New wonderful books I read

[avrelia]

I’ve just finished The Fox Woman, by Kij Johnson. I read her second book, Fudoki, before and I am already missing it now. I am enchanted with her worlds, and her words, and very happy I found these books.
Both books are set in Japan of Heian period; the magic is woven into the everyday world, but doesn’t stick out. I’ve got the period feel, - as much as I know about that period, of course - but I wouldn’t mistake it for the story written then and there. (on he other hand, I was shocked by Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book – it was so hard to believe it was written a thousand years ago – so fresh and relevant, and up-to-date it felt. The beautiful, beautiful prose, the distinct voices of the characters (The Fox Woman, is constructed as diaries of three protagonists), the vivid picture of that time and place – to list just some of the reasons I loved these books. Different realities coexist and interact in these stories. Realities of everyday life, magic, fiction, memories, and dreams, of then, and now, and if. The acceptance of different realities seems easier for the characters that for the readers, but the questions of identity, of what is real never gets old. Customs and conventions of the old Japanese court look too artificial, but then I begin to examine our conventions, and find them not that different…

Comments

[ascian3.livejournal.com]

I read The Fox Woman too, and loved it. I also really liked the Pillow Book, so I suppose they kind of go together. :-)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

They do, and not just because Shikujo's Pillow Book is modelled after the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. Have you read Fudoki? It has the same themes of interwoven realities and self-identity, taken slightly different.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sending me to this link, and for your insights into the book. I felt exactly the same way about Sei Shonagon, so fresh and idiosyncratic and charming-- her Pillow Book (in Morris's translation) is what got me interested in Heian Japan in the first place, and it still ranks as one of my favorite books ever, even though I've now read three copies to pieces, and could probably recite whole sections from memory.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

The Pillow Book drew me into Japanese literature of that period and others as well. And I read it in Russian translation (cannot recall the name of a translator now), but the fact that it produced a similar effect says a lot about the power of a book and the quality of translations. I am still with my first copy, but I love to come back to it from time to time.