Behind the Prison by Nagai Kafu

Forthcoming in June The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is edited by Jay Rubin and introduced by Murakami Haruki and amongst their new series of Penguin Modern's, each a £1, we have a sampler in Three Japanese Short Stories of what is to come. The book contains, Behind the Prison by Nagai Kafu, Closet LLB by Uno Koji and General Kim by Akutagawa Ryunosuke all of which are translated by Jay Rubin. So I thought I'd read each of the stories here in anticipation of the full book's arrival in June, post on each of the stories featured, then pass Three Japanese Short Stories on as a giveaway once finished, so if you are interested in getting a copy leave a comment and I'll pick a name at random at the end and post out to you.

Behind the Prison by Nagai Kafu is the first story here, and although brief offers a lot to contemplate, it displays a number of preoccupations that are familiar with Kafu's writing, the narrator has recently returned from being abroad, characters and places from America and Paris are mentioned, perhaps this could be seen as a continuum of his American Stories translated by Mitsuko Iriye. There's the impression that the narrator is from a well to do family, toward the end of the story in order to escape the confines of the family home the narrator walks the neighbourhood and relates the views of the detritus of daily life in what he sees as the down at heels area. Briefly he contrasts the neighbourhood from the one of his memory, this theme it could be said is a major one of the story, contrasting the culture of the one experienced from abroad with that of the one he finds on his return, one that it is hinted at displays phony patriotism and advancement, this too is subtly contrasted with the living conditions of those within the immediate neighbourhood.

The title of the story has an openness to it's interpretation, as the family home or the narrator's father's estate is situated behind the prison at Ichigaya, and rather than being the return of the prodigal son the situation has the air of being problematic, for the meanwhile he can stay in a spare room, this undeclared state of affairs brokers a sense of imprisonment for the narrator and there's the sense he identifies with the prisoners seen outside performing communal tasks, there's the sense that with this return come's an impasse in his next direction. Rather enigmatically there is the option that the store is epistolary in nature as it's addressed to 'My dearest Excellency' and it ends on the plea of a visit as the narrator is lonely. As well as this the end of the story returns again to this sense of imprisonment with the relating of a piece of prison verse from Verlaine's Sagesse which speaks of a wound of love remaining open, which gives the impression of a portal opened, a transition, the narrator lodged between continents and memories of each, with disdain pointed at home, the scene of  the salesman selling fish guts from the neighbourhood the narrator observes - 'the thought that this faded, cold fish meat is the only source of nourishment for the blood of most of my countrymen fills me with an inexpressible sorrow.'

The story feels a mixture of real experience and projecture on behalf of Kafu and there are things commonly associated with his writing, the narrator appears to be a troubled aesthete, characters from the theatre are mentioned, a scene here of animal cruelty observed stands out, another demarcation of the cultural differences between East and West. Behind the Prison is a fascinating and engaging opening story to these three, the next being Uno Koji's Closet LLB, as mentioned at the start I'll read the stories and then offer Three Japanese Stories as a giveaway, if interested please leave a comment.


Three Japanese Stories - Akutagawa and Others at Penguin Books      

Something Strange Across the River

Following on from Dazai's Schoolgirl and 3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa, both published as part of their Modern Japanese Classics, (perhaps hopefully part of an on going series?), One Peace Books are set to publish a new translation of Kafu's Something Strange Across the River, by Glenn Anderson. Although there is nothing official as of yet at their website, the book is listed for publication in September.  

 

One Peace Books

 

Something Strange Across the River at Amazon

Rivalry by Kafu Nagai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Recently published in paperback, this translation by Stephen Snyder is the first complete translation of Rivalry/ Udekurabe to appear in English, the translation from 1963 by Kurt Meissner and Ralph Friedrich was taken from an early commercial and incomplete edition of the novel, Snyder's translation includes passages and scenes that were edited out due to their erotic nature. The novel was first serialized in Japan in 1916, whilst reading the novel and almost turning every other page I couldn't help but be confronted with the age old question - what constitutes a classic?. It would be interesting to read a criticism of the novel from a feminist perspective, although Kafu's narrative has a subdued empathy for the women depicted in it, the panorama offered through the portraits of the characters offers an in depth insight into the Taisho age and the receding world of the geisha, the novel  steps out of being a gender study or character study but depicts the human world in all of it's fragility and exhausting desperation, nearly all the characters are wrestling with how fate will treat them. The novel seems to dip into differing genres and narrative styles, sometimes the reading feels fabalistic as if coming from the old world, but then by turns it serves to chronicle Kafu's contemporary world, both exploring the inner world of the main character, Komayo, a bereaved woman and geisha returning to the area she had started off from, and then also moving from character by character it begins to examine each of their worlds and inner thinking. Set predominantly in Shimbashi the action of the novel spills over into Tsukiji and Asakusa,  topographically  the novel is of huge interest, the narrative informs with many references and descriptions of the geisha's world, in particularly the hairstyles and clothing of the geisha. Initially Komayo meets Yoshioka, a man she had known from her past, the relationship though is strained, true intentions remain obscure, through a meeting of another character, Komayo's heart begins to be pulled in another direction.

Although the main narrative follows Komayo's progress, the novel's focus dips in and out of the lives of the orbiting characters, creating a fascinating patchwork of characters representative of the times, the slightly lecherous Yoshioka, the man whom Komayo had a previous relationship, also Jukichi and Gozan who run the geisha house where Komayo is based, and at the beginning they receive a visit from novelist and storyteller Kurayama Nanso, who has a later chapter devoted to him where what appears to be an abandoned house holds an enchantment for the writer, this scene in turn though Kafu uses to make connections with the other pivotal character to the book, Segawa Isshi a famous onnagata actor, who becomes the potential suitor at the centre of the rivalry. Nanso is a curious character with a deep empathy of the passing of the old, the reader can't help from contemplating how much of Kafu could be depicted in Nanso. As the book continues another sub-narrative emerges concerning the sons of Jukichi and Gozan, Shohachi and the wayward Takijiro, another narrative follows Segawa when he meets poet/writer Yamai Kaname, described as the 'Verlaine of Japan', who contemplates writing a novel in the style of The Cathedral by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, through these fragmented but inter joining narratives Kafu opens up an area of narrative space, objectifying the characters and their environment, the prose becomes imbued with a fully realized but questioning and curious nostalgia. The narrative returns again to Komayo facing her fate amidst the competition for Segawa, Kafu shows that sometimes fate can turn and intervene in spite of the human effort exerted in order to shape it, a fascinating novel.

Rivalry - A Geisha's Tale at Columbia University Press