What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Curious how our perceptions change depending on our background, etc. When reading the names Kobo Abe and Alberto Moravia in one sentence, my question would be "Who can Kobo Abe be?"  , as I've read--and enjoyed--quite a lot of Moravia (his books having been in my parents' library from way before I was born).

But that's the beauty of GMG: one get's exposed to things one wasn't aware above previously.

Vice versa  . Curious about Moravia, and will look for his works.

[Florestan]

Kobo Abe, The Woman in the Dunes



My first book by this author; I can't help but to ask, is Abe the Japanese Kafka? I'm about a third of the way into the book and it seems to be a fine absurd, existential drama. Very vivid writing. I love the analytical mind of the unnamed protagonist, which is ultimately futile in dealing with his horrifying situation. I love the vivid descriptions of the dark, fantastical settings.

I read it more than a decade ago and I remember not being very impressed, even rather bored --- but I agree about the Kafka comparison. The protagonist is suddenly and unexpectedly caught in an absurd situation and the more he tries to get out of it, the more he is dragged deeper and deeper into it. The difference is that in Kafka there's the absurdity of bureaucracy, to which I can relate only too well, while in this Abe novel the absurdity is completely gratuitous. Not a fan of the latter, honestly.

[Florestan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/01/20/kobo-abe-a-figure-apart/26b6d4c3-e3c2-4d8a-b28a-55ecf0f3091f/

Most interesting, thanks for posting.

as a medical student at Tokyo University in the '40s specializing in gynecology, [Abe] was bored. Bored and lazy. He flunked his exams and his teachers demanded he take them again.

"The truth is," Abe told his elders, "I don't really intend to practice medicine."

"Oh," one professor said. "Why didn't you say so? If I'd known that earlier, I'd have passed you." The two men cut a deal. Abe was granted the title of "doctor" under the condition he never practice medicine.

Hah! Nice story.

Abe gave up directing and writing plays about five years ago. He says one reason "is that there is no country on earth less interested in the theater than Japan."

Which is quite strange, given the long and glorious Japanese theater tradition.

Like many Japanese intellectuals of the postwar period, Abe joined the Communist Party. He was an active member from 1950 to 1956, but became disillusioned after a visit to Budapest just before the Hungarian uprising. Abe drifted away from the party until he was formally expelled in 1962.

Abe consistently says in interviews that he is opposed to "obsessive" nationalism and the growth of government interference in private lives.

*Communism* and *opposition to the growth of government interference in private lives* are mutually exclusive --- I am surprised that an intelligent person as Abe did not realize that from the beginning. But the again he was certainly not alone in that, and indeed "communism is the opium of intellectuals" (Raymond Aron).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Florestan, glad you liked the article. I must reread the Dunes. When I read it, I thought that it was like an allegory of the Japanese society and work culture in the post WW2 economic boom.

[Florestan]

Florestan, glad you liked the article.

One more interesting quote:

because of his communist affiliations, the U.S. State Department deals harshly with Abe. Like Graham Greene and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, he has "excludability" status under the 1952 McCarran-Walter act. If he is allowed a tourist visa, it is severely restricted. He must report his whereabouts at all times.

Well, one thing I like about Gabriel Garcia Marquez is that he kept his rabid, unrepentant (and to me wholly repellent) communist affiliation separated from his work; there's no novel of his that can be qualified as subtle, let alone open, communist propaganda.

Plus --- I only very recently became aware of Graham Greene's communist leanings, but The Power and the Glory is, among other things, a devastating critique of a militantly atheist regime --- which actually existed in the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco under the socialist dictatorship of Tomas Garrido Canabal and his Red Shirts.

I must reread the Dunes. When I read it, I thought that it was like an allegory of the Japanese society and work culture in the post WW2 economic boom.

Which it might very well be --- but at the time I read it my knowledge of the Japanese society and work culture in the post WW2 economic boom was nil. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

No disagreement with your notion of Marquez, but it reminded me of the episode of workers' strike in the 100 Years Solitude. The story is based on the 1928 Banana Massacre. The Colombian workers, de facto half-slaves, of the United Fruit Company near Santa Marta, Colombia began strike for a better work condition and a humane treatment, and the USA gov threatened the Colombian govt to take a military action. Eventually, a bunch of the workers were murdered by the Colombian military, gangs, militias, etc. There are tons of similar incidents caused by the US imperialism/interventionism in the central and South Americas. That's why the communism became very popular there.

Possibly and arguably, the U.S. interventionism may have strengthened the political and ideological appeal of communism.

[Florestan]

No disagreement with your notion of Marquez, but it reminded me of the episode of workers' strike in the 100 Years Solitude. The story is based on the 1928 Banana Massacre. The Colombian workers, de facto half-slaves, of the United Fruit Company near Santa Marta, Colombia began strike for a better work condition and a humane treatment, and the USA gov threatened the Colombian govt to take a military action. Eventually, a bunch of the workers were murdered by the Colombian military, gangs, militias, etc. There are tons of similar incidents caused by the US imperialism/interventionism in the central and South Americas. That's why the communism became very popular there.

Possibly and arguably, the U.S. interventionism may have strengthened the political and ideological appeal of communism.

No argument from me in this respect, just noticing the bitter irony that communism, which pretended to act on behalf of, and for the good of, workers and peasants actually killed, imprisoned and ruined the lives of, a great many of those workers and peasants --- quite possibly much more than the USA and their Latin American minions combined. 

It's often said that communism is a good idea badly applied. I think and am actually convinced that, on the contrary, communism is a bad idea applied well --- ie, there's a bad idea to suppress private property, Christian religion and/or traditional customs, and there's no way one can do it other than by state terror. Show me one single communist country which did not institute, and survive by, state terrorism and opression --- and I'll show you a unicorn.

[aligreto]

--- and I'll show you a unicorn.

You have a pet unicorn too 
I feed mine on lotus leaves and candy floss 

[SimonNZ]

*Communism* and *opposition to the growth of government interference in private lives* are mutually exclusive --- I am surprised that an intelligent person as Abe did not realize that from the beginning. But the again he was certainly not alone in that, and indeed "communism is the opium of intellectuals" (Raymond Aron).

Have you actually researched the appeal of communism in the interwar or immediate postwar periods from the point of view of those who were - for their various reasons and degrees of enthusiasm and for however long - attracted to it?

[vers la flamme]

I read it more than a decade ago and I remember not being very impressed, even rather bored --- but I agree about the Kafka comparison. The protagonist is suddenly and unexpectedly caught in an absurd situation and the more he tries to get out of it, the more he is dragged deeper and deeper into it. The difference is that in Kafka there's the absurdity of bureaucracy, to which I can relate only too well, while in this Abe novel the absurdity is completely gratuitous. Not a fan of the latter, honestly.

That's too bad. I'm enjoying it a good bit.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

That's too bad. I'm enjoying it a good bit.

A little influence of him on HM? 

[vers la flamme]

A little influence of him on HM? 

I would say so! The darkly absurd surreality of the setting, the vivid sexual language, and the thought processes of the loner protagonist all call to mind for me Haruki Murakami at his weirdest. I do wonder what Murakami thought of Abe's work.

[vers la flamme]

Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human



I believe this is yet another recommendation from our DBK. That man knows his Japanese literature.

Apparently, this is the second-best selling novel of all time in Japan. I'm not very far into the book, but my impression is that it reminds me a lot of Mishima's great Confessions of a Mask. Both novels are first-person accounts which take a confessional tone, narrated by young male protagonists who have always seen themselves on the fringe of society. Anyway, I'm enjoying it so far.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

H Murakami frequently mentioned that he liked some Beatnik writers. Also, you said that he liked Soseki Natsume. AFIK, (oddly) he never mentioned Kobo Abe. I googled, and didn't find any statement from Murakami about Abe. Personally, I sense Abe's influence on M, but I have no evidence.

I knew Dazai was popular in Japan, but didn't know that NLH was that popular. Though I like the work, I never considered it a mainstream work in terms of style or theme. Furthermore, it amazes me that the work is being well received in the West. Perhaps because of the Millennials?

[vers la flamme]

Well, I devoured that book. Read it all within about four or five hours today. What an amazing book it was. Just horrifically dark, but I can't believe how insightful it was about the tragedy and comedy of life. For how bleak its subject matter is, I found myself laughing out loud in places. I found parts of it incredibly relatable, and other parts made me want to scream at the protagonist to make different choices in his life. I don't know a book which better approximates the feelings of severe depression and social anxiety as I have experienced them.

I've never read anything like this book, but some things that come somewhat close are Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Mishima's Confessions of a Mask. Wow, that was an incredible book.

H Murakami frequently mentioned that he liked some Beatnik writers. Also, you said that he liked Soseki Natsume. AFIK, (oddly) he never mentioned Kobo Abe. I googled, and didn't find any statement from Murakami about Abe. Personally, I sense Abe's influence on M, but I have no evidence.

I knew Dazai was popular in Japan, but didn't know that NLH was that popular. Though I like the work, I never considered it a mainstream work in terms of style or theme. Furthermore, it amazes me that the work is being well received in the West. Perhaps because of the Millennials?

I'm not sure how well-received it is in the West at large, as none of my reading friends have read it. But I found it extremely relatable and relevant to contemporary life in the West. Thanks for your recommendation. I loved it. Definitely going to read Dazai's other famous book, The Setting Sun, ASAP.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

It's interesting to hear about the relevance of NLH to modern life in the West. The Setting Sun (Shayo) is as good as the former, imo. Shayo could be translated as the "tilted sun."

Also, quite interesting observation about a connection between the Dunes and Mishima's Mask. Never thought about it. I must think about it.

[vers la flamme]

Ah, I should have clarified, but that connection was supposed to be No Longer Human and Confessions of a Mask. The book I was referring to in the first part of my post was Dazai's. The Woman in the Dunes took me about three days to read, and while I did enjoy it greatly, it wasn't quite as hard-hitting as No Longer Human. There may be some connection also between Abe's and Mishima's work, but if there is, I haven't yet figured it out. As for Dazai and Mishima, it's been said that toward the end of his short life Dazai actually met the young Mishima. Apparently, Dazai was drinking with a group of younger writers, a group including Mishima who was not a drinker, and Mishima told Dazai to his face that he didn't like his writing, and Dazai said something to the effect of "then why are you here?" Amazing story if it's true; have you heard this? I heard it from a Youtuber quoting a biography of Mishima.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Ah, I should have clarified, but that connection was supposed to be No Longer Human and Confessions of a Mask. The book I was referring to in the first part of my post was Dazai's. The Woman in the Dunes took me about three days to read, and while I did enjoy it greatly, it wasn't quite as hard-hitting as No Longer Human. There may be some connection also between Abe's and Mishima's work, but if there is, I haven't yet figured it out. As for Dazai and Mishima, it's been said that toward the end of his short life Dazai actually met the young Mishima. Apparently, Dazai was drinking with a group of younger writers, a group including Mishima who was not a drinker, and Mishima told Dazai to his face that he didn't like his writing, and Dazai said something to the effect of "then why are you here?" Amazing story if it's true; have you heard this? I heard it from a Youtuber quoting a biography of Mishima.

Sorry about the confusion on my part. Still I like this confusion (self-justification)  .
Yes, I believe the story is true or mostly true. It is weird because Mishima, unlike his works, was usually polite and friendly to anybody and he was liked by most people.
I heard that M didn't like what he considered to be self-pity and romanticization/glorification of loneliness in D's works.
Also, M was a fashionable city boy from Tokyo while Dazai was a country (albeit rich and aristocratic) guy from Aomori, which is like Mississippi, USA.

I was not sure if you would like Dazai (I thought you would like Mishima), but it appears that you liked NLH. Hope you will have good time reading Shayo.

[SimonNZ]

Started:



and also on the go:



whis is reminding me that I've been wanting to read Browne's Urn-Burial for some long time, so that's been pulled out as well

[vers la flamme]

Yasunari Kawabata, The Old Capital



This is the fourth book I've read from this author in as many months, I think. I am very much in awe of his aesthetic sensibilities. It seems this book is both love letter and elegy for the city of its title, Kyoto, former capital of Japan, which as of the time of this book's writing—the early postwar decades—was in the midst of massive change. Very much a quiet and subdued book, with less of the burning passion that seemed to lie just beneath the surface in Snow Country and Thousand Cranes, both earlier books.