Tag Archives: Japanese literature

Book review: Sanshiro

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Sanshiro

Sanshiro
by Natsume Soseki
First published in Japanese in 1908
Translated by Jay Rubin
With an introduction
by Haruki Murakami
Penguin Classics edition
ISBN13: 9780140455625
2009
Literary fiction/Japanese literature
235 pages
Goodreads

I recently decided to keep this long format only to review books received for review, and write shorter reviews in my Sunday Posts, right later I finish reading a book.
Well, my review of Sanshiro was getting too long, so here it is by itself. It makes sense, for this amazing classic.
I read it both for the Japanese Literature Challenge, and for The Classics Club (Classics Spin #22).

Click to continue reading

The Classics Club: what I got for The Classics Spin #22

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classicsclub

#theclassicsclub
#ccspin

The Classics Club
2019-2024

The Classics Spin #22

Twitter hashtag: #ccspin

For this Classics spin #22, I got #13, which in my list was

Sanshiro

 

“Sōseki’s work of gentle humour and doomed innocence depicts twenty-three-year-old Sanshirō, a recent graduate from a provincial college, as he begins university life in the big city of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics and – most of all – the women, Sanshirō must find his way amongst the sophisticates that fill his new life. An incisive social and cultural commentary, Sanshirō is also a subtle study of first love, tradition and modernization, and the idealism of youth against the cynicism of middle age.”

I’m thrilled I got what I wanted, that is, a Japanese classic (published in 1908).
I’ll read it in January, for the Japanese Literature Challenge, see this post at Dolce Bellezza.

Have you read it? What did you think?

It’s never too late to challenge yourself to (re)discover the classics and connect and have fun with other Classics lovers. See here what this is all about.

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Here is what I got for the previous Classics Spins:

A wizard of Earthsea Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Arsene Lupin

For Classics Spin #14, I got #1: A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin
For Classics Spin, #15, I got #12: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
For Classics Spin, #16, I got #4: Arsène Lupin, by Maurice Leblanc

The Face of Another A Moveable Feast The Dream of the Red Chamber

For Classics Spin, #17, I got #3: The Face of Another, by Kobo Abe (not yet reviewed!!)

For Classics Spin, #19, I got #1: A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway

For Classics Spin, #20, I got # 19: The Dream of the Red Chamber
by Cao Xueqin

For Classics Spin, #21, I got # 5: On the Edge of the World, by Nikolai Leskov

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK?
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
IF YOU ARE MEMBER OF THE CLASSICS CLUB,
WHAT IS YOUR #?

MY FULL CLASSICS CLUB LIST IS HERE

 

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Japanese Literature Challenge 13

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Japanese Literature 13

JAPANESE LITERATURE CHALLENGE 13

#JapaneseLitChallenge13  #JLC13  #JapaneseLiterature

So glad DolceBelleza (@bellezzamjs) is organizing this challenge again!
Click here or on the logo to read more about it.

Checked my history, and realized this is my 5th participation. I did the Japanese Literature Challenge from 2012-2015, but for some reasons, I stopped after that, even though I regularly read Japanese Lit.

I have currently 13 Japanese novels I mean to read, so this Challenge, running from January-March 2020, is perfect.

Here is my TBR for this event:

📚 Ebooks received in 2019 through Edelweiss Plus:

1. The Ten Loves of Nishino (2003), by Hiromi Kawakami (transl. by Allison Markin Powell)
2. Inhabitation (1984), by Teru Miyamoto (transl. by Roger K. Thomas)
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📚 Books on my physical shelf:

3. The Sound of Waves (1954), by Yukio Mishima (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
4. N.P. (1990), by Banana Yoshimoto (trans. by Ann Sherif)
5. Some Prefer Nettles (1928),  by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker)

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📚 For my Classics Club list (besides # 3 and 5 above):

6. Kusamakura (1906), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
7. The Book of Tea (1906), by Kakuzō Okakura= (listened to) reviewed on 1/12/20
8. Sanshirō (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin) = reviewed on 1/17/20
9. And Then (1909), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Norma Moore Field
10. The Gate (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Francis Mathy)
11. To the Spring Equinox and Beyond (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Kingo Ochiai and Sanford M. Goldstein)
12. The Miner (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin)
13. Devils in Daylight (1918), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by J. Keith Vincent)
14. A Cat, a Man, and Two Women (1936), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Paul McCarthy)

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You notice several books by the same authors, it’s just that these have been on my TBR for a long time. Thankfully, most are rather short, so I should be able to read at least 4 per month, besides other books. And I’ll try to listen to some!

NB: there are some other huge Japanese authors not on this list: my favorite, Haruki Murakami, Ishiguro, and many more, because I have already read many by them, or mostly because I don’t need to read them urgently if I don’t have an egalley of them waiting; if they are not collecting dust on my shelf; or they are not on my Classics List to read in 5 years. But your recommendations are welcome for later in the year or this challenge another year!

1/12/20 update: I just discovered that Sanshiro is actually the first volume of a trilogy, so I’ll read And Then and The Gate after it.

I’ll update this page as I go along.

CLICK ON THE BEAUTIFUL LOGO TO JOIN!
WHICH OTHER BOOKS WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE ME
TO READ FOR THIS CHALLENGE?