tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13765198094729211042024-03-27T13:02:10.927-04:00Major YammertonThis blog runs reviews of books that I read for reading challenges.Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.comBlogger1219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-62454732862030259082024-03-23T00:00:00.016-04:002024-03-27T13:01:21.606-04:00Reading Those Classics #6<p><b>Third Novel in a Classic Trilogy</b>: Robertson
Davies’ <b>Deptford Trilogy</b> can be read out of order; I did it <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/08/back-to-classics-16.html">second</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/10/deptford-trilogy-3.html">third</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/11/deptford-trilogy-1.html">first</a>. But Dos Passos’ <b>U.S.A. Trilogy</b> has to
be read in order; the first <a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/01/reading-those-classics-2024-2.html" target="_blank"><b>The 42nd Parallel</b></a> is about pre-WWI America, the second <b><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/reading-those-classics-4.html" target="_blank">1919</a></b> during the
war, the third during the Roaring Twenties. Reading in order is more likely to
give us hardcore readers that frisson of familiarity that we get from, say,
meeting recurring characters in <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/08/chronicles-of-barsetshire.html">The
Barchester Novels</a>. In order will help us predict interaction when
characters we already know meet each other for the first time in the story.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Big Money</b> – John Dos Passos</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The last novel of the <b>U.S.A. Trilogy</b> tells the
story of Margo Dowling, a pretty blonde with big blue eyes. She is punished for
her beauty at the age of sixteen when she is raped by her stepfather Frank, a
down-at-heels vaudevillian. To escape the situation, she marries musician Tony
Garrido, a homosexual with eyelashes that make everybody quiver. Margo flees with
him to his native Cuba where his traditional family encloses her in purdah. To
prevent ever being vulnerable again, Margo becomes determined to succeed in
show business through sheer ruthlessness to make up for her lack of talent. I’m
always up for a Hollywood novel, and Dos Passos writes satirically on the familiar
and dear theme of Tinsel Town Without Pity. Or Taste. Or Elan.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">A naturalist writer, Dos Passos was a modernist too in
the sense that he wasn’t going to sweep certain topics under the rug. He had to
have been among the first major American writers to deal with rape, incest, the
sequelae of sexual abuse and trauma, homosexuality closeted and not, culture
shock, and the amorality of the entertainment business when most people didn’t
even know they were topics or thought it best not to talk about them when they
did.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Another major character is radical Mary French. Her
father was a selfless M.D. doctoring for the poor in Colorado who eventually
works himself to death during the 1918-20 flu epidemic, one of the few
references to that pandemic I’ve seen in the literature of that time. With her
father as a role model, Mary feels compelled to help the less fortunate. She volunteers
for Hull House in Chicago. She works as a crusading reporter trying to bring
wider attention to the brutal conditions of workers raising families in
poverty.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Somehow, despite her best efforts, the poor you will
always have with you and the cause costs her just about everything. She has no connection
with her family. Her romances are with conniving creeps disguised as good party
men. Being a self-sacrificing labor activist earns more scut-work assigned by
careerist comrades. Working on the side of angels attracts the hatred and
contempt of the authorities. It forces the perennial question, what is it about positions
of authority and political activism, right or left, that attracts such small men.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This novel also tells the story of Charlie Anderson, who
was introduced in the first novel of the trilogy. He returns from WWI where he
fought as an aviator, but soon has to butt heads with the mindless avarice of a
culture whose members have no kin or friends when it comes to the pursuit of a
dollar. Charlie is kicked out of his brother’s house back in the old hometown
because Charlie is unwilling to parade being a veteran in order to pump truck
sales at his brother’s Ford dealership. His brother is under pressure from Ford
to puff sales so his brother pressures Charlie to work in both marketing and
the repair shop.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Charlie cannily sees commercial aviation as the next big
thing and moves to The Big Apple to do R & D on engines and drum up
investors. There’s no escaping pressure from partners, investors, brokers, and
industrial spies who are avidly following the lure of big money. Charlie idiotically
sets his matrimonial sights on a society madcap who ends up mailing him one the
funniest Dear John kiss-offs in the history of American literature. His
innovative and money-making style is not enough to prevent his partners from
selling his ass out. Charlie is just a guy, emotionally stunted in the usual
ways and without the sense heaven gave a goose to tumble to the fact that he is
one of those people who have no business relieving pressure with alcohol. That
particular enemy of promise sends him on sprees where he makes day-trading and
contractual decisions with the acumen of Barney Gumble.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">As for characterization, Dos Passos runs a set of players
through the three volumes, switching roles from main to secondary and back,
with some only appearing in this last one. Readers with a hankering for
cognitive closure may well complain that after a thousand or so pages, the
outcome for most characters proves to be merely banal. In fact, it feels as if
Dos Passos simply deserts characters, not telling their fate at all or disposing
of them in accidents or brawls.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Decent and earnest, Dos Passos thinks power absolutely
corrupts the military, the cops, the government, political parties, the labor
movement, and businesses of all sizes. Historical and social and economic forces
put pressure on individuals. Besides that, their personal choices, clouded up
by foolishness, intemperance and fear, are disastrous just about every time.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Dos Passos has a tough-minded sensibility like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/01/classics-2.html">Smollet</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/11/classic-by-new-to-you-author-jonathan.html">Fielding</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/back-to-classics-6.html">Austen</a>
and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/02/back-to-classics-3.html">Thackeray</a>
in that his outlook is skeptical of ambition and endeavor. When we reach a
point where we dare to think, “I’ve arrived” the ever-changing world will
smirk, “Well, kiddo, try this misdiagnosis – car crash – pandemic – transfer to
a mad supervisor – recession – mood disorder – on for size.” Dos Passos makes
the hardcore reader wonder about our own complex yet ordinary realities and how
internal and external forces influenced our own decisions as to marriage and
work and mobility.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Like the other novels in the trilogy, this one has
interspersed biographies about figures like Woodrow Wilson, Bob La Follette,
Joe Hill, Thorstein Veblen, Rudolph Valentino, Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, W.R.
Hearst, and Isadora Duncan. The tone is acerbic, the stance left-leaning. With
Dos Passos the opinionated documentarian, the politics sometimes drowns
everything else out. Such were the times – the 1920s were as nutty as the
1970s.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I think the <b>U.S.A. Trilogy</b> would be a great choice
for a hardcore reader who is seriously into the time period. Reading them one
after the other would be a leisurely experience to take up for a season, for a
lockdown. Me, I’m always in the market for reading a Great American Novel like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/02/back-to-classics-3.html"><b>All
the King’s Men</b></a>, <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/07/back-to-classics-13.html"><b>Edwin
Mullhouse</b></a> or <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/11/re-read-favorite-classic-sometimes.html"><b>Sometimes
a Great Notion</b></a>, but especially a story from the era between the wars
like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/06/2014-classic-10.html"><b>Look
Homeward Angel</b></a> or <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/05/back-to-classics-10.html"><b>Light
in August</b></a>. Dos Passos’ snapshot of the U.S.A. in the Twenties makes
this a must-read for readers into that gaudy decade.<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-20180590155953578252024-03-19T00:00:00.025-04:002024-03-21T07:23:12.018-04:00European Reading Challenge #5 <p><span style="font-family: arial;">I read this travel narrative </span><span style="font-family: arial;">for the </span><a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html" style="font-family: arial;">European Challenge 2024</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p><p><b>Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden,
Norway and Denmark</b> - Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 - 1797)</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In 1795, Wollstonecraft was on an unhappy uncertain romantic
footing with an American businessman. He did not count his lucky stars in
attracting the love of this intelligent, well-read, articulate, virtuous woman
of deep imagination and feeling. She still thought enough of him to take a business
trip on this behalf to these three Baltic places in order to locate a cargo of
her lover’s silver.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Amazingly, she took their infant daughter with her (her
first daughter Fanny Imlay, not the second one who wrote <b>Frankenstein</b>).
Sometimes local people, though apt to see strangers as marks, were more solicitous
and kind because she had a baby in tow. At one point she had to leave baby Fanny in
the care of strangers for three weeks. Seeing a girl toddler clinging to her
farmer father, the single mother is moved, “I was returning to my babe, who
may never experience a father’s care or tenderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bosom that nurtured her heaved with a
pang at the thought which only an unhappy mother could feel.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The author was a journalist so it is natural for her to
talk to people to get grist for the mill of her inquisitive mind and eloquent
pen. For instance, of intercultural interaction, she observes “neighbors are
seldom the best friends” and concludes the dislike the Norwegians and Swedes feel
for each other is based more on feelings than reason. She’s also a thinker not
averse to roaming the high regions of the mind, such as when she considers
which of the ingredients of “national character” might be explained by natural
differences such as climate or acquired differences such as forms of government
and religion. It’s interesting to follow her thinking, her quests for meaning,
in the mini-essays that adorn these letters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the effect of poverty she observes:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The Norwegian peasantry, mostly
independent, have a rough kind of frankness in their manner; but the Swedish,
rendered more abject by misery, have a degree of politeness in their address
which, though it may sometimes border on insincerity, is oftener the effect of
a broken spirit, rather softened than degraded by wretchedness.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The writer was a romantic, prone to examining nature and
her own feelings in order to compose her poetic responses to the Baltic landscapes
and long summer days. Like a romantic should, she broods, “It might with
propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the cause of that
characteristic melancholy which ‘grows with its growth, and strengthens with
its strength.’” The romantic, the feminist, the idealist, the writer all search
for sublimity:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Nothing can be stronger than the
contrast which this flat country and strand afford, compared with the mountains
and rocky coast I have lately dwelt so much among.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fancy I return to a favourite spot, where
I seemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but the din of trade drags
me back to all the care I left behind, when lost in sublime emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, as
it were, shutting out sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal
along the lake to calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the
neighbouring poplars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I hear only an
account of the tricks of trade, or listen to the distressful tale of some
victim of ambition.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Besides romantic sublimity, she loved to think and write
about the improvement of world. She’s clear-minded about weakness, ignorance,
prejudice, and inertia all being barriers to the betterment of the individual
and the species. Her realism - “Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose
warning voice has been disregarded” - doesn’t stop her from moralizing “that
even the most spontaneous sensations are more under the direction of principle
than weak people are willing to allow.” She was an ardent soul, prickly, but
one also gets the feeling the affair with the American cad wounded her deeply.
One imagines that when she didn't look deep in intellectual pondering, she had that air of nursing a secret sorrow, an aura certain
kinds of men find irresistible.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">But her heart being in the right place and her need for
comfort are just two elements that make us hardcore readers like and respect
this gifted writer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahead of her time in having the intellectual daring to kick over fences between genres, she blends politics, economics, philosophy,
ethnography, travel narrative and personal observations. Like <a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/03/european-reading-challenge-4.html" target="_blank"><b>Eothen</b></a>,
this kind of wide-ranging travel writing feels modern.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Online: <a href="https://librivox.org/letters-written-during-a-short-residence-in-sweden-norway-and-denmark-by-mary-wollstonecraft/">Librivox</a>
and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3529/pg3529-images.html">Gutenberg
Text</a><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-65546311352558299582024-03-15T00:00:00.011-04:002024-03-15T00:00:00.240-04:00The Ides of Perry Mason 58<p><b>On the 15<sup>th</sup>
of every month, we examine a topic related to Our Favorite Lawyer. I’m thinking
what subject can I possibly unearth after nearly five years of doing this column. Perhaps
a deep dive into the </b><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/421790321324514100/"><b>pecky cypress paneling</b></a><b>
in TV Perry Mason's office?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Case of the
Stepdaughter’s Secret</b> – Erle Stanley Gardner</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">It is the summer of 1963 in Los Angeles. Unbeknownst to
each other, three members of the Bancroft family have consulted lawyer Perry
Mason about blackmail. Millionaire and philanthropist Harlow Bissinger Bancroft
has found a blackmail note on the bedroom dresser of his stepdaughter Rosena
Andrews. She’s vulnerable because of her upcoming marriage to not affluent but
socially prominent Jetson Blair. In his younger days, Harlow was wild, spent a
little more than a year in the pen, and is sure his past – and his fingerprints
- are catching up to him.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Now, the astute reader is wondering why a young
stepdaughter was sent the blackmail note, since it’s doubtful that she even
knows the jailbird past of her stepfather. Smarter than us, however, Perry
Mason goes over with Harlow the four ways of dealing with a blackmailer: pay
him off (and keep paying forever), go to the police, put the blackmailer on the
defensive, or kill him. While Thirties hard-boiled Mason may have gone with
killing, Sixties calm Mason does not recommend murder. Bancroft puts the affair
in Mason's hands. Mason and Drake pull off a fun maneuver to put the blackmailers
on the defensive. Lucky that Harlow is a millionaire because he’s paying for
legions of Drake’s speedboats, helicopters and bikini-clad operatives.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Then, the stepdaughter Rosena visits Mason. Rosena,
independent boomer through and through, tells Mason to keep his nose out of her
affairs.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Then, her mother Phyllis visits Mason. Phyllis tells
Mason that Rosena's intended, Jetson Blair, had a brother, Carleton Rasmus
Blair, who was reportedly killed in a plane crash while in the Army. One Irwin
Victor Fordyce was recently released from the big house, and his fingerprints
show he was Carleton. The blackmailer has touched Phyllis already for a
thousand dollars, small price to pay for a maiden’s dream of future happiness. Phyllis
also reports that the blackmailers have contacted Rosena, because she overheard
the phone conversation.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Poor Rosena – does she have any privacy at all with a
stepfather going through her papers and a mother listening in on an extension?
And this family never talks to each other. They wouldn’t be so vulnerable to
blackmail if they just came clean with each other and the world. All I’m
saying, a dab of shamelessness goes a long way. Harlow, Phyllis, and Rosena
need to loosen up and not fret so much about what other people think. It’s not
their business what other people think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Anyway, in an unfortunate chain of circumstances, society
matron Phyllis ends up thinking she snuffed a blackmailer with a round to the
pump. And the cops entirely agree, based on circumstantial evidence and
eyewitness testimony.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I admit that more than a couple Mason novels published in
the 1960s are not up to the high standards of his novels of the Thirties and
Forties. At about 250 pages, this is longer than usual for Gardner, with very
long chapters and very short chapters. The exposition on character and setting,
is, as usual, bare bones. People looking for backstory about Perry, Della and
Paul will be disappointed, since Gardner probably thought background would date
the books and hurt sales (he was right).</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Still, this novel is pretty good. Mason’s blunt
conversation with a blackmailer calls to mind his hard-boiled exchanges in the
early novels. Gardner organizes the time shift solution effortlessly and
persuasively. The reveal is logical, with no deductions that provoke
head-scratching. So even late career Gardner could still nail it.<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-88553443211846071822024-03-13T00:00:00.017-04:002024-03-13T00:00:00.236-04:00Undisputed Classic 5<p><b>Nonfiction Classic</b>. This is a classic memoir, one man's answer to what <a href="https://www.commentary.org/articles/robert-warren/edmund-wilsons-civil-war/" target="_blank">Robert Penn Warren</a> called "...the anguishing problem of man’s responsibility vis-à-vis the blank forces of history." </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Personal Memoirs of Ulyssess S. Grant</b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Grant says as a child he developed the superstition that
when lost or blocked he should always figure out a way to go forward, over the
terrain, never turning back. As a general on horseback, Grant had a supernatural
grasp of terrain and how he should engage the enemy most effectively given the
lay of the land and bodies of water. An advocate of forward movement, he thought
that military errors came out of not pursuing a retreating enemy with alacrity and
his own errors were out of being overly aggressive.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">At West Point, he was good at math and horsemanship but
poor at tactics. He says he was a great novel reader but not of the trashy sort.
He liked Scott, Cooper, and Irving, all popular writers of the day. One wonders
if he got a sense of the importance of a distinctive style from all that
reading of fiction though his plain style was not at all like the romanticism
of that trio.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Grant fought in the Mexican War, which he called an
unjust one, and his summary of the issues of that forgotten conflict is interesting.
Acting as a quartermaster, Grant learned that writing clear orders was a key
skill for an officer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">His portraits of
colleagues and commanders tell of how they acted under pressure; for example,
Taylor and Scott had very different styles, with Scott being bombastic and
showy and Taylor very unassuming, quiet and modest, and wanting to see action
at the front with his own eyes. </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">He also learned from Taylor that a calm and
unflappable manner was a crucial quality of leadership. It seems super-human to
not flinch even with shells falling nearby but both Taylor and Grant were
legendary among the men and officers for their grace under pressure. It is also
telling that Grant did not go hunting and the only times he publicly lost his
temper were when he saw teamsters beating defenseless mules and horses.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">After the Mexican War, Grant was assigned to duty in
California. This is where the stories about alcohol abuse started, perhaps
because Grant binged when he was bored (he doesn’t mention alcohol at all, assuming his readers had no interest). Grant was also anxious about the
foremost American bugbear, being a failure. He does not detail this down period
in the memoirs, as he assumes his audience did not care about reading
about his unhappy period just before the Civil War. When the war broke out,
Grant was working as a clerk his father’s store to support his young family.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The war saved him in the sense that he was able to do
something he was good at, finally. The author of the textbook on tactics ended
up generaling for the Confederacy but Grant studied the text nevertheless,
though he did not get past the first chapter. He learned about moral
courage – that the enemy has as much or as little of it as anybody else had so
he refused to intimidated by the dash and daring of the adversary. A realist,
he had understanding of the urge to bolt among green troops but knew with
battle experience they would be brave and reliable under fire. Risking the
lives of one’s men was a heavy responsibility for him. In the early days of the
war he also learned much about supply and logistics, knowledge that he was
later to use in the siege of Vicksburg. Grant’s men were just about never short
of food, clothing, or ammunition.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">After the trial and error process that lead to victory at
Vicksburg, he went on to victory at Chattanooga. Lincoln decided that Grant was
the fighting man he needed and appointed him to make the hard tactical,
operational, and strategic decisions that brought about the end of the war.
Sherman said that Grant was able to make the decisions with the scanty information
he had, not the complete and accurate information that other generals yearned
for as they dithered. Grant showed his legendary calm even in dreadful battles
like Wilderness, a dry forest with trees, brush, and soldiers in flames where
they fought by ear because the smoke made it impossible to see.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">What doesn’t this memoir have? Nothing about the two-term
presidency. Nothing about Julia his wife (their letters are lost too). No score
settling. No confusion or soft-pedaling about the cause for which the adversary
was fighting. No stuff about the “allure of battle;” in the aftermath of day
one of Shiloh, this:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">During the night rain fell in
torrents and our troops were exposed to the storm without shelter. I made my
headquarters under a tree a few hundred yards back from the river bank. My
ankle was so much swollen from the fall of my horse the Friday night preceding,
and the bruise was so painful, that I could get no rest.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">The drenching rain would have
precluded the possibility of sleep without this additional cause. Some time
after midnight, growing restive under the storm and the continuous pain, I
moved back to the log-house under the bank. This had been taken as a hospital,
and all night wounded men were being brought in, their wounds dressed, a leg or
an arm amputated as the case might require, and everything being done to save
life or alleviate suffering. The sight was more unendurable than encountering
the enemy's fire, and I returned to my tree in the rain.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Grant was dying of cancer of the tongue as he wrote this
book (he smoked 20 cigars a day). Despite pain and fatigue, he wrote up to four
and five hours a day, in pencil. The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/mss233330012/">manuscript</a>, in fact, shows
his handwriting, sure on good days, but shaky on bad days. The prose is spare
with no wasted words; it has been praised by writers such as Sherwood Anderson,
Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis, and Edmund Wilson. Those interested in war
memoirs or lean non-fiction prose may be into this 1200-page book.<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-45809751659118309702024-03-09T00:00:00.006-05:002024-03-09T00:00:00.133-05:00Reading Those Classics #5<p><a name="_Hlk147722628"><b>Classic Short Stories set in
The Village.</b> A collection of 42 stories, it won the National Book Award for
Fiction in 1951. The stories were first published in weekly magazines such as
The American Mercury, Forum, Harper’s Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post,
Scribner’s Magazine, and The Sewanee Review. Faulkner came up with the themed
section headings, such The Country, The Village, etc.</a></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk147722628;"></span><a href="https://archive.org/details/20200821_20200821_0916"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk147722628;"><b>The Collected Stories of William Faulkner</b></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This is the second section of the collection, with the
setting Jefferson, a village in Mississippi.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>A Rose for Emily.</b> His first short story sold to a
national weekly is also the one most often collected in anthologies and taught
in high school English classes as an exercise in close reading for themes,
symbols, and other literary ornaments. A paragon of the Southern Gothic genre, the
story evokes the dust, squalor, inertia, and aloneness of a reclusive life
a.k.a. a living death and the slow painful passing of generations in the South.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The generation gap is illustrated at the
town council meeting where greybeards and young ‘uns are discussing how to deal
with the terrible smell around great lady Miss Emily’s property. “Dammit, sir,”
Judge Stevens said, “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Hair.</b> One of the facts of <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/05/classics-12.html"><b>The Tale
of Genji</b></a> that creeps out us post-moderns is that the Shining Prince
raised Murasaki to be a model Heian mistress from the time she was a child. Hard
to take. Really. In this story too small-town barber Hawkshaw gives a
girl-child customer special attentions he gives no other clients. All for
reasons not to be spoiled in a review; reasons the reader will have to decide how
to take after they learn the back-story of the barber. Faulkner chides
smalltown gossips, joke-relators, storytellers, and orators with an indictment
of The Oral Tradition of the South: “I guess maybe a talking man hasn't got the
time to ever learn much about anything except words.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Centaur in Brass.</b> Phlegm contains virus, bacteria,
and other sloughed-off ick. Flem Snopes is parts cunning, greed,
manipulativeness and cowardice, as ambitious as Lucifer to be somebody. He
concocts a complicated scheme of harassment, theft, and blackmail. But the two
black employees, the objects of Flem’s machinations, manage to get out from
under. The climax between the two firemen calls to mind <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCND6VjXjAI">Stepin Fetchit</a> humor so
simultaneously funny and cringe-worthy for us post-moderns nowadays but
powerful is the vivid characterization of the implacable dignity of TomTom and
the reptilian nature of Flem.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Dry September.</b> A harsh story in which prolonged drought
and ever-present dust intensify traditional racism and penchant for violence as
a solution to everything. Such that a rumor of a sexual assault of a white
woman by a black man drives the white men to kidnap, torture, and murder an
innocent black man, despite the intervention of the barber Hawkshaw who urges
the killers to let the law investigate in the proper way. John McLendon is an
odious fascist, like the militarist vigilante Percy Grimm in <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/05/back-to-classics-10.html"><b>Light
in August</b></a>. After the murder, McLendon feels nothing but sweaty, goes
home, and knocks around his wife, who, unsurprisingly, fears for her life when
he’s around. Like <b>A Rose for Emily,</b> this story is about how life in a
small town is hard on older single females and it has often been included in
anthologies because it also feeds class discussion on intersections of race,
class, and gender.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Death Drag.</b> A story that smacks of long
journalism, about a team of pilots who travel to small towns to give flying
shows and perform aeronautical stunts. That the daredevil is Jewish the local
unnamed narrator takes pains to emphasize, and a reader wonders why until the
story plays out. The Jewish guy is manipulated and lied to, has suffered injury
resulting in partial disability, and made to crash through a barn, all for the
idle entertainment of villagers who are not convinced he’s a human being.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Elly.</b> For young single white females, life in a
small southern town in the early Thirties offers a future of marriage and
children and homemaking and shopping. If this prospect is not enough for
content - and it is not for the title character - there is always defiance in
the form of the greatest transgression. Sex with a black male, however, carries
risk: social opprobrium, self-loathing, and distress culminating in madness, to
name only a few. That Faulkner is able to pack so much incident and theme in one
short story testifies to his power as an artist and vision as a human being.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Uncle Willy.</b> For the last forty years, the 60-year-old
title character has dealt with stifled life in a small town with secluded
bachelorhood, a subsistence bodega, unfailing attendance at Sunday school, and
an addiction to morphine. For human connections, he has a posse of teenage boys
and an ancient black retainer. Keeping himself to himself is an idyll of
innocence that cannot be permitted to continue by right-thinking villagers that
can’t abide the idea of somebody somewhere living and let live, quietly and
harmlessly. Dare to be different, see what happens.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Mule in the Yard.</b> This story starts with slapstick
as a widow and her black companion chase Flem Snopes’ mules off the widow’s
property on a winter morning spooky with fog. But the fraught backstory between
the widow and Flem is smoothly revealed, showing Faulkner’s power of economical
narrative. It’s also a satisfying story of ‘the biter bit,’ as the widow gets belated
revenge over Flem, who, of course, deserves hurt ten times what he dished out
in the first place.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>That Will Be Fine.</b> Great Christmas tale narrated by
seven-year-old Georgie. He unknowingly tells of a family crisis precipitated by
his Uncle Rodney’s defalcations at a company unwise enough to employ him
despite his playboy reputation. Faulkner makes no missteps in causing Georgie
to note and report but not understand the unfolding of events. Distracted by
the prospects of getting presents and quarters, Georgie’s kiddish tone is
breathless and fresh and believable and relentless. The story manages to be comic
in a tragically ironic way.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>That Evening Sun.</b> "… didn't God Himself make
a mistake when he settled the Jews in Russia so they could be tormented as if
they were in hell," asks a character in an Isaac Babel story. And when he
plunked souls down in Mississippi and made them poor, female, and black. This
story examines what it’s like to be utterly powerless to stave off coercion and
violence, doomed to be a murder victim, with the white people utterly oblivious
to a black person’s fate. Besides a story that examines inequalities of race,
class, and gender, it also has Compsons from <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/12/funny-folks-those-compsons.html"><b>The
Sound and The Fury</b></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b>:</b></span> Quentin (the
narrator), Caddie, and Jason appear as kids, all of them acting consistently
with their adult characters in the novel. This story was written before <b>TS&TF</b>
so the chronology is all cockeyed, but who cares? Faulkner sure didn’t so why
should we?<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-78825947641033682532024-03-05T00:00:00.039-05:002024-03-05T09:52:52.452-05:00European Reading Challenge #4<p>I read this travel narrative for the <a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">European Reading Challenge 2024</a></p><p><b>Eothen, or Impressions of Travel brought Home from the
East</b> - <a name="_Hlk154941852">Alexander William Kinglake</a> (1809 - 1893)</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In 1834, the journey started in the Habsburg town of Semlin
(Serbian: Zemun), across a river from Belgrade, which was more or less run by
the Ottoman Turks. Kinglake is young, in his mid-twenties, an Eton and
Cambridge smarty-pants. As he passes Niš, Serbia he expresses the nonchalance
of Western Europeans apt to shrug over the atrocities of the Ottomans in Balkan
Europe:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">... the only public building of
any interest that lies on the road is of modern date, but is said to be a good
specimen of Oriental architecture; it is of a pyramidical shape, and is made up
of thirty thousand skulls, contributed by the rebellious Servians in the early
part (I believe) of this century: I am not at all sure of my date, but I fancy
it was in the year 1806 that the first skull was laid.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">He's talking about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Tower">Skull Tower</a>, still a
destination for patriotic Serbians.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Detached, yes. Conceited, surely. Maddening, definitely. But a writer down to
his toes: he took nine years to write this book, indicating he wanted to get it
right. Kinglake's power to write comes out of his "rapturous and
earnest" reading of Homer before he was packed off to school: "You
feel so keenly the delights of early knowledge; you form strange mystic
friendships with the mere names of mountains, and seas, and continents, and
mighty rivers; you learn the ways of the planets, and transcend their narrow
limits, and ask for the end of space...." While searching for the site of
Troy, he notes the "beautiful congruity betwixt the Iliad and the material
world."</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">True, he makes vile statements about the Orthodox Church.
He feels contempt for the stereotypically decadent Ottomans. And his
descriptions of Grecian women border on the prurient, which is unexpected in a
Victorian author. He writes off whole segments of humanity: “These Arab women
were so plain and clumsy, that they seemed to me to be fit for nothing but
another and a better world." I can only suggest to hardcore readers of Victorian travel narratives, be prepared to make allowances for the ignorance and prejudices of a younger world.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Being a light-minded person and a reader that wants the
writer to make me laugh, however, I thought these harsh minuses were balanced
by Kinglake's sense of comedy. In the first chapter he writes a funny dialogue
showing the pitfalls of using an interpreter and works in a parody of
extravagant flattery. His description of the economic rationale of haggling
instructs while it impresses with its mock scholarly, adversarial tone in favor
of the local vendors against the vexed Europeans who wonder why they can't be
told a fair price from the get-go.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">On Cyprus he was invited to dine with a Greek family
whose children had traditional names. He reports, "Every instant I was
delighted by some such phrases as these, 'Themistocles, my love, don’t fight.’
‘Alcibiades, can’t you sit still?'—'Socrates, put down the cup.'—'Oh, fie!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aspasia, don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh! don’t be naughty!'” Clearly, Kinglake was burdened with what is popularly known as a sense of humor and readers who are too will understand that comic
impressions of the world just come to us, unbidden, and usually, luckily for the prim touchy world, go unsaid.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">After Cyprus, in the other half of the narrative, our
writer went to Beirut, then to the Holy Land, Cairo, and Damascus. In other
words, out of the scope of this reading challenge, but more interesting because more
introspective. In Cairo he goes through a time of pestilence. His undergraduate insouciance
is finally shaken as his banker, his doctor, his landlord, his donkey boy, and his magician all
die of the plague.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Basically, though written in the early Victorian era,
Kinglake and his writing feels modern. He calls to mind <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/10/classic-travel-station.html">Robert
Byron</a> and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/04/back-to-classics-8.html">Graham
Greene</a> because he is a member of the “I Hate It Here” school so popular in
the boom of Thirties travel writing. But he’s also modern because avoiding the learned
content of history, sociology, and politics, the young writer writes about his
own responses, his own impressions and his own search for meaning and freedom.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Jan Morris, no slouch in the travel narrative herself,
says that this was her favorite travel book.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">On the Internet: <a href="https://librivox.org/eothen-or-impressions-of-travel-brought-home-from-the-east-by-alexander-kinglake/">Librivox</a>
and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/282/pg282-images.html">Online
Text</a><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-84356708848117168262024-03-03T00:00:00.021-05:002024-03-03T00:00:00.252-05:00Undisputed Classic 4<p><b>Classic Short Stories. </b>Known for his novels, Lawrence also wrote almost 70 short stories.</p><p><b>A Modern Lover
& Other Stories</b> – D.H. Lawrence</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I’ve been reading DHL since about 1975, my sophomore year
at Michigan State. At that time college students felt that they had missed out
on the party of the Sixties. So Lawrence‘s encouragement to live life with
passion was especially appealing. Burn, baby, steam and smoke. Go for it, do it
till you’re satisfied. To students wearing leather, denim, and flannel and listening to Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, Lawrence's message to be natural was totally acceptable.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In my middle age living life hotly became less feasible
and attractive. I slowly realized how prone to weariness, how slow to recover
from overindulgence our aging stomachs and brains are. I couldn’t help but marvel that
somebody with Lawrence‘s health challenges found the strength and stamina to be
so fierce and so prolific. I mean, writing novels, short stories, poems, plays,
essays, travel books, translations, and literary criticism and painting and
incessant travel and dealing with legal battles and constant money worries. Not
to mention the action-packed marriage.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Nowadays as I gulp in wonder at middle age being in the rearview mirror, I
catch up with DHL’s awesome suggestion “<a href="https://allpoetry.com/the-ship-of-death">O build your ship of death</a>.”
I’m pretty sure Lawrence was no Stoic but it’s a poem about looking at death and coming to conclusions.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Anyway, this collection presents stories from the early
and late stages in his all too short writing career. Lawrence As Sage: he is a
model wise man that looks at the beauty of the world, really sees the glow of the
world, the is-ness of Creation.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>A Modern Lover</b> is an example of the <b>You Can’t
Go Home Again</b> story. A young man returns to the old hometown, a mining
place, from London where he hasn’t been exactly setting the literary world on
fire. The young man is ready to pledge his love to the old GF but finds her new
BF too. And though she still loves our hero, a woman in the 1910s has to be
careful about choosing a man because being poor and female is hard yakka
anywhere. This gives a sense of how modern young people in the early 20<sup>th</sup>
century had to feel their uncertain way in romance and marriage and bills in
the Edwardian era when Victorian certainties and customs were falling by the
wayside.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Old Adam</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A story bursting with nature – colors, flowers,
lightning and thunder. And guys brawling because even in seemingly
over-civilized people latent are anger and aggression, all provoked by nothing
much. A three-year-old is wonderfully described as a force of nature,
spontaneous and unpredictable.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Her Turn</b>. Who knew he had it in him? Everybody but
me, apparently. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dave does domestic
comedy as a miner’s wife learns her hubby a rough lesson in that constant
subject of marital discord – money. The story feels genuine, these were people
he grew up with, he knew well enough to love them and yearn to get away from
them.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Strike-Pay</b>. Well yeah with money tight at home,
whaddaya do with strike pay but collect it at the church (which the miners
built themselves but it’s falling down because they’re miners, not construction
guys) and go on a spree, drinking beer and watching futbol? And then come home
only to be yelled at by a mother-in-law who gets off on fussing and fighting. A
great story, closely observed grit and washing on the line.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Witch a la Mode</b>. Young intellectual drops in
on old GF on his way home to see his fiancée. They’re both kind of awkward, him
being a natural man and her being properly repressed and constrained. But her
place has these two-foot high statues:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Both were nude figures. They
glistened under the side lamps, rose clean and distinct from their pedestals.
The Venus leaned slightly forward, as if anticipating someone's coming. Her
attitude of suspense made the young man stiffen. He could see the clean suavity
of her shoulders and waist reflected white on the deep mirror. She shone,
catching, as she leaned forward, the glow of the lamp on her lustrous marble
loins.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">“Fools in love,” sang <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZplsIA1vYYc">Joe Jackson</a> a long time
ago now, “gently tear each other limb from limb.” One gets the distinct feeling
in this ungentle story that the hero is correct when he observes, “You know,
Winifred, we should only drive each other into insanity, you and I: become
abnormal.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>New Eve and Old Adam</b> is a story of a bitter
argument between two married people. How can people have a modern marriage when
these half-witted wives just won’t submit to their manly men and their entitled
whims? I have no idea if the reader is supposed to take sides in this story or
if DHL really was such a dudebro like he comes off here, but the marriages of
other people are so mysterious that I always assume no outsider can understand
enough to judge who is on the side of angels.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Mr Noon</b> is a novel supposedly written in 1920 and
1921 and then abandoned. I had feeling that it was indeed a draft, material he
wanted to get out and then return to for revising. I’m glad I read this
fragment because although the characters were as nutty and wayward as we’ve
come to expect for his characters, there was a lightness of touch that I found
surprising in DHL. He actually addresses the readers directly, kind of shaking
his finger at us, telling us not to impose our expectations on what actions his
characters should get up to. Such an old-fashioned device – like Trollope, for
the love of Mike. Also giving a post-modern feeling that I did not expect, he
winks at us readers by using their own words to satirize suburbanites, cliche Edwardianisms
like “plain as a pikestaff” and “happy as a dog with two tails.”</p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-1920748021787059932024-02-29T00:00:00.038-05:002024-02-29T05:22:16.840-05:00Japanese Reading Challenge #4<p>I read this book for the <a href="https://dolcebellezza2.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/japanese-literature-challenge-17-review-site/"><b>Japanese
Reading Challenge 17</b></a>.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job</b> – Kikuko
Tsumura</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Single female, mid-thirties, living with her parents in
Tokyo, our Nameless Narrator has experienced a nervous breakdown due to the
stress and exhaustion of overwork. So she asks her career consultant to find
her a simple job, in which only every now and then something new but not
drastic happens, that doesn't involve fraught human relations, and with a
minimal commute. In short, she thinks
that she wants a job kind of like being dead only without the grief-stricken
relatives and the postmortem guilt that due to your up and dying, some poor
galoot has got to take your tasks on top of their own.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Her career consultant, a nice woman in her sixties, asks
her canny questions and finds her jobs that fit the bill. The jobs are all unusual,
but not implausible. They present unique challenges, miseries, and
satisfactions. And over the course of time on task, Nameless comes to realize
that she is still exposed to human beings in all their delightful and
exasperating glory.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Despite her inclination to keep herself to herself, Nameless
is only a human being with a human nature which has an innate tendency to be
oriented to other human beings. Being social by nature as we all are, Nameless
finds that to some degree she will get involved in the lives of supervisors,
colleagues, clients, and just anybody seen regularly. In no job are we
delivered over to death to become a ghost, just watching the living do their
mundane activities, unable to reach out in the darkness and find a friend.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Our Nameless Narrator is totally relatable. Like Nameless, we may dream about how much
easier it would be to have few responsibilities, distant supervision, and enjoy
colleagues and subordinates doing what they ought to be doing, on time, getting
it goof-free every time. But we also know while work is an unavoidable
necessity and it has its upsides, we must be careful not to have a love-hate
relationship with our job. Like us grizzled veterans of toil and moil, she
learns to moderate her sense of duty and vocation. She stops aggravating
herself emotionally about the alleged badness of her situation.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In her hard-won insight, Nameless suspects, like us
hardcore readers, that she is one of the few left in the world with any
standards, that so-called normal people have lost any sense of decorum and
accept a life full of flavorless red softballs because they have forgotten what
tomatoes used to taste like. For instance, Nameless is shocked that ordinary
people would write for life advice to a rice-cracker company to print on their
packaging. Talk about leading lives of quiet desperation!</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">And the scandalized tone is hoot, laugh out loud funny in
places, subtly comic and indirect in the genuine Japanese manner. The
translator Polly Barton grew up in West London and the English dryness and
understatement really fit the stance and tone. Barton studied philosophy at
Cambridge which will, I trust and hope, instill a respect and care for words.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN">In conclusion, </span></span>deceptively plain and<span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN"> readable and well worth it if one likes serious
points in a </span></span>light-hearted style<span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN">. The writer seems to be making the point that </span></span>we
disgruntled employees have to, for the sake of our own serenity, exercise our
judgement. Cultivate a moderate sense of vocation and duty. Wisdom calls for doing what is
in our power to make situations more bearable for ourselves and coworkers, not falling into anxiety or
depression, not procrastinating, not stamping our foot at the terms and conditions
of our hostile universe. Even when sour or half-assed is the outcome, it is
better for our own self-respect if we can honestly say to ourselves with the information and resources we were given, we did our best for the job, for other people, for our
own sanity.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Fiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:
click the title to go the review<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonfiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:
click the title to read review<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-strange-tale-from-east-of-river.html">A
Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories</a> - Nagai Kafu</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/11/round-midnight.html">After
Dark</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/anthology-of-japanese-literature-pre.html">Anthology
of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century</a>
– Donald Keene (editor)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-5.html">Colorless
Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/07/back-to-classics-18.html">I
am a Cat II</a> – Natsume Sōseki,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/04/classic-10.html">Kappa</a>
– Akutagawa Ryunosuke</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/10/mount-tbr-32.html">Kokoro</a>
– Natsume Sōseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/09/mount-tbr-46.html">Modern
Japanese Literature: An Anthology</a> – Donald Keene</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/07/mount-tbr-32.html">Modern
Japanese Stories</a> – edited by Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-3.html">Norwegian
Wood</a>- Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-3.html">Quicksand</a>
– Junichiro Tanizaki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/vintage-mystery-37.html">The
Devil’s Disciple</a> – Hamao Shiro</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-gate.html">The
Gate</a> - Natsume Soseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-1.html">The
Nakano Thrift Shop</a> – Hiromi Kawakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-old-capital.html">The
Old Capital</a> - Yasunari Kawabata</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-shooting-gallery.html">The
Shooting Gallery</a> - Yuko Tsushima</span><br /><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/05/classics-12.html">The Tale
of Genji</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-4.html">There’s
No Such Thing as an Easy Job</a> – Yukiko Tsumura</span><!--[if !supportLists]--></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/08/mount-tbr-40.html">A
History of Japan: 1334-1615</a> - Sir George Sanso</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/mount-tbr-5.html">A
History of Japan: 1615-1867</a> - Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/03/mount-tbr-10.html">A
History of Japan to 1334</a> – Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-2.html">Absolutely
on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-20.html">Adventures
in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady</a> -
Evelyn Kaye</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/05/mount-tbr-12.html">Angry
White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police</a> – Robert
Twigger</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-2.html">Bending
Adversity</a> – David Pilling</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-classic-4.html">Kokoro</a>
– Lafcadio Hearn</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/01/mount-tbr-3.html">Nightless
City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo</a> - J.E. de Becker</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/08/nonfiction-rc-5.html">The
Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitusbishi</a> - Niall
Murtagh</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/11/mount-tbr-36.html">The
Western World and Japan</a> – Sir
George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/04/mount-tbr-23.html">The
World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan</a> – Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-to-classics-11.html">This
Scheming World</a> – Ihara Saikaku</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-19.html">Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan:</a> – Isabella Bird</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-4.html">What
I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><!--[if !supportLists]--></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><br /></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-36045709440951272652024-02-28T00:00:00.016-05:002024-02-29T05:21:31.761-05:00Japanese Reading Challenge #3<p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">I read this book for the <a href="https://dolcebellezza2.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/japanese-literature-challenge-17-review-site/"><b>Japanese
Reading Challenge 17</b></a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #538135; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">Sino-Japanese
character Manji </span></b></span><span class="rynqvb"><b><span style="color: #538135; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">卍</span></b></span><span class="rynqvb"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #538135; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;"> is a symbol for the four lovers in the novel - </span></b></span><span class="rynqvb"><b><span style="color: #538135; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">谷崎</span></b></span><span class="rynqvb"><b><span style="color: #538135; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;"> </span></b></span><span class="rynqvb"><b><span style="color: #538135; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">潤一郎</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #538135; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">Quicksand –
Junichiro Tanizaki</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Twisted up love, symbolized in the swastika, is felt between Sonoko and her
husband Kakiuchi and Sonoko’s beloved Mitsuko and Mitsuko’s BF Watanuki. Despite
her history of infatuation, Kakiuchi married Sonoko and kept silent in response
to her odd moods and behavior. In a frequent mistake of patient honest people
when dealing with deceitful people, he goofs when for too long he pretends
nothing is bugging him though he feels unsettled by Sonoko’s friend Mitsuko. It seems as if Tanizaki is taking the stance that when facing so much
deceit, honest people don’t know where to turn and deceptive people get so lost
in their lies that </span></span>even their perception of doing wrong dies.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sonoko and Mitsuko met at shabby art school for bored women with nothing to
do. The two become intimate with Mitsuko posing in the nude for Sonoko’s
rendering of Kannon the Goddess of Mercy. The sensual, crafty, reckless Mitsuko
drags Sonoko into dangerous love quicksand, with endless intrigues and a tragic
ending, which can be sensed from the beginning of the novel.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sonoko, the paragon of the untrustworthy narrator, tells a story in which everybody
is deceiving everybody else. In a narrative of time shifts in the modernist manner,
the tangled story is unwound as Sonoko’s unreliable confession to a famous
writer who may or may not be Tanizaki, a Tokyo guy commenting on the gaudy
unrestrained ways of these wacky Osakans in the late 1920s. Tanizaki is also a
modernist in the way he opens boxes usually sealed: decadence, nihilism, eroticism,
sadism, and the “I hate myself for loving you” kind of masochism a la <b>Of
Human Bondage </b>and<b> A Portrait of Shunkin</b>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Tanizaki liked to write couple stories as in the shocking <b>Naomi</b> or
in <b>A Fool's Love </b>or in the disturbing novel<b> The Key</b>. The female
characters are always the strongest elements, if only because of all their
whims or attractions with which</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> they </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">hold their male and female slaves in a
tight grip. Tanizaki liked to show women lost to dark forces and weird passions
and men totally at a loss in the face of quirks and impulses, irrationality and
obsession. The reader gets the feeling that Mitsuko is way out of control, way
beyond doing terrible things just for fun. Somehow a reader feels if one
understood the nature of Mitsuko’s fantasies, one would feel grubby and
defiled.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">As to cultural background, what is just taken for granted in this novel?
What feels Japanese about it? For one, sapphic love is treated as no big deal. As
in lots of old melodramas, there is a vindictive servant who steals letters. Desperate
couples talk of suicide pacts and people mull doing away with themselves in
order to apologize to everybody. The cops raid disorderly houses looking not
only for gamblers but cheating couples. The scandal sheets sniff around for
salacious gossip that will bring dishonor down on prominent families with wild
offspring. Politically radical but culturally conservative, people in Kyoto,
Nara, and Osaka pay much attention to the social conventions and take pains to
avoid doing what can tarnish one's reputation and bring on shame. Recall how
Sachiko and Teinosuke worried about Taeko’s antics getting into the papers in <b>The
Makioka Sisters</b>.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In conclusion, short, tangled, readable, shocking, and well worth it if one
likes Tanizaki.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Fiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">:
click the title to go the review<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonfiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">:
click the title to read review<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-strange-tale-from-east-of-river.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">- Nagai Kafu</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/11/round-midnight.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">After
Dark</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/anthology-of-japanese-literature-pre.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Anthology
of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Donald Keene (editor)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Colorless
Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/07/back-to-classics-18.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I
am a Cat II</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Natsume Sōseki,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/04/classic-10.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kappa</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Akutagawa Ryunosuke</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/10/mount-tbr-32.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kokoro</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Natsume Sōseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/09/mount-tbr-46.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Modern
Japanese Literature: An Anthology</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Donald Keene</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/07/mount-tbr-32.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Modern
Japanese Stories</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – edited by Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Norwegian
Wood</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">- Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Quicksand</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Junichiro Tanizaki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/vintage-mystery-37.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Devil’s Disciple</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Hamao Shiro</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-gate.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Gate</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Natsume Soseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-1.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Nakano Thrift Shop</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Hiromi Kawakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-old-capital.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Old Capital</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Yasunari Kawabata</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-shooting-gallery.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Shooting Gallery</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Yuko Tsushima</span><br /><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/05/classics-12.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Tale
of Genji</a><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There’s
No Such Thing as an Easy Job</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Yukiko Tsumura</span><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p></p>
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</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/08/mount-tbr-40.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan: 1334-1615</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Sir George Sanso</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/mount-tbr-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan: 1615-1867</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/03/mount-tbr-10.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan to 1334</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-2.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Absolutely
on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-20.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Adventures
in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> -
Evelyn Kaye</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/05/mount-tbr-12.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Angry
White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Robert
Twigger</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-2.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Bending
Adversity</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – David Pilling</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-classic-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kokoro</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Lafcadio Hearn</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/01/mount-tbr-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Nightless
City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - J.E. de Becker</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/08/nonfiction-rc-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitusbishi</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Niall
Murtagh</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/11/mount-tbr-36.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Western World and Japan</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– Sir
George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/04/mount-tbr-23.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-to-classics-11.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">This
Scheming World</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Ihara Saikaku</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-19.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan:</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– Isabella Bird</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What
I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p></p>
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</tbody></table><p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-5684045822994354562024-02-27T00:00:00.017-05:002024-02-29T05:20:40.251-05:00Japanese Reading Challenge #2<p>I read this book for the <a href="https://dolcebellezza2.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/japanese-literature-challenge-17-review-site/"><b>Japanese
Reading Challenge 17</b></a>.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival</b> -
David Pilling</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">There is not much to say beyond high praise for this 2013
book by a highly experienced and insightful reporter for the Financial Times.
He talks to politicians, bureaucrats, professors, business executives,
twenty-somethings, and activists on the ground and its seems he has read
everything germane to the topic of modern Japan. Pilling provides solid
reporting on the triple disaster of 11 March 2011 when Japan saw earthquake,
tidal wave, and nuclear meltdown.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Pilling’s writing style is journalistic in its clarity
but it is a pleasure to read, not all flat and gray. He is into presenting both
sides of the issue, but he avoids the bane of American journalism, bothsidesism
(i.e., the tendency to treat all historical takes and policy debates as if the
opposing sides present equally strong arguments).</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The only problem, obviously, is that it is now 11 years
old. While Pilling’s overviews of Japan’s history and business conditions are
still well worth the time and attention, I want to read about the longer-term
effects of the triple disaster. I would also like to read an overview of
Japan’s experience of the pandemic and the fallout of Abe’s assassination.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Fiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">:
click the title to go the review<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonfiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">:
click the title to read review<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-strange-tale-from-east-of-river.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">- Nagai Kafu</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/11/round-midnight.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">After
Dark</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/anthology-of-japanese-literature-pre.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Anthology
of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Donald Keene (editor)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Colorless
Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/07/back-to-classics-18.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I
am a Cat II</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Natsume Sōseki,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/04/classic-10.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kappa</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Akutagawa Ryunosuke</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/10/mount-tbr-32.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kokoro</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Natsume Sōseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/09/mount-tbr-46.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Modern
Japanese Literature: An Anthology</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Donald Keene</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/07/mount-tbr-32.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Modern
Japanese Stories</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – edited by Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Norwegian
Wood</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">- Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Quicksand</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Junichiro Tanizaki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/vintage-mystery-37.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Devil’s Disciple</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Hamao Shiro</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-gate.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Gate</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Natsume Soseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-1.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Nakano Thrift Shop</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Hiromi Kawakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-old-capital.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Old Capital</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Yasunari Kawabata</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-shooting-gallery.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Shooting Gallery</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Yuko Tsushima</span><br /><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/05/classics-12.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Tale
of Genji</a><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There’s
No Such Thing as an Easy Job</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Yukiko Tsumura</span><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/08/mount-tbr-40.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan: 1334-1615</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Sir George Sanso</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/mount-tbr-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan: 1615-1867</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/03/mount-tbr-10.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A
History of Japan to 1334</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-2.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Absolutely
on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-20.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Adventures
in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> -
Evelyn Kaye</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/05/mount-tbr-12.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Angry
White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Robert
Twigger</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-2.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Bending
Adversity</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – David Pilling</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-classic-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Kokoro</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
– Lafcadio Hearn</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/01/mount-tbr-3.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Nightless
City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - J.E. de Becker</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/08/nonfiction-rc-5.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitusbishi</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Niall
Murtagh</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/11/mount-tbr-36.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Western World and Japan</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– Sir
George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/04/mount-tbr-23.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-to-classics-11.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">This
Scheming World</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> – Ihara Saikaku</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-19.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan:</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">– Isabella Bird</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-4.html" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What
I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> - Haruki Murakami</span><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p></p>
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</tbody></table><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-75420247022443213332024-02-26T07:30:00.009-05:002024-02-29T05:19:43.867-05:00Japanese Reading Challenge #1<p>I read this book for the <b><a href="https://dolcebellezza2.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/japanese-literature-challenge-17-review-site/">Japanese
Reading Challenge 17</a></b>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">古道具</span><span style="color: #ff0066;"> </span><span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">中野商店</span><span style="color: #ff0066;"> </span><span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">川上</span><span style="color: #ff0066;"> </span><span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">弘美</span><span style="color: #ff0066;">, trans. Allison Markin Powell</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="color: #ff0066;">The Nakano Thrift Shop</span></b><span style="color: #ff0066;"> – Hiromi Kawakami</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This slice of life novel features ordinary Tokyoites
looking for <span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">simple
smooth relationships</span></span> in the early 2000s. The
setting is second-hand goods store, <span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">definitely not an antique store. This, the owner-operator
Mr. Haruo Nakano takes pains to make clear when he hires twenty-something
Hitomi, our narrator in a small world of people who are slightly outside the
mainstream of society.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">With his other employee young Takeo, Mr. Nakano scours western Tokyo and hauls away the unwanted stuff of the recently deceased and
walking wounded of family breakups. For twenty-five years, ever since he bailed
out of salary-man boredom and humiliation, Mr. Nakano has been selling closet
clutter that was accumulated by members of a modern consumer society but now cast
off for a token
amount to avoid having to pay to have it hauled away as over-sized garbage.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The customers are all kinds of people, from university students in need of cheap
furniture to financially pressed dads who need a <i>kotatsu</i> for the family to
collectors of pop culture artifacts to connoisseurs looking for finds from the
Taisho or early Showa eras. It shows how even Japan changes: when I lived there
from 1986 to 1992, I caught the feeling of a mild aversion against second-hand
stuff (not books, but especially clothes), but now thrifting seems a no-brainer in
Japan.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Thankfully, Japan’s shockingly honest culture has not changed. </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Displaying the most attractive objects on a bench outside the thrift</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> gives Mr. Nakano a kick after </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">the shutter goes up
just before noon. Mr. Nakano's elder sister Masayo draws customers into the
shop, as if by charisma, during the hours she helps. She’s an artist of dolls, candid
in the way fifty-something women often are, unmarried, having man trouble. With
her brother Haruo she shares a gift of gab, producing cascades of words that
the perplex the reserved Hitomi who contrasts Masayo with the taciturn Takeo. Mr.
Nakano, Masayo, Hitomi, and Takeo sometimes have <i>tempura soba</i> delivered
straight to the shop and they eat together.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The days in the shop follow one another lazily and always seem the same. Objects
arrive in boxes and depart in little bags that Hitomi creates.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Mr. Nakano regularly visits
"the bank" but everyone knows that it is just an excuse to meet his
lover pretty Sakiko, who run a high-class antique emporium. Mr. Nakano, despite
or because of his inscrutable way with words, is a heartthrob with a past dotted with myriad
relationships and three wives.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Who would have thought seeing him now: a middle-aged
dude with verbal tics, wearing a knitted hat with pom-poms that reminds Hitomi of the <i>manga</i>
character Sho-chan.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The store is a lab of human behavior where characters meet and grow close,
according to their preferences, choices and desires.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">With delicacy and grace
and a quiet sense of comedy, Kawakami evokes those mysterious bonds that form
among us, when we often don’t know where we are or what to do.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Her novel resonates
with little joys and hurts which come with the vagaries of fortune and our own
incomprehensions.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Hitomi falls for Takeo. He’s been hurt and like Hitomi can’t seem to get
over being afraid of people because he doesn’t trust them. For the author, people grow closer only little by little, in a
frustrating protracted process of mutual misunderstanding, lack of
communication, needless distress and trivial anger. </span></span><a name="_Hlk158969514">A relationship is always in flux, take it for granted at
your peril, it won’t stay the same, so be attentive. Time is passing, what is
inevitable will occur, don’t be surprised at loss when it comes, even the memory
of faces of those we thought we loved will fade. Remind yourself why other
people are important to you, right now, because they may not - will not -
always be around.</a> As Masayo observes, people keel over.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The writing of this novel resembles life, not the spectacle of births,
deaths, and marriages but more as a succession of small satisfactions, bizarre
incidents, and fleeting disappointments. Many moments of sensations: the wind
that moves a curtain, the ruffles in the fabric of clothing, walking home at
night with a crescent moon, binging on a mayo-flavored fried squid snack…. Kawakami, like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-classic-with-single-word-title-emma.html" target="_blank">Austen</a>, excels at distilling eternity down to everyday instants.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> Yessir, give me a novel that connects my nose to the Logos, with</span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> scents no more insistent than somebody smelling of soap or rain.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">No drama, neither the
narrator nor the author are divas.</span></span><span class="hwtze"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></span><span class="rynqvb"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Nothing happens, but an intimacy, a gentleness,
a tenacity to live, to hurt and to live on.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Fiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:
click the title to go the review<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: yellow; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-ligatures: none;">Nonfiction</span></b><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:
click the title to read review<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
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</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-strange-tale-from-east-of-river.html">A
Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories</a> - Nagai Kafu</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/11/round-midnight.html">After
Dark</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/anthology-of-japanese-literature-pre.html">Anthology
of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century</a>
– Donald Keene (editor)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-5.html">Colorless
Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/07/back-to-classics-18.html">I
am a Cat II</a> – Natsume Sōseki,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/04/classic-10.html">Kappa</a>
– Akutagawa Ryunosuke</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/10/mount-tbr-32.html">Kokoro</a>
– Natsume Sōseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/09/mount-tbr-46.html">Modern
Japanese Literature: An Anthology</a> – Donald Keene</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/07/mount-tbr-32.html">Modern
Japanese Stories</a> – edited by Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-3.html">Norwegian
Wood</a>- Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-3.html">Quicksand</a>
– Junichiro Tanizaki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/vintage-mystery-37.html">The
Devil’s Disciple</a> – Hamao Shiro</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-gate.html">The
Gate</a> - Natsume Soseki</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-1.html">The
Nakano Thrift Shop</a> – Hiromi Kawakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-old-capital.html">The
Old Capital</a> - Yasunari Kawabata</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-shooting-gallery.html">The
Shooting Gallery</a> - Yuko Tsushima</span><br /><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/05/classics-12.html">The Tale
of Genji</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-4.html">There’s
No Such Thing as an Easy Job</a> – Yukiko Tsumura</span><!--[if !supportLists]--></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/08/mount-tbr-40.html">A
History of Japan: 1334-1615</a> - Sir George Sanso</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/mount-tbr-5.html">A
History of Japan: 1615-1867</a> - Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/03/mount-tbr-10.html">A
History of Japan to 1334</a> – Sir George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/02/japanese-literature-challenge-2.html">Absolutely
on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa</a> - Haruki Murakami</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-20.html">Adventures
in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady</a> -
Evelyn Kaye</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/05/mount-tbr-12.html">Angry
White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police</a> – Robert
Twigger</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/02/japanese-reading-challenge-2.html">Bending
Adversity</a> – David Pilling</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-classic-4.html">Kokoro</a>
– Lafcadio Hearn</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/01/mount-tbr-3.html">Nightless
City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo</a> - J.E. de Becker</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/08/nonfiction-rc-5.html">The
Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitusbishi</a> - Niall
Murtagh</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/11/mount-tbr-36.html">The
Western World and Japan</a> – Sir
George Sansom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/04/mount-tbr-23.html">The
World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan</a> – Ivan Morris</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/06/back-to-classics-11.html">This
Scheming World</a> – Ihara Saikaku</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/12/nonfiction-rc-19.html">Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan:</a> – Isabella Bird</span><br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/03/japanese-literature-challenge-4.html">What
I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir</a> - Haruki Murakami</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-90716871189000338442024-02-23T00:00:00.015-05:002024-02-23T00:00:00.261-05:00Reading Those Classics #4<p><a name="_Hlk142808179"><b>Second Novel in a Classic
Trilogy</b>: </a>If a historical novel is one that depicts a particular period
through the use of fictional characters, then the <b>USA Trilogy</b> counts as
historical fiction though Dos Passos was writing about his own time. The reader
can find fictional portrayals of factory hands and Wobblies, farmers and small-town
businessmen, journalists and state troopers, and other Americans struggling to
get over during the first 35 years of the 20th century.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p><b>1919</b> – John Dos Passos </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">The first novel of this trilogy <b><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2024/01/reading-those-classics-2024-2.html" target="_blank">The 42<sup>nd</sup> Parallel</a></b> closes with parades
in our American streets that were held to pump up patriotic enthusiasm in support of the entry
of the USA into World War I, the war that put paid to the 19<sup>th</sup>
century. This novel takes the great turning point of the Great War as its main event,
with the action taking place in France and Italy, Chicago and the port cities
of the US, and at sea. An inveterate traveler, Dos Passos even paints a brief
scene with our hero Joe on the bum in, of all places, Gaylord, the only city in
north central Michigan’s Otsego County, a spot nobody from Michigan would ever
expect to find in a novel.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The themes - political lies, exploitation, socialism, absurdity
of war, war as outcome of capitalistic excesses, personal irresponsibility as
barrier to social change -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are presented
in an angry tone, calling to mind other Lost Generation novels like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/10/mount-tbr-27.html"><b>Antic
Hay</b></a>, <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/05/goodbye-to-all-that.html"><b>Good-bye
to All That</b></a>, and Dos Passos’ own <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/07/2014-classics-15.html"><b>Three
Soldiers</b></a>. The stories of five characters are told in an almost clinical
tone like a journalistic report, but still accentuating the impression of impending
disaster. With the war being just a symptom of an acquisitive society on
steroids, gone berserk with war frenzy, the protagonists are denied just one
moment of rest and, despite sometime successes, facing inevitable failure
in the end.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Dos Passos doesn’t narrate the process of failure in
perfect honed sentences like Hemingway or bright poetic sentences like
Fitzgerald. Dos Passos’ prose is detached, impersonal. It lurches and clomps
sometimes, especially when characters have been on a bat (binge). Other paragraphs
move inexorably, like lava making its way down a slope to burn down a house.
But albeit clunky or grey at times the prose never feels slow; it always moves
forward, in my view as a reader who wouldn’t know fine writing if I tripped
over it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Dos Passos’ thesis is that the Great War unleashed demons
and devils in the U.S.A. Economic woes. Jingoism. Xenophobic fear of people
with names like Hilda and Otto. Violence directed at pacifists, labor agitators,
and so-called spies. Dos Passos was always on the side of outsiders that were
perceived as different. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he had a
tendency to decry abuse of power. The forces of order in democracies such as
the U.S.A., the UK and France are portrayed as mindless authority treating
everybody equally - as if everybody belongs in jail. Being picked up for not
having the right papers or being tossed into a paddy wagon near a demonstration
or in any city crowd – such misfortunes just happen as sudden and random events.
Near the Western Front, near misses with explosions and shrapnel make injury
and death just as sudden and random.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Working in the hospitals of the Red Cross, Dos Passos was
in fact a 22-year-old ambulance driver (along with 19-year-old Ernest
Hemingway) during the hostilities so his descriptions of life just behind the
fronts ring true. Dos Passos' familiar is Richard Ellsworth Savage. A Harvard
graduate and volunteer in the ambulance corps and the Red Cross, would-be
fiction writer Dick notes with sadness the bad effects of the war on his drunken,
brawling friends, now louts and good-for-nothings. His sensitive melancholy
doesn’t stop him from acting like a shit with Texas country girl Anne Trent.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In Parisian bistros and in Italian trats, the war feels
distant yet brutal and never-ending, a monochrome backdrop for the
disenchantment of most of the main characters with other people, the world, the
course of their own lives. With the armistice signed, euphoria soon gives way
to anguish of not having a clue what fate might have in store for them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">“But if you thought war was disgusting, wait and see
peace... Oh, yes, wait and see peace,” predicts cynical Mr. Robbins. Dos
Passos’ vision of American nihilistic greedculture is strong beer, hinting why the
Twenties seemed so nightmarishly frenetic in its <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/09/back-to-classics-18.html">partying</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2023/04/reading-those-classics-7.html">money-making</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/07/mount-tbr-38.html">nutzy
fads and fancies</a>, and senseless crime a la <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/03/mount-tbr-10.html">Loeb and
Leopold</a>. Only the character Ben Compton maintains a sense of integrity. At
least Dos Passos grants it’s possible to act with integrity even in an amoral
culture, desperate for money and wasteful of talent and innovation, but we note
the unfortunate place Ben Compton ends up too. “It’s a great life,” characters
observe more than once, “if you don’t weaken.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">As in the first volume, Dos Passos uses curious literary
techniques between chapters of straightforward narration of action centering
around a half-dozen or so characters. The passages named <b>Camera Eye</b> are
written in stream of consciousness. Apparently inspired by his own experience,
they are bursts of emotions and impressions on topics like travel and scenery.
I found them to be generally comprehensible but sometimes they went over my
head.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In another kind of interlude, Dos Passos gives short <b>Biographies</b>
of big names like T.R., J.P. Morgan, Joe Hill, Edison, and Schoolmaster Wilson.
I remember in primary school learning about Charles Steinmetz; I wonder if
elementary school students still hear about Proteus, “the sorcerer’s apprentice
who loosed the goblins and the wonder-working broomsticks in his master’s shop
and then forgot what the formula was to control them by.” Or has he been
dust-binned along with gun-toting <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/09/nonfiction-rc-6.html">Annie
Oakley</a>?</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Mavens like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/07/back-to-classics-20th-century-classic.html">Huxley</a>,
<a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/10/mount-tbr-37.html">Boorstin</a>
and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/08/mount-tbr-42.html">Postman</a>
have been warning us a long time about the <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2023/05/were-americans-this-dumb-before.html">white
noise</a> of mass media as a background to our political, social and
economic lives. Dos Passos used the <b>Newsreel</b> technique to capture the
incessant static of massmedia and the voracious appetite Americans had for
consuming newspapers, magazines, pulps, comics. Dos Passos lists fragments of bloviating
quotations, cocky predictions, horrid misdeeds, old popular songs [Ja Da Ja Da
Jing Jing Jing] and bizarre headlines. [Girl Steps On Match; Dress Ignited;
Dies]. My favorite: [Eclipse Four Seconds Late].</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Because they are incomplete and disconnected and taken
out of context and put together in no particular order, the <b>Newsreel</b>
will feel extremely familiar to us distracted post-moderns in light of how we
skim and scan and scroll our devices for infotainment, as discriminating as a
country dog consuming kibble at home, scraps from trash, treats from neighbor
kids, and deer carrion.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Still worth reading? Hell, yes. He’s a documentarian for hardcore
readers who wonder how the U.S.A. changed from 1900 to 1935. For technique, Dos
Passos does colloquial speech and its importance in characterization in his own
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For relevance, he deals with the
perennial theme of Authority versus Resistance, for acting with personal
responsibility and against letting yourself get pushed around, for the
individual in opposition to the group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-8635446715757744922024-02-19T00:00:00.040-05:002024-02-19T00:00:00.509-05:00European Reading Challenge #3 <p>I read this travel narrative for the <a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">European Reading Challenge 2024</a></p><p><span style="color: red;"><b>How the ‘Mastiffs’ Went to Iceland</b> - Anthony
Trollope</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">By naval tradition, the collective name of a ship's crew
is the plural of the name of the ship. So in the Aubrey-Maturin novels, since
Jack's ships were the Surprise and the Sophie, the members of his crew are
referred to as Surprises and Sophies. A wealthy patron took 15 of his friends to
Iceland in June and July, 1878. The large yacht was called the Mastiff, so the
passengers called themselves “Mastiffs.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The Mastiffs embarked from their wealthy friend’s Wemyss
Castle, near Fife, Scotland. Bear in mind at that high latitude in early June,
they would be having 20 hours of daylight. Trollope, by the way, was a well-regarded novelist of the time and had written a shelf of travel books.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">They first stopped at St. Kilda, an isolated archipelago
off the northwest coast of Scotland. Far from the mainland, their small
population of about 70 and small production of wool did not necessitate regular
contact by boat. So the main purpose of the trip was to drop off tea and sugar,
which eased the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>monotony of the local
diet. Trollope wondered if life was sustainable in such a remote place given
the population’s dependence on charity. He pointed out that marriageable women
far outnumbered eligible men (because men had left for greener pastures) and
that infant mortality was high for unknown reasons. In fact, the last remaining
inhabited island of Hirta was evacuated in 1930.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Their next stop was a courtesy call to Thorshavn, the
capital of the Faroe Island archipelago. The locals had espied the Mastiff
coming in so the Mastiffs were greeted by a friendly curious crowd though it
was the middle of the night. The Postmaster told Trollope that no true Faroite
goes to bed in summer when the sun is up 24 hours a day. But they did have to
knock up the Governor so he could pay his respects.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Trollope as travel writer earns my respect because he
tells me what I want to know about a place - what it smells like – “Thorshavn
lies all around various little nooks of the sea, and has the smell and flavour
of the sea which is peculiar to such places. It is very pretty, but its smell
and flavour, combining that of many fishes, is one to which the visitor must
become accustomed before it will be palatable. There is certainly the ancient
and the fish-like smell; - otherwise Thorshavn is delightful."</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I’ve approached Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, and
Kaohsiung on a ferry/cruise ship like the unfortunate <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmX8seNKVQo">Estonia</a>. I’m not good
enough a writer to convey the ineffable thrill of entering the port of new
city; do it if you can, there’s no rush like it. But Trollope merely recounts coming into Reykjevik with the Mastiffs arguing about the
difference between glaciers and fields of snow.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Well, Trollope was 63 years old and had done a great deal of
previous travelling. Maybe the thrill of a new place was gone. In Iceland,
Trollope liked the locals and enjoyed their culture, being impressed that
literacy was the norm. He recounts with male amusement the shopping expeditions
of the female Mastiffs.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">A crew of affluent people hosted by generous patron, they
stayed on the Mastiff, and ate its stores, having only local cuisine in the
form of curds, cream, milk, and biscuits and wine. It is not clear if they spend
two or three nights on Icelandic soil, when they went on an expedition to the
Geysers. In an example of Victorian excess they took sixty-five ponies, two for
each of the sixteen Mastiffs and the remainder ridden by guides and servants or
laden with food, tents and other belongings.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Throughout the narrative, Trollope’s tone is playful, as the kiddish tone of the title indicates. The
oldest member of the party, he feels indulgent about youthful antics and the japes
of other Mastiffs. There are allusions and in-jokes that only other Mastiffs will comprehend (this book was privately printed and does not appear in Trollope’s
collected works). The tone at the end is melancholy, parting being such sweet sorrow.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">One wonders if Tony, at 63 years old and 225 pounds, had
an intimation that this was to be his last long journey. Thereafter, he visited
only Ireland and the Continent. Trollope died only a couple of years later in
1882, at the age of 67, of a stroke brought on by laughing too hard while being
read to by his niece. The offending book was F. Anstey’s <b><a href="https://librivox.org/vice-versa-by-f-anstey/">Vice Versa</a></b>, a comic
fantasy novel in the body swap genre.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Internet: <a href="https://librivox.org/how-the-mastiffs-went-to-iceland-by-anthony-trollope/">Libravox</a>
and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/282/pg282-images.html">Online
Text</a><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-21999571692675904572024-02-15T00:00:00.020-05:002024-02-15T00:00:00.188-05:00The Ides of Perry Mason 57<p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Note: </b>For many
years, this column focused on Our Favorite Lawyer. But out of the sheer need
for variety, we sometimes turn to the 30 Cool and Lam novels.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Knife Slipped</b>
– Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A. A. Fair</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The second Bertha Cool and Donald Lam crime novel was
written in 1939 soon after the first, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-ides-of-perry-mason-53.html" target="_blank">TheBigger They Come</a></b>. A no-nonsense mother and her distraught daughter hire the
PI team of Cool and Lam to catch the daughter’s husband in the act of adultery.
Bertha, the head of the PI agency, showcases her candid character:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Oh, for Christ’s sake, cut out
the weeps! By God, you’d think your husband was the only man on earth who ever
stepped out. They all do — those that are able. Personally, I wouldn’t have a
man who was true to me, not that I’d want him to flaunt his affairs in my face
or to the neighborhood, but a man who doesn’t step out once in a while isn’t
worth the powder and shot to blow him to hell.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Seasoned writer of hundreds of stories and a dozen Perry
Mason novels by 1939, Gardner unfolds an elaborate plot with a case that goes from cheating to racketeering
to corruption to murder.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The action is punctuated by our hero Donald Lam, whom a
crook describes as slight and delicate as “the second hand on a lady’s
wristwatch.” Lam gets kidnapped, manhandled, beaten, concussed, and, barely
alive, measured for evening clothes by a tailor intimidated into a rush job
by Bertha. Between Lam and Ruth Marr, who is smitten with him, is a hilarious scene – he wants to get down to cases to sidestep a murder charge,
she wants to explore her self-esteem and relationship issues.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The reveal of the true perp is convoluted in the
intelligent Gardnerian manner, but readers not used to the author’s twists and
turns – Lam conducts funny business with the murder weapon - may end up
confused and disgruntled.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In keeping with the pulp nature of the story, the snappy,
wise-cracking dialogue evokes the mood of the Dirty Thirties. That is, the tone
is a blend of cocky brash defiance that feels very American; a sour dismay with
the endlessness of the Depression; and uneasy certainty that coming is yet
another war to fight in wicked old Europe. Lam observes that America is a
“hard, cruel” country, a risky statement to make in front of a readership
filled with just folks that pride themselves on their optimism, confidence,
friendliness, and warmth. In another jab, Bertha goes sulfurous over the
endless tolerance we Americans have for the hollow clowns that lead us.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This frankness may be a reason the publisher rejected it,
as not in keeping with the correct can-do attitude toward truth, justice and
the American way that nervous times called for. Speculation aside, the fact is
that an editor thought the Bertha Cool character was too profane and always
trying to cheat her clients. Bertha really is a card, as one hard-bitten
policeman observes wearily, and she says “I like loose clothes, loose company,
and loose talk, and to hell with people who don't.” Bertha makes the reader
groan with her smarm in always calling Donald “lover” and referring to herself
in the third person, greedily, with breezy promises “Remember, lover, what
Bertha Cool said. She wouldn’t cut herself a piece of cake without seeing that
you had a slice.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The editor also thought that the novel was “too risqué.” Gardner
handles sex in a way that puritanical Americans would think bold with lines
like “She was as conscious of her sex as a kid is of a new bicycle on Christmas
morning,” not to mention Bertha’s advice to the lovelorn: “Love them where you
find them and leave them where you love them.” Ruth Marr, our unworldly girl that’s
made poor choices (a stock character in Gardner World) loses her heart to Donald
Lam for his air of detachment, capability, and self-reliance, all qualities the
Great War and the Depression taught Americans to cultivate. Donald gives her a
hundred dollars for expense money and she buys “a silk dressing gown with …
rose-coloured mules peeping out from underneath the trousers of pajamas which
seemed to be composed of black silk netting.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">After the publisher nixed this novel, Gardner put it in a
drawer and toned down Bertha – a little - for later novels. This mystery saw
the light of day only in 2015. The publisher <a href="http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi?title=The%20Knife%20Slipped">Hard
Case Crime</a> is to be commended for bringing out this lost episode of the
Cool & Lam saga. I highly recommend to this fans of 1930s noir because there
are period references galore, from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gumps#/media/File:Thegumpsintro21217.jpg">The
Gumps</a> to <a href="https://www.chairish.com/product/4728418/1930s-art-deco-chrome-lighted-smoking-stand-by-abco">smoking
stands</a> to directions on how to game apartment house elevators. But without
reservation I also think this is one of the best things Gardner ever wrote and
I had a fun time <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2019/02/mount-tbr-3.html">re-reading</a>
it, something I rarely do with mysteries.</p><p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-51100394895033497292024-02-13T00:00:00.010-05:002024-02-13T00:00:00.136-05:00Undisputed Classic 3<p><b>19<sup>th</sup> Century Classic. </b>This 1898
collection of novellas and one short story just meets the deadline for this
category.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Tales of Unrest</b> - Joseph Conrad</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This collection was the first by Conrad that was
published in his lifetime, only three years after he quit seafaring to write
full time. The Penguin edition is out of print apparently, though the stories are
bundled with <b>Heart of Darkness </b>in other editions by other publishers. The
novellas are not Conrad 's best but readers interested in Conrad's development
as a writer should check out Conrad 's introduction, <b>Karain, a Memory</b>
and <b>An Outpost of Progress</b>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Karain, A Memory</b>. A Malay chief and his trusty
retainer go after a local woman who has eloped with a European. The pair have
unhappy encounters with the colonial world made by the Europeans, one in which
traditional beliefs have no place. Still the chief is haunted literally and
seeks charms from the whites. An excellent story of hope with a fine sense of
place.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Idiots</b>. A couple in the countryside has four
developmentally disabled children in a row. This strains their marriage and
drives the free thinking husband into the arms of the church which he formerly
distrusted. Again a fine evocation of place and scene but melodramatic and the
repeated use of the word “halfwit” gets under our postmodern skin.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>An Outpost of Progress</b>. Two Belgian losers are
assigned to a lonely trading post that is vulnerable to local unrest. All
around them is a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable and repulsive whose
discomposed intrusion tries the civilized nerves faced with moral choices. They
do the wrong thing and the strain of constant contact with the unusual sends
them around the bend. Anybody who has experienced culture shock will enjoy this
novella</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Return</b>. A narrative of the inner workings of
the minds of a couple whose marriage is breaking up. Conrad's intention is to painstakingly
recreate the thought processes of the principles. He achieves great effects in
some passages but it feels long and is ultimately exhausting.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Lagoon</b>. This is not a novella but a short story, Conrad’s first one. This will seem familiar to readers who have read Heart and Jim. “There is no light and no peace in the world; but there is death—death for many.”</p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-50023617125765221182024-02-09T00:00:00.039-05:002024-02-09T05:48:15.888-05:00Reading Those Classics #3<p><b>Classic Nonfiction. </b>Walter Kerr (1913 - 1996) was
an American writer, playwright, and theater critic. He also taught speech and
drama at the Catholic University of America. Fans of Buster Keaton and Roscoe
Arbuckle may remember his homage to the comedians of his childhood <b>The Silent Clowns</b>
from 1975.</p><p><b>The Decline of Pleasure</b> - Walter Kerr</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Kerr sounds teacherly in this book of
cultural criticism from 1962.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">His thesis is that we Americans hold pleasure in little
regard not only due to our puritan heritage but also to our thralldom to the idea that value depends on utility. For British utilitarian philosophers of the 19th century, pleasures are different in quality; that is, some pleasures are “higher” or “more useful” than others. Kerr blames for them for rendering us incapable of savoring small pleasures like a walk, a nap, a boat ride, or fiction because they serve no “useful” purpose. They don't make money or further our careers or make us more influential.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">For instance, explaining why she
reads only nonfiction a reader who values usefulness may say, “If I can read
history, journalism or travel narrative or an expert, I feel much more prepared
to deal with the world and feel I've used well the time I've spent reading. I
see myself as a productive person and I feel useless sitting
around reading stories.” Begone fiction! </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Kerr would probably not be surprised that American culture has embraced walking as a cure-all for what ails the soul and the cardio-vascular system instead of just a pleasurable thing to do. We Americans, he suggests, must learn how to take it easy.
We can stop craving by just throwing the towel as along as we are moderate as to
how often and how much we give in to temptation. Kerr says that if we have a
yen to read a comic book, we should just indulge ourselves. Doing so, we will
become sated with the so-so and turn to the better stuff such as Sherlock
Holmes and then tiring of formula, move on to Shakespeare.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Hardcore readers like us have always valued the
pleasure we get out of the act of reading and accept that reading
contributes to our cognitive and psychological well-being. Relaxed about what genre and how much we read, we don’t feel the need to defend our taste or the time we use on our own preference.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">Since the pandemic, it seems lots of people want to return to the reading that they gave up during 2020 and 2021. They ask on the internet for life hacks as to how they can pick up a book and return to being constant readers. One wishes they would go easy on themselves. We have to stop beating ourselves up as to whether we spend our free time, energy, patience and mood in the most productive ways. As <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/09/labor-day-2017.html" target="_blank">Lin Yutang</a> said in his masterpiece <b>The Importance of Living</b> culture is essentially a product of leisure, “The art of culture is therefore essentially the art of loafing.”</p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-52002531500368381522024-02-05T00:00:00.029-05:002024-02-05T06:16:43.793-05:00European Reading Challenge #2<p>I read this history for the <a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">European Reading Challenge 2024</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Malaria: A Neglected Factor in the History of Greece
and Rome</b> - William Henry Samuel Jones (1876 - 1963)</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Winner of the 1902 Nobel Prize as the scientist who first
described how mosquitoes spread malaria, biologist Ronald Ross says in the
introduction that he had always thought that historians did not take
sufficiently into account the role of disease in history. So he collaborated
with Jones, a classicist and historian, in supporting the claim that the
decline of Greece in the 4<sup>th</sup> century BCE was due in part to malaria.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In this short book, Jones asserts that malaria was
introduced into Greece in the 5<sup>th</sup> century BCE by soldiers, merchants
or slaves coming from Asia and Africa, both hotbeds of malaria. He cites
persuasive evidence for its prevalence because the Greek physicians of the day
described symptoms associated with malaria (e.g. enlargement of the spleen,
different periodicities of fevers). By the 4<sup>th</sup> century, malaria had
become prevalent enough, Jones goes out on a limb to claim, to account for
sentimentalism in art, pessimism in philosophy, and decay in morals and ethics.
Jones says malaria made the Greeks “weak and inefficient.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">As for Rome, Jones argues that malaria was endemic in the
city by the 2<sup>nd</sup> century BCE. He conjectures that it was introduced
by Hannibal's Carthaginian mercenaries. The Roman physicians did not write much
about the treatment of malaria so evidence of its prevalence in Rome and its harmful
effects on individual Romans comes from non-medical writers such as poets,
satirists, comedians, and men of letters. As for the effects on society, Jones
says, “The terrible pictures of life in the first century A.D., as painted by
Tacitus and Juvenal, show that Roman society was not only wicked but diseased.
The extravagant cruelty, the wild desire for excitement, the absence of
soberness and self-control, all point clearly to some physical defect.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">When this book was released in 1907, the response was
mixed. Scholars granted the justness of the arguments for the high probability
that malaria did in fact become endemic in ancient Greece and Rome. But scholars
of the classics and malariology derided the claim that malaria was an important
factor in the downfall of classical civilizations. Jones was derisively
nicknamed Malaria Jones.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The criticism was so sharp and the nickname perhaps so
hurtful that Jones dropped this topic and did not build on this book after its
1907 release. In 1908 he was appointed a Fellow of St Catharine's College,
Cambridge, and despite ill health in following years he did illustrious work administrating as
Dean, Steward and Bursar, and President until his retirement in 1945. He must
have demonstrated fine qualities as a leader to have been able to herd the cats
that made up academic departments then (and now).</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In Jones’ day the conception “interdisciplinary” did not
really exist. It’s rather a pity that this early experiment in
interdisciplinary studies – the humanities meets the biological sciences – derailed
the career of an individual scholar and was not seminal in the study of interactions among
economics, health sciences, sociology, and politics.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In our day, however, disease in history gets much
scholarly attention (especially pandemics for some reason). And historians still cite Jones’ work and not just as an example of cringe-inducing
scholarship from the benighted days of empire, social Darwinism, and racism.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This book is still easily found on the web, an example of
lucid writing and logical argument that can be enjoyed by the lay hardcore
reader.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Online: <a href="https://librivox.org/malaria-a-neglected-factor-in-the-history-of-greece-and-rome-by-william-henry-samuel-jones/">Librivox</a>
and <a href="https://archive.org/details/malarianeglected00jonerich/page/n5/mode/2up">Internet
Archive</a><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-15047109792688494642024-01-31T00:00:00.012-05:002024-01-31T06:21:13.017-05:00Undisputed Classic 2<p><b>Wild Card Classic. </b>The reader has to make allowances when they read thrillers of bygone days.</p><p><b>Mr Standfast</b> -
John Buchan</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This is the third novel starring series hero Richard
Hannay, an English brigadier general who reluctantly accepts an espionage assignment during the First World War. The prequels were the famous <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Thirty-Nine Steps</b> (made into a movie) and the lesser known but
great fun <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2013/12/greenmantle.html"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Greenmantle</b></a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Hannay is ordered by the War Office to get in good with
British anti-war groups because the office fears pacifist and avant-garde
organizations may be used as fronts for German spy activity. Hannay’s alias is Cornelius
Brand. His cover story is that he’s a mining engineer from South Africa who
wants to visit his ancestral land for the first time and get to know its places,
people and political climate. Playing the colonial as useful idiot, he
infiltrates a manor house in a quiet Cotswold village. He meets eccentrics and
cranks into beastly things like the arts, one of whom writes novels about
“life” and “truth” and “reality”… hmm, whose son or lover might this be?</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The creature was tuberculous in
mind and body, and the only novel of his I read, pretty well turned my stomach.
Mr Aronson’s strong point was jokes about the war. If he heard of any
acquaintance who had joined up or was even doing war work his merriment knew no
bounds. My fingers used to itch to box the little wretch’s ears.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Hannay looks for a spy’s “post office” in the Scottish
Highlands. Under cover and arousing suspicion, Hannay is pursued by military
police, Scottish constables, and those relentless amateur detectives, boy
scouts. To escape from the unwitting ones who will blow his cover, Hannay fleeing
on foot comes across the shooting of a battle scene for a war movie so he covers
his escape by using his command voice to cause confusion in the ranks of the
veteran troops seconded as extras. It’s a hoot.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The novel moves steadily, delivering lots of excitement
as he chases down “the most dangerous man in the world” in London, to no avail
though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hannay fights at the front in
France for a time and then travels undercover to Switzerland in efforts to roll
up the spy ring. The climax of the confrontation between Hannay and The Bad Guy
really rocks.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Buchan can be considered a founding father of the spy
thriller that Eric Ambler and Geoffrey Household made so popular in the 1930s.
Buchan used that relatable theme of the decent person caught up in
international intrigue, way out of their depth but becoming the victorious hero
in the end. His respect for those who gave so much to their country is moving:</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The boy looked at me pleasantly.
‘I’m very glad to meet you, sir. You’ll excuse me not getting up, but I’ve got
a game leg.’ He was the copy of his father in features, but dark and sallow
where the other was blond. He had just the same narrow head, and stubborn
mouth, and honest, quick-tempered eyes. It is the type that makes dashing
regimental officers, and earns V.C.s, and gets done in wholesale. I was never
that kind. I belonged to the school of the cunning cowards.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Sure, the romance scenes are cornball, the racism casual,
the imperialism dated. But readers looking for an old-time thriller won’t go
wrong this one.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-67959762330052580522024-01-27T00:00:00.057-05:002024-03-06T12:54:54.574-05:00European Reading Challenge #1<p>I read this strange book for the <a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">European Reading Challenge 2024</a>.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>The Desirable Alien at Home in Germany</b> - Violet
Hunt</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Violet Hunt (1862 - 1942) was an English feminist,
activist, ghost story writer, and novelist. For about three years, the
unconventional Hunt lived with Ford Madox Ford, a writer who is remembered now
for the fascinating novel <b>The Good Soldier</b> and the masterpiece of a
tetralogy <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/08/some-do-not-classic-that-scares-you.html">Parade's
End</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Ford’s wife Elsie felt adamant about not granting him a
divorce. Ford hatched a fantastical plan to obtain German citizenship (his
father was a native-born German) for himself and Hunt and then obtain a German
divorce for Ford. So to explore the possibilities of obtaining German citizenship
and marrying there legitimately, from 1910 to 1912, Ford and Hunt took multiple
journeys to Germany.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">We can enjoy today the only tangible result of
these trips, this eccentric book, released in 1913. It is a literary experiment,
a fictionalized travel book. The fiction is that the narrator is the wife of
Joseph Leopold. They have domestic tiffs, debate where to eat, and argue about
religion - he is RC, she is Prot. As for the travel journal, the narrator
regales us with her responses to sightseeing and her explanations of national
characteristics of the English, French, and Germans. An artist and socialist, Hunt sighs and rolls her eyes at the complacent
German middle-class. Punctuality. Tidiness. Vacant good temper. Painted plates
in the walls. Copious eating and drinking. Tameness under the boot of
overbearing authority that no true Englishman would stick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">What is odd and funny is that Ford provides footnotes to
respond to the author’s asseverations. “I do not know what may be our author's
authority for making this statement, nor do I fancy that she knows herself.” “This
and the whole subsequent passage ... represent, without doubt, an
impressionistic frame of mind on the part of an author, but the conversation
with myself is the purest nonsense, as well as being the sheerest invention.” Seems really modernist, undermining the narrator's credibility. Seems hardly supportive of a romantic partner, holding her learning and high-mindedness up for ridicule, though.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">She doesn’t even speak the language fluently so we have
little reason to take her ethnography seriously. Still, we enjoy her “impressionistic
frame of mind” and her experience of Germany just before that terrible war which
started in 1914. Her subjective descriptions of scenes and people persuade us
readers think that we are dealing with a keenly observant personality.
The avid reader, often an introverted and quiet person easily tired by the irrepressible,
gets a glimmer of understanding as to how this opinionated restless person is
experiencing Germany.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The book also has autobiographical elements with
evocative descriptions of her growing up in Durham with her artist father <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/341667">Alfred William
Hunt</a> and novelist mother <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5314/pg5314-images.html">Margaret
Raine Hunt</a>. Hunt’s style is copious and impressionistic in the modernist mode of Ford Madox Ford. She "makes us see," as Conrad said. She awakens our interest. She
surprises us. She gets dull, clumsy, banal. Then she surprises us again. It’s
fun, something for long winter Sunday afternoons, for hardcore readers who like
musty books that nobody else reads.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Links: <a href="https://librivox.org/desirable-alien-by-violet-hunt/">Librivox</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/desirablealienat00huntiala">Internet Archive</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-62704210618500890232024-01-23T00:00:00.020-05:002024-01-23T00:00:00.132-05:00Reading Those Classics 2024 #2<p><b>The First Novel of a Classic Trilogy:</b> I taught
English in Japan from 1986 to 1992. Six years felt about two years too long.
But what was I supposed to do? Leave a good-paying job only to return to a
country in the midst of a recession, a jobless recovery so disheartening that America
elected a near-unknown ex-governor of a small state over an incumbent president?
Dos Passos’ theme here is timeless: how big history, big capitalism, and big
wars affect little lives. Like mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: red;"><b>The 42<sup>nd</sup> Parallel</b> – John Dos Passo</span>s</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The novels of the U.S.A. Trilogy cover from about 1900 to
1917 (this novel), the WWI years (<b>1919</b>), and the 1920s (<b>The Big Money</b>).
Dos Passos tells the stories of handsomely-compensated minions of big business
like an interior decorator and a P.R. man but also of average American working
people. His overarching message is that capitalism is a system that enriches a
few but makes the USA a hard country to live in for the many. Dos Passos does
not trust entities like labor unions, political parties, the military or
government because corporate interests, to enhance their own perpetuation, grind
down individualists.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">And Dos Passos, not a populist, has no illusions about
The Little Guy or The Forgotten Man. Men are too dense and unfocussed, too distracted
by sex, alcohol, poker, brawling, wanderlust when single and overwork, spats,
in-laws, kids, competition, success, and debt when hitched to be able to focus
on working for social and political change. And young single women have to spend
energy on protecting themselves from males that range from the sincere but immature
boy to the dangerous adult male predator. Married women have to focus on
child-care, elder-care, husband-maintenance and housework. Both men and women
are subject to the stress of not having enough money for rent or food or child-care,
feeling low self-esteem from being looked down for not having any money,
constant racial and ethnic conflict, and the specters of addiction and violence.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Mac a.k.a. Fainy McCreary grows up in poverty at first in
New England but after his mother dies, his father ships him and a sister to
relatives in Chicago. His uncle is a socialist in the traditionally lefty trade
of printing. But when reactionaries hire thugs to wreck his uncle’s shop and
presses, Mac goes on the bum. He gets involved with a radical union but against
the advice of his true-believer comrades, he marries a California woman and has
two kids. But domesticity and unemployment suffocate him and he deserts his
family to do the revolution thing in Mexico.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Janey Williams grows up in a poor working-class family in
Washington D.C. She does well in school, getting a good grip on spelling,
punctuation, and business writing. Landing jobs as a steno, however, is
challenging as is her social life with a series of no-good men. As war clouds
gather, she feels she has to leave a good-paying office job because they voice
pro-German sentiments. In New York, she gets lucky as she impresses PR Man J.
Ward Moorehouse enough to turn a temp job into a steady position.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Joe Williams is Janey’s brother and like many boys seems
a bit cognitively challenged and emotionally unintelligent, in other words,
doing poorly in school, getting into fights and unable to maintain human
connections with anybody. He treats his family as badly as he does anybody
else. As a young man, he wanders from place to place, working at nothing much.
Wanting to see the world, he joins the Navy but the discipline and harsh
treatment drive him to desert. In a time when the system couldn't track people so
easily, he goes AWOL and goes back to his ne’er-do-well ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">J. Ward Moorehouse starts as a young lover of words but
soon wises up and chooses advertising over literature. Using the gift of gab
and never letting scruples distract him from networking, he enters the newish
profession of PR after marrying a wife with money enough to provide him the
capital to launch his own company. He astounds his clients - oil companies,
fruit companies - with his ability to befog and bamboozle by assembling
high-sounding phrases into meaning-free position statements.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">From an upper middle-class family, artistic Eleanor
Stoddard is like Moorehouse, totally focused on acquiring money and influence
in big bad New York City. Her field is interior decorating and she starts a
company with her friend socialite Eveline Hutchins. In a comic set piece they
are hired to do the production design for an avant-garde band of Bold New
Talents for the New York stage. Eleanor also teams up with Moorehouse, as a
client who gets her other clients, and as a platonic friend (really – cold Eleanor
is an ace) which drives Moorehouse's wife literally crazy with jealousy and
anxiety.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Near the end of the novel we are introduced to Charley
Anderson. Trained as a mechanic, he is naive and open-handed, which greedy main-chancers
are eager to exploit. He goes fight in Europe and his story is continued later
in the Trilogy.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In addition to the straight narrative that tells the
story of six people determined to get money if they have none or get more money
if they have some, Dos Passos uses three curious literary techniques. The first
is the short biography told in punchy phrases, short sentences, and even poems
that impart left-leaning takes on the likes of Eugene Debs, a labor leader
whose followers just watched as the federal government put him in jail for
being anti-WWI*; Luther Burbank, plant wizard who made the folks nervous
because he thought natural selection was true; and Big Bill Haywood, founder of
a radical union and who jumped bail in March 1921 and ended up in the USSR,
and his ashes are buried in the Kremlin Wall, as I noted with great surprise while
sightseeing in Red Square in the late 1990s.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The “Newsreel” sections feature headlines, quotations, lyrics
of popular songs and snatches of snappy ads, breathless newspaper stories and
political bloviating. These sections provide the reader with a feeling of how pressing
and hectic urban life felt, at least as reflected in newspapers. The material
is out of context, as ephemeral and trivial as Three Things You Need to Know Now
is in our present day.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">“The Camera Eye” sections are written in stream of
consciousness in which Dos Passos gives impressions of people and places,
strange and ordinary. I found some of these passages unintelligible but for the
most part I enjoyed them. I thought they worked fine mainly because they
weren’t very long.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Granted, Dos Passos is writing about working class and
lower middle-class people that face precarity, exploitation, boredom and
despair; youth with zilch prospects of children or home ownership; high prices
and rising rent; unending social unrest due to injustice to huge swathes of the
population; cynical self-dealers enabled by flacks and spineless mass media
beholden to circulation numbers. Sure, nothing that's relevant in our
postmodern-a-go-go culture, right?</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Still worth reading in 2024? Sure, especially for hardcore
readers into those disillusioned and rebellious writers of the Post-WWI world
like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/03/back-to-classics-7.html">Aldous
Huxley</a>, Faulkner <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/11/turkey-day-scene-in-this-novel.html">to
some extent</a>, and the Willa Cather of <b>One of Ours</b>. Dos Passos, like
Sinclair Lewis, had pointed things to say about life in American small towns
and the American absorption in business and money-spinning. More than Sherwood
Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dos Passos was willing to
force readers to look at the violence endemic in American life, against women,
kids, minorities, malcontents, and any poor bastard a drunken sullen mob doesn't
like the looks of. I mean, if the Twenties were about anything, it was about
artists – modernists - putting off traditional restraints upon frankness and
making people look at their vison of the truth. </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">So this is the novel for you if still retain the ability
to function while you hold in mind at the same time that though the past is a different
country, the past is never dead, it's not even past.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><b>*Debs ran for President from a federal prison in West
Virginia in 1920 so there's nothing new under the sun.</b></i><o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-58317089449765667812024-01-19T00:00:00.017-05:002024-01-22T12:10:29.418-05:00Movie: City of Missing Girls<p><b><span style="color: red;">1941 / B & W / 74 minutes</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Tagline: Talent School Racket Exposed!</b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Gangster King Peterson operates a fake “school of
performing arts” to lure innocent girls with big dreams of making it in show
business. The fact that many of the girls end up missing or dead attracts the
attention of the young assistant DA and his girl-reporter girlfriend. The
talent school, funded by the girl-reporter’s father, of all people, is in fact
a front for a ring that enslaves girls into the ugly world of human
trafficking.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">The first
35 minutes are very slow, though a couple of scenes with the worried
grandmother of a missing girl are surprisingly affecting because they feel so
authentic. The casting of unsophisticated girls rings true: their
faces are babyish and one wears the symbol of dewy-eyed innocence, saddle
shoes. </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This has more convincing acting and better production values than most exploitation movies of the
era. Veteran actor H. B. Warner plays a Carlyle-quoting police captain nearing
retirement. With poise and dignity, he knows how to wear a suit and project
screen presence. Sarah Padden, as the grandmother, brings her role to life and dignity.
Astrid Allwyn is beautiful and her acting is coy and cute, though she will do
annoying things with the pitch of her voice.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The comic relief is comical. At the talent
school, snickering dancers, twins in fact, toss each other around. At a police
line-up the dancers are told to look left and right, which only about half of
them get, thus disabusing me of the idea that dancers are more on top of things
than models. The things we learn from old movies.<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-47782639338412680472024-01-15T10:27:00.031-05:002024-01-15T18:39:34.087-05:00The Ides of Perry Mason 56<p><b>On the 15<sup>th</sup>
of every month, we run something about the novels or classic TV episodes that
star Our Favorite Lawyer. This novel is the 77<sup>th</sup> Perry Mason novel, published in 1966, not my favorite era for Mason stories.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: red;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Case of the
Worried Waitress</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Erle Stanley
Gardner</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">It’s against restaurant rules for a server to approach
customers who are professionals in order to obtain free consultations. But
Katherine Ellis, Kit, is troubled by a problem and she has no one to
turn to. So after Perry Mason and Della Street finish lunch, Perry leaves his
card and a message to the worried waitress, "My usual fee is $10. Under
the plate there is a tip of $11."</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">After her shift, Kit visits Perry’s office and tells her
story. Kit is an orphan and penniless, living with her aunt. Her aunt is only posing to be poor and
has thousands of dollars in cash stashed in her hatboxes (remember those?). Not
only does the aunt stint on food, but she stands outside a factory, posing as a
blind person and selling pencils. Talk about a miser – yikes! Perry orders her
to get out of her aunt’s house as quickly as possible lest she be falsely
accused if the money goes missing.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Too late.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Kit is charged with robbing then assaulting her aunt with
fatal results. In addition, Mason is distracted by two wives duking it out over
control of their former husband’s estate and two rival factions of a
corporation competing for control. The two conflicts are tied together by a
genuine blind person, not a fake one, like the stingy aunt. A lot of plot and
incident crowd together in a novel that, strangely enough, seems slimmer than
the usual Mason novel.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">This 1966 effort is only a middling Mason novel, even for a
hardcore fan. The organization seems loosey-goosey. The trial sequence, usually
the climactic fireworks in a Mason novel, is on the meh side. DA Ham Burger
seems to be just going through the motions, as if dejected he’s going to lose
publicly yet again, for umpteenth time since 1935.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the suspense keeps us turning the pages. This novel
might be mildly satisfactory for any hardcore Mason fan. Novices should start
with the earlier efforts, the rockers <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/07/2014-classics-14_16.html" target="_blank"><b>The Case of the Cautious Coquette</b></a> and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-ides-of-perry-mason-17.html" target="_blank"><b>The Case of the Careless Kitten</b></a>. For old school puzzlers there are <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-ides-of-perry-mason-48.html" target="_blank"><b>The Case of the Buried Clock</b></a> and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/06/vintage-mystery-19.html" target="_blank"><b>The Case of the Crooked Candle</b></a>. <o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-34991230910398463652024-01-13T00:00:00.017-05:002024-01-13T11:16:52.483-05:00Undisputed Classic 1<p><b>American Mystery Classic with a Series Character. </b>When
the creator of Charlie Chan, Earl Derr Biggers, died in 1933, the editor of the
Saturday Evening Post, the biggest player in magazine fiction and the highest
payer of writers, asked author John P. Marquand to develop an Oriental
detective to replace Chan in the hearts and minds of Americans that wanted to
read the adventures of an Asian detective. Marquand wrote six novels starring Kentaro
Moto, from 1935 to 1957. The novels inspired Hollywood to yellowface poor Peter
Lorre in eight Moto movies between 1937 and 1939. When asked how he could handle
such a grueling pace of work, Lorre replied, deadpan no doubt, “I had to take a
lot of drugs.”</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Your Turn, Mr. Moto</b> - John P. Marquand</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">In this 1935 mystery Marquand sought to mine the gold
field of public interest in current events in a simmering East Asia. China was popular
at the time with <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/03/mount-tbr-3.html">Lin Yutang</a>’s
engaging books, <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2017/06/mount-tbr-31.html">Pearl Buck</a>’s
best- selling novels such as <b>The Good Earth</b>, and an oriental detective
like <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2015/09/charlie-chan.html">Earl
Derr Biggers’</a> Charlie Chan.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Writers exploit their own experience so Marquand used
impressions he had gained in a tour of the Far East and - voila! - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>developed the character Mr. Moto, man of the
world and runner of spies for the Nipponese emperor. Mr. Moto believes in his
divine cause though he wishes some of his compatriots were less brutal in their
imperialism. What a liberal. The enigmatic Moto entangles a washed-up Navy
flyer Casey Jones in an interesting afterthought of a plot.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The interest of this novel lies in the characters, the
evocation of China, and Marquand’s smooth elegant style. Marquand’s WWI was an operative in military intelligence so he has an insider's sense of the moral
squalor of spying, which will call to mind Maugham’s <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2020/04/ashenden-or-british-agent.html"><b>Ashenden</b></a>
and Graham Greene, though he lacks the grit and action of <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/06/background-to-uncommon-danger.html">Eric
Ambler</a>'s novels written in the 1930s.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I'm glad I read it but then I'm glad to read anything to
do with Nationalist China in the 1930s. Don't be put off by the antique
stereotypes. Never say never say when it comes to personal names, but the
fact is that Moto is unlikely to stand on its own as a surname – it is usually the
second character in a Japanese surname as in <span style="font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">山本</span> Yamamoto, <span style="font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">松本</span> Matsumoto, <span style="font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">橋本</span>
Hashimoto, or <span style="font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">坂本</span>
Sakamoto.</p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-73153223703200857752024-01-09T00:00:00.051-05:002024-01-09T05:47:30.152-05:00Reading Those Classics 2024 #1<p><a name="_Hlk147296672"><b>Classic Short Stories set in
The Country.</b> A collection of 42 stories, it won the National Book Award for
Fiction in 1951. The stories were first published in weekly magazines such as
The American Mercury, Forum, Harper’s Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post,
Scribner’s Magazine, and The Sewanee Review. </a></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk147296672;"></span><a href="https://archive.org/details/20200821_20200821_0916"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk147296672;"><b>The Collected Stories of William Faulkner</b></span></a>\</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a name="_Hlk147296672">Faulkner came up with the themed section headings, such The Wilderness, The Village, etc. This first section is called The Country.</a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Barn Burning.</b> This story is set in the 1890s,
since patriarch Abner Snopes was shot during the Civil War "thirty years
ago." I don't buy the interpretation that Abner turned arsonist because he
was enraged at the economic injustice that forced him into sharecropping.
Faulkner indicates Abner was always at least half-psycho half-sadist, a
misfit criminal not fighting on either side, using the war as a cover for his
violent and thieving ways. He abuses his family, of course, smacking around his
ten-year-old son, Colonel Satoris ‘Sarty’ Snopes, whose point of view informs
the story. In this coming of age tale, we see that though Abner acts like
Abner’s bad to the bone and the culture counsels nothing should trump family
loyalty, Sarty uses his own innate sense of justice and fair dealing to show
him the right way. It is possible for us humans to ascend from one level of valuing
and choose a higher one, but it's hard, especially for a kid.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Shingles for the Lord.</b> Satire on the
socialism-lite of the WPA puts this comic story in the late 1930s. Due to a
constellation of nutty circumstances beyond anybody's control, Mr. Grier brings
himself into disrepute with his neighbors. Though the preacher warns that Mr.
Grier will be shunned for his terrible sin, he is sure he won't be on
the outs with his neighbors for long, such is the strength of habit and custom
in his remote community. Narrated by the unnamed son of Grier, this story has the
Faulknerian theme of man's eternal struggle against nature and stuff, both of
which are liable to go all kablooey on us, to our trouble and loss and surprise and dismay.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>The Tall Men.</b> Set in 1941, this story tells about
the paradoxical nature of the patriotism of the McCallum family, first
introduced in 1929 in <b><a href="http://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2023/12/reading-those-classics-23.html" target="_blank">Flags in the Dust</a></b> a.k.a. <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/11/turkey-day-scene-in-this-novel.html"><b>Sartoris</b></a>.
Independent-minded to say the least, they don't see the point of collecting
money they didn't earn from New Deal agricultural programs and they don't see
the point of registering for the draft if there's no war on. A draft board
inspector is not appeased when the McCallum patriarch Buddy instructs his two
sons to go to Memphis to enlist, though he’ll need help on the farm due to his
own injury and disability. Faulkner takes a chance by using
a long monologue to cause the local marshal to explain the McCallums and their
acceptance of civic responsibility and destiny to the inspector (and the reader). But
the monologue works in explaining the motives of these people who are
conservative in a noble way that would be quaint to conservatives
of today.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>A Bear Hunt.</b> On the surface it is a comic story
about Providence having fun with two good old boys, one suffering hiccoughs for
24 hours, the other suggesting how to get shut of them. But in a metaphor for the
sense that being human makes us all vulnerable to subtle influences, an Indian
mound in a hidden piece of the remote country has caught the imaginations of civilized people in its sway. And oblivious white people may be the objects of revenge surreptitiously exacted by black people for white assaults
committed against black property, bodies, and dignity.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Two Soldiers.</b> Published in early 1942, only three
months after Pearl Harbor, this topical and patriotic story is about son and
brother Pete’s determination to enlist and fight the Japanese. His
nine-year-old unnamed brother is full of alarm that he cannot follow Pete. Telling
the story from the child’s point of view, Faulkner captures a typical situation
of childhood in that the child is unable to explain his goals or situation
because he doesn’t understand that other people don’t share his thoughts and
feelings and knowledge. Pete’s parents don’t have any
confederate baggage about loyalty and responsibility to the whole country, not
like Buddy MacCullum’s rebel father in <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/11/turkey-day-scene-in-this-novel.html"><b>Sartoris</b></a>,
who never forgave Buddy for fighting for the Yankees in WWI. The story also
works because of its gentle humor</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b>Shall Not Perish.</b> This sequel to <b>Two Soldiers</b>
is also topical and patriotic with the message that all regions and social
classes will have to sacrifice their sons, brothers, fathers in the war.
Faulkner’s prediction at the end of the story is America will have the bravery
and determination to get the job done. From a literary point of view the story
is not as effective as <b>Two Soldiers</b>. It is less satisfying
because though still told from the point of a view a child, the voice is not a
child’s voice and country dialect is dropped. Also, it is un-Faulkner-like
because of the simplicity of the language. We beguiled veterans of <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2021/12/funny-folks-those-compsons.html"><b>TS&TF</b></a>
and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2022/05/back-to-classics-10.html"><b>Light
in August</b></a> don’t turn to Faulkner for mere lucidity. We want to be
dazzled and bewitched with words, just words, even in short stories.<o:p></o:p></p>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1376519809472921104.post-76690027476510334272024-01-05T00:00:00.092-05:002024-01-05T06:01:16.476-05:00 European Reading Challenge 2024<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I sign up for this <a href="https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-2024-european-reading-challenge.html">Challenge</a>
at the level of Five Star (Deluxe Entourage),but may go to six or seven. I won't compete for the Jet Setter Prize.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">1/ <b>The Desirable Alien at Home in Germany</b> - Violet
Hunt (1862 - 1942)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a fictionalized travel book from 1913, just
before Wes Civ tried to take its own life. Hunt was later fictionalized herself by Ford Madox Ford, who based on her the characters of Florence Hurlbird Dowell in <b>The Good Soldier</b> and <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2018/09/last-post-classic-that-scares-you.html" target="_blank">Sylvia Tietjens</a> in the <b>Parades End</b> Tetralogy. Unstable, strange, and manipulative, both wives were less than faithful to their husbands John and Christopher. </span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">2/ <b>Malaria: A Neglected Factor in the History of
Greece and Rome</b> - William Henry Samuel Jones (1876 - 1963)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because <span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I’ve
been a long-time infectious disease buff, reading Defoe long before this blog and </span><a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/10/nonfiction-rc-10.html" style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>In
the Wake of Plague</b></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> in 2014.</span></span></span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">3/ <b>How the "Mastiffs" Went to Iceland</b> -
Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You'd think the author of <a href="https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2016/07/mount-tbr-35.html" target="_blank">47 novels</a> would have no time
for travel but he took trips to the
Mediterranean and the Middle East, to the West Indies and Central America, to
North America, to Australia and New Zealand, to South Africa
and, we see from this title, Iceland.</span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">4/ <b>Eothen, or Impressions of Travel brought Home from
the East</b> - Alexander William Kinglake (1809 - 1893)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Critics regard this as a classic of Victorian travel
writing. Kinglake made his way through Turkey and then to Cairo in time of plague. </span> </p></blockquote><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5/ </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden,
Norway and Denmark</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> - Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 - 1797)</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Regency folks didn't often travel to these places, far away, cold, dark, impoverished.</span></p></blockquote>Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.com1