Such Japanese writers as Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami are very popular now, but the modern reader probably does not know that the history of new Japanese prose in Russia did not begin far from them. At its source were the works of Akutagawa Ryunosuke. We will talk about these three personalities in this article. Since the former can rightfully be attributed to the category of “modern Japanese writers,” it is first worth discussing the work of Akutogawa and his two essays: “Life of an idiot” and “Cogwheels.”
Akutogawa Ryunosuke. Prose as a "violet flash." "The Life of an Idiot"
For those who are more or less familiar with Japanese literature, it will not be news that the plot is not the most important place in it. Such, for example, is Basho’s poetry. In fact, these are only observations that are rhymed in a certain way. And if we open, for example, “Life of an idiot”, then we come across exactly the same prose. The book consists of very small stories, sketches. Only after reading all of them does the whole picture develop in the reader’s head. The focus of Akutagawa's work is that the sketches themselves are equally valuable and the big picture.
Akutagawa and Dostoevsky. Cog Wheels
What is the connection between the prose of Ryunosuke and Fyodor Mikhailovich? Firstly, Akutagawa knew and loved Russian literature well, and secondly, the Japanese writer, like Russian, portrayed the existence of man in ultimate and borderline situations, where life comes into contact with madness and death. The horror of the “Cogwheels” is also that they are autobiographical.
Cogwheels and The Life of an Idiot are examples of the writer's dying prose. He died early, at the age of 35 he took a lethal dose of Veronal. In the literal and figurative sense, the nerves lost. But this does not mean that his prose is interesting only to psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors, not at all. The prose of the Akugatava will appeal to all those who care about real, good literature and the ultimate, “damned” questions of human existence. And now it's time to talk about the topic "modern Japanese writers."
Haruki Murakami: “Wonderland without brakes and the end of the world”
Although contemporary Japanese authors have retained a certain national identity, they have become very “western”: their works are mostly plot-like, which is reflected in our narrative.
"Wonderland ..." is like a prolonged fall in a rabbit hole. The protagonist is a specialist in encryption of a special kind called shuffling. The essence of the method is that the text is encoded through a story that exists only in the head of the shuffler, and this happens unconsciously. However, the professor and inventor of the method found out that all specialists, except the main character, died during the experiment. And the scientist is trying to save the whole book. To do this, they descend into the underworld, the passage to which opens in the professor’s closet, meet terrifying creatures that spread chilling fear, flee from the flood slowly overtaking them, climb the rope ladder to a high tower.
And the main character decides to stay in the inner world of his head, and this means the death of the body. This story unfolds in every second chapter of the book and at first it has nothing to do with the main plot.
In the head of the hero there is a whole city, around it there is a high wall. The locals have this custom: to cut off a shadow for each incoming person. The hero gets the work of a librarian in this city. Its main function is to read old dreams placed in the skulls of dead animals.
No one can leave the city, for the wall is high, and the shadow lives separately from a person for no more than a week. But the main character, even finding a way out, is not able to leave this closed world, which will disappear if he remains alive.
These are such strange stories that modern Japanese writers prefer, then everything will be “more wonderful and weirder,” as L. Carroll said.
Ryu Murakami. “Children from the left-luggage office”
Perhaps the most famous work of the author. A novel about two children. They were lucky to survive after their mothers left the newborn babies in lockers. They are almost the same age, very similar and experience the same psychological problems: fear of confined space and the difficulties associated with this.
Once these people were treated with the sound of a beating heart of a pregnant woman, but then in the clutter of their lives they forgot this sound. But all his life they were looking for him. They needed a lot to go through to remember him. One brother had to live in an infected part of the city, where touching red painted objects and surfaces promises a slow and painful death, and also to find the poisonous gas "datura" and poison the multi-million city, wreak havoc on them.
The second had a long way to go: becoming a superstar, cutting off the tip of his tongue, losing his mind, inadvertently killing his own mother and going to jail. And all this is only for the realization that any mother gives her child a message: "Live! My heart beats for you."
Books by Japanese writers: some for thought, others for fun
For the reader, far from philological delights, only one question is important about who to choose for reading in the evening. The answer suggests itself: depending on what a person wants to get from acquaintance with Japanese prose.
For example, contemporary authors presented here can be read on weekdays, after a tiring working day. Despite the ornate plot, their works do not require intellectual tension from the reader. Accordingly, it is better to move the Akutagawa on the weekend, when the reader's head will be fresh and receptive to the beauty of the style. In extreme cases, you can have a notebook (or sheet of paper) on the cover of which will be written: "Japanese writer and a schedule for reading his works." If it is difficult for a person to decide, let him try to observe the system in his self-education.