Of Dogs and Walls by Yuko Tsushima

It's interesting to note that Penguin have some more Japan related titles forthcoming, there's the U.K edition of Kawabata's Dandelions, The Beauty of Everyday Things by Soetsu Yanagi and also there's the U.K edition of Star the newly translated novella by Yukio Mishima to look forward to. Continuing with their Penguin Modern series it was good to sit down at last with the two stories that make up Penguin Modern: 43 - Of Dogs and Walls which is translated by Geraldine Harcourt. Each story is a brief 20-30 pages, both of which are newly translated here into English, interestingly the narrative structures feel quite different to each story, maybe this displays in same way the 32 year gap between them. The first is The Watery Realm which first appeared in 1982, the narrative performs a loop of associations across the story as it opens with a child saving for an aquarium accessory, a sunken castle for his fish tank, through a number of associating links - the Dragon Palace in the fable of Urashimataro, a coal mining accident, father's death, a fear of underground water, the term jusui, the memory of her mother's umbrella, and the Shinto water deity Suijin, the narrative explores themes of cross generational memory, the transience between that of being a daughter and then of being a mother, it feels like that somewhere in her subconscious the narrator is sieving for correlations, the story leaves on an unpleasant episode from the past that causes recalculations for the main protagonist. The Watery Realm is an engaging short story that combines explorations of family history woven with historical myth and elements of nature, as with Territory of Light.  

The second story is the title story - Of Dogs and Walls from 2014, which feels more syncopated in nature perhaps by the sequencing of it's events. Similarly though it explores the nature of memory and the passing of time, and again features a father's premature death, which perhaps bears an autobiographical element. Through it's house move and memories of walled gardens and partitions, which feel to be symbolically loaded, the story opens with a shape seen on a wall which by turns symbolizes the fictional character the 'Walker through walls', it feels that Tsushima might be pointing that there is a way through memory, albeit fictional, to pass through certain barriers. Along with the names of the dogs and cats of the story, Perry, Jack, Kuro, Louis, we have the name of the older brother of the central character, Toru-chan, who has a developmental disability. After the move to the new house, the daughter becomes fascinated by a small doorway in the wall between her own and neighbour's houses, equally fascinating is the young master of the house and his mother who mysteriously appear through it after certain events and continue to occupy her dreams and thoughts as the daughter grows older. As the story is brief it's hard to describe it without disclosing the central event away, the second half of the story is ethereal in perspective, continuing on sharing what is seen in the neighbourhood in the here after, a visit to Toru-chan's school, a place that now seems to be surrounded by inescapable walls, juxtaposing unfolding perspectives with unmoving ones, it's hard not to be touched by.

Of Dogs and Walls at Penguin Modern

                

General Kim by Akutagawa Ryunosuke

General Kim by Akutagawa Ryunosuke is the third story of Three Japanese Short Stories all of which are translated by Jay Rubin, also it's the book's shortest, coming in at six pages, nonetheless with referencing the Nihon shoki toward the end of the story it bears a strange twist of satire of the fervour of patriotic propaganda and with referencing the Nihon shoki Akutagawa was obviously setting his target high in wanting to garner the reader's attention. One of Akutagawa's historical pieces, the brief narrative is set just before  the Seven Year (Imjin) War or invasion of Korea 1592 - 1598 in the reign of King Seonjo and features the historical figures of Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa, which at it's opening sees the pair incognito scouting out Ryonggang where they come across a sleeping village boy, the encounter has a portentous twist that nearly ends with the killing of the boy, the consequences of him being spared becomes apparent in due course.

The narrative then jumps forward thirty years, to the period of the invasion and the boy has grown into being Kim Eung-seo who together with Kye Wol-Hyang, (forced into being Yukinaga's mistress), hatch a plan to murder Yukinaga, and a fantastically supernatural fight scene unfolds involving decapitation, flying swords that loose their power by being spat upon and the decapitated body of Yukinaga reaching for his sword. After this there are parallels with the scene of Kim Eung-seo being earlier spared when he realizes that Kye is pregnant with Yukinaga's child, fearing the implications of this and not sparing the mercy he received in his earlier life he duly despatches her and the unborn baby. General Kim is a strange and macabre, although interesting reel of historical satire, of it's omittances and also of it's exaggerations.
   

Akutagawa & Others at Penguin Modern     

  

Closet LLB by Kōji Uno

The next story of Three Japanese Stories translated by Jay Rubin is Closet LLB by Kōji Uno, 1891-1961, Three Japanese Stories is a sampler of the larger Penguin Book of Short Stories which is forthcoming from Penguin. Looking at this book I'm beginning to wonder at how the fuller book will be organised - if it'll be compiled chronologically or thematically. Closet LLB concerns the character Otsukotsu Sansaku who when the story opens has seen five years pass since obtaining his Bachelor of Law degree, he remains living in the same digs although the ownership of the building has changed many times within this time. The story relates the history of Sansaku's education, initially a prodigy whose initial inspiration stemmed from the writer/children's author Iwaya Sazanami, Sansaku had the desire to become a novelist, which we're reminded hasn't changed at the time of the narrative. There is some mystery over his degree as he initially passed his Law exams and acquired the letters LLB but his main passion is literature, although the story also develops into being one of passions thwarted after Sansaku's father's passing, family debt, Sansaku becomes dependant on a cousin of his father's, Oike and is pressurized by the family into studying Law. This is counter balanced with the fact that he has had some success as a writer of Fairy Tales and various short pieces and on the horizon glimmers the perennial hope of scoring success with a novel for adults.

So, perhaps there are a number of autobiographical connections reflected in the story to contemplate, the family debt, of the move to living with Grandparents, the struggling writer, but here it seems Sansaku's aspirations fizzle out, he continues to live the life of a student of literature whilst the world of literature and the arts appear to pass him by or so it seems, Sansaku has a certain bohemian lifestyle, spending time walking the city, his bed time two in the morning. It's been noted that Uno's writing falls into two camps, of being rather fragmented and experimental with that of later evolving into more conventional storytelling, Closet LLB feels more of the latter, although it does show signs of delving into interiorities and also of the Russian writers he read. The latter part of the story sees Sansaku delve further into his retreatist realm as rather than take out and daily make his futon from it's cupboard Sansaku decides to save the effort and begins to sleep in the closet, and due to this positioning and the level of his room he can observe the to and fro of passersby. The story ends on a meditative note on the nature of intellectual superiority and of it's worth and it's application to the happiness of life or perhaps the lack of it. As mentioned before it's interesting to contemplate the autobiographical elements of Closet LLB and of the themes it raises, the story has been translated previously as The Law Student in the Garret in the highly recommended anthology Three-Dimensional Reading edited by Angela Yiu, for my post.

Three Japanese Stories at Penguin Moderns

           

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