife going about domestic chores, these take on almost ethereal quality. The figure of the  boy who has been delivering the peaches merges with that of Hiroshi, and Reiko later tells that Hiroshi had run an errand to the doctors whilst Hisao was ill.

Through the slight alteration in the way the scenes are presented and the conversation Hisao has with the old woman, Furui brings the reader's attention to one of the themes of the story - the extent of self awareness and perceptions of the self, these doubts about self identity are provoked through the slight circumstances of mistaken identity within the novella. Another event in their married life is recalled when Hisao had lost the key to their apartment and after getting drunk had managed to get in and eventually collapsed under the duvet, Rieko had at first thought he was an intruder. The story examines this theme from many subtle perspectives, the labourers next door all have northern accents, and by turns we learn that Reiko comes from the same town as Hiroshi, this becomes more unexplored territory between Hisao and Reiko,  which is heightened when she accepts a drink from them near the end of the story when she takes out the rubbish. Through simple observations of Hisao and Reiko in their apartment, Furui weaves fantastically complex insights of their relationship. Reiko also confesses to speaking with the old woman too during Hisao's illness, the old woman seemed to be provoking Reiko into considering remarrying, Reiko notes 'When you listen to her you begin to wonder who you are yourself', each in their own way consider that the old woman had identified the insecurities in their married life, the story could also be seen as an acutely observed examination of marriage. Another dimension to the story is in the nature of Hiroshi's relationship to both the old woman and also with the other day labourers, it appears that he could be suffering abuse from them, they taunt him almost throughout the duration of the story, and the nature of the abuse is not clearly defined, Hisao recalls seeing Hiroshi vomiting in the fields through drinking too much and then seeing another of the day labourers appearing naked at the door calling Hiroshi back into the house, but later in the story it appears that Hiroshi's father is a member of the household, the nature of his suffering is unclear, it's not until Hiroshi is drunk that he manages to gather the courage to fight back. Wedlock/Tsumagomi is an intriguing story to start by means of an introduction to Furui's writing, I have a copy of White Haired Melody/Hakuhatsu no uta, translated by Meredith McKinney, a novel about ageing to read in the future.

     

Plainsong - Kazushi Hosaka

Recently the Dalkey Archive has added another two titles from Japanese authors to their catalogue, The Shadow of a Blue Cat by Naoyuki Ii, (translated by Wayne P. Lammers), and also Plainsong by Kazushi Hosaka which originally appeared in Japan in 1990, Hosaka has been awarded many prizes, including three of the most well known; Akutagawa, Tanizaki and Noma, both of these titles are selections by the JLPP. The voice of the narrator retains an easy reading contemporary feel  although the novel is approaching being twenty one years old, after being dumped by his girlfriend the central character finds himself living in what was their intended shared 2LDK on his own. As the book evolves characters begin to drift into his story, and the presence of a little cat begins to figure as being the centre of his attention, trying to coax a friendship out of it with dried sardines and benito flakes. Finding himself a single man he takes himself to the horse races with his work colleagues, Ishigami and the slightly race obsessive Mitani, who reads cryptic clues in almost every minuscule detail in the racing form. Out of the blue an old friend, Akira, calls wondering if he can be put up for the night, Akira who is an impoverished photographer lives his life by crashing on friends sofas.  Hosaka's  prose has a transparency to it which makes it very easy to view the idiosyncrasies of the characters that appear around the central narrator, who has an easy going outlook, as eventually when Akira moves on and another old acquaintance arrives, (Shimada), he finds himself again putting up another guest. Shimada, originally from Kyushu had come to Tokyo to become an avant garde film maker but ends up working for a software company, the narrator studies his visitor's foibles, and behind these observations lies his fascination with a little orange and white kitten that seems to drift in and out of the picture. At first the kitten is not at all interested in the narrator, so he phones an old friend Yumiko for advice, through Paul Warham's easy flowing translation, Hosaka has a great knack at placing Yumiko at the periphery of the narrative, she seems to be someone  distant to the central focus of the story, there  almost appears to be an other worldly aura to her, her plain advice sometimes appears to the narrator as possibly containing a much deeper portent, which also could be said to describe the appearance of the kitten to the narrator, the cat seems to indicate a symbolism of sorts, the mysterious inner workings of the cat seem to be a constant riddle to the narrator, and it's unpredictable appearances seem to be the source of another unfathomable puzzle.

Akira turns up again but this time with Yoko, the narrator suspects that they are an item but soon begins to realize that this may not be the case, Yoko also begins to become absorbed in the coming and goings of the visiting cat, in the evenings she goes out into the neighbourhood on cat feeding missions. Events at the narrators apartment alternate between rather strange conversations with Ishigami who is travelling to England and also Mitani who when the narrator meets up with him again discovers that he has been away in Bali, the conversation turns to horse racing and Kabbalah, and the narrator believes that Mitani is trying to discover a link between the two. Another character drifts into the household, Gonta, who Akira has coaxed in to drive them to an outing to the beach. The novel subtly sees the author looking back at his generation, and reflects back on the events that figured in the early days of his generation, the Tokyo Olympics, Osaka Expo, Murakami becoming a best seller, reading the novel gives you the impression that Hosaka is turning the camera on his own generation and sees an image of the everyday, perhaps anti-climatic but nonetheless punctuated with scenes of life lived in the big picture, wherever the frame of that maybe. The trip to the beach being the most sustained scene of the novel effortlessly captures the microcosmic activities and observations of the small group, with five or six pages entirely devoted to their fragmented observations of the beach, without any descriptive text. In it's subdued way the novel manages to convey a closely observed snapshot of life lived as it is.

Plainsong at Dalkey Archive Press

JLC 5

          

The Unsung Masters Series: Tamura Ryuichi

A book I've been eager to read is Tamura Ryuichi: On the Life and Work of a 20th Century Master, recently published by Pleiades Press the volume collects together previous translations of Tamura's poems by Christopher Drake, which originally appeared in Dead Languages, alongside translations of those by co-editor Takako Lento and also by  Marianne Tarcov. Wayne Miller is the series editor of Pleiades Press's Unsung Masters Series, who also gives an introduction in which he describes his first readings of Tamura's poetry, (an event that lingers in the mind of any reader's first encounter with his poetry), and also gives an account of how the book came into being, noting com-parisons between Tamura's poetry with that of Tadeusz Rosewicz and Paul Celan. The selected poems here are on the whole ones that have been well anthologised,  although to have them collected and available in this book which serves as both  a hugely informative introduction as well as of a more detailed examination is definitely a welcome event.

The poems are also accompanied with a  selection of enlightening  essays both critical and reflective by contemporary poets of Tamura's and also by his translators - Ooka Makoto, Ayukawa Nobuo, Yoshimasu Gozo, Christopher Drake, (whose introduction to Dead Languages is reproduced here), Miho Nonaka, Mariane Tarcov, Laurence Lieberman and Tanikawa Shuntaro, who's essay interestingly  takes the form of Tanikawa interviewing  himself in a Q and A style session about his thoughts on Tamura. The book also contains a selection of photographs of Tamura, the cover photo portrait is included here in full with Tamura at the launch of Four Thousand Days and Nights, seated next to fellow Arechi poets Ayukawa Nobuo and Yoshimoto Takaaki. Ayukawa Nobuo's essay, A Journey to Fear, is from the time of the publication of Four Thousand Days and Nights, I get the impression it could of come from a preface to the collection or perhaps from a review. In it Ayukawa charts Tamura's life as a poet, his mapless journey, (the name of a piece from Tamura), and examines Tamura's poetry, especially looking in detail at the two poems Four Thousand Days and Nights and Standing Coffin.

In his introduction Wayne Miller points out that the Four Thousand Days and Nights was very nearly the exact period between the surrendering of Japan to that of the poem's completion. Ayukawa Nobuo's essay goes on to explore the notions of being labelled a post-war poet, and compares the differences between the poetry of some of the pre-war poets to that of the post-war era. Laurence Lieberman's piece reflects back on meeting Tamura and on the time when Lieberman first lived in Japan. Gozo Yoshimasu's piece here is entitled Exceptional Poet: Tamura Ryuichi, the main portion of his piece Yoshimasu explains is taken from his introduction to the Japanese edition of Tamura Ryuichi's Complete Works, which has recently been published in Japan. One of the many referential points in Yoshimasu's essay is from the closing lines of a poem by Hu Shi called Dream and Poetry, Gozo Yoshimasu goes on to weave connections between the poem, Tamura, and also that of a haiku of Basho, Exceptional Poet comes to us as a finely flowing and cohesive mixture of part reflection and of projected observations with added parentheses,  retracing and drawing on memories and recollections of Tamura in Iowa. Taking in along it's way the essay looks at Tamura's poem On My Way Home, (included here), a poem originally from the collection World Without Worlds. Takako Lento's piece, Poet As Metaphor again recalls memories of Tamura and also discusses translating Tamura, all of the essays here offer acute insights into a unique master of words .   

Tamura Ryuichi: On the Life of a 20th Century Master at Pleiades Press

My post on Dead Languages