Favourite Japanese Author/Novel?

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Hey guys,

What's your favourite Japanese author/novel?

Mine would be ''Norwegian Wood'' by Haruki Murakami (Although the rest of his books are immensely good too)

I also love ''Spring Snow'' and ''Decay Of The Angel'' By Yukio Mishima.

[stlukesguild]

Why is it always novels? There are other literary forms beyond the novel.

I can't chose a single favorite Japanese writer or book, but I do recommend the classical poetic anthology known as the Man'yōshū and especially the poet, Kakinomoto Hitomaro. I very much like the stripped-down, almost Minimalist aesthetics of Japanese art and poetry... especially as we come to the three great haiku poets: Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa. Interestingly enough... in spite of the feudal warlord nature of Japanese culture, women played a major role in the arts. One recognizes especially writers such as Lady Murasaki Shikibu and her rival, Sei Shōnagon, the poetess of the Heian period, Ono no Komachi, and the modern poetess, Akiko Yosano.

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OK, thank you for the information you provided. That will be useful in future when I'm looking into other literary forms of Japanese culture. Unfortunately, at this point I'm not familiar enough with anything beyond Japanese novels and Japanese movies. I've read a fair few Japanese novels, so I was just wanting to know people's opinions on which is their favourites...

-Ali

[breathtest]

I loved A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami.

[the facade]

Reading Norwegian Wood now actually. Mixed feelings about it but it's definitely captivating.

[lichtrausch]

Mine would be ''Norwegian Wood'' by Haruki Murakami (Although the rest of his books are immensely good too)

Me too.

I also liked "Kafka on the Shore" and "South of the Border, West of the Sun". 華麗なる一族 by Yamasaki Toyoko is also good but it's very long and it hasn't been translated yet.

[Tarvaa]

I love Mishima's novels. Particularly "Spring Snow".

Japanese literature is very rich. As mentioned, Haiku fits the Japanese aesthetic crisply. In translation it seems so basic, but the reality is that its construction is quite complicated. A number of conditions have to met to be classed Haiku.

As for novels and Japanese writers, there are so many interesting ones. Kobo Abe - a master of surrealist extistentialism; Mishima Yukio writes as you would expect a nationalist to glorify his native land as it interacts with the outside. Widely considered the most important writer is Natsume Soseki. Osamu Dazai and Junichiro Tanizaki also very good.

Two other writers deserve special mention: Yusuanari Kawabata and Ryonosuke Atutagawa. Kawabata's prose is luscious in its simplicity. Akutagawa never wrote a novel, but his short stories are just excellent.

[oshima]

"Kafka On the Shore" by Murakami and "The Housekeeper and the Professor" by Yoko Ogawa. Ogawa's novel and short stories evoke human cruelty and baseness with a dream like beauty that I've never really felt from an author before. I am actually minoring in the Japanese language at university, and I decided that unless a new Murakami book comes out, I will not read anything Japanese unless it's in it's original form, so they're probably is a lot of good stuff that I've been missing.

[Pryderi Agni]

Well, as a student of Japanese literature, I can't really distinguish between books I like to read and book I have to read, since they're one and the same. However, my favorite Japanese novels would be Dazai Osamu's The Setting Sun (斜陽 in the original), Tanizaki Junichiro's Makioka Sisters (細雪), and Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon (羅生門) and Fool's Life (或阿呆の一生).

[Tarvaa]

Well, as a student of Japanese literature, I can't really distinguish between books I like to read and book I have to read, since they're one and the same. However, my favorite Japanese novels would be Dazai Osamu's The Setting Sun (斜陽 in the original), Tanizaki Junichiro's Makioka Sisters (細雪), and Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon (羅生門) and Fool's Life (或阿呆の一生).

nice choices! You know Dazai attempted suicide so many times, often taking his then girlfriend with him for the ride.

In Japan, Murakami released a new one. Called "1Q84", it is due for publication in english next September. I can't say what's it about, but it has had tremendous popularity here.

It is pretty interesting that many of the classic novels (by Mishima, Tanizaki, Kawabata etc.) are often considered too difficult by the Japanese. I was speaking to my friend today, about Yukio Mishima actually, and she said that many written expressions are uncommon to most Japanese. The Japanese spoken language appears to be highly un-literary, and the written language appears very distant from colloquial language.

I am reading Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone in Japanese. I think it may be better than the English, mainly due to the fact that I barely understand it!!!!

[Armel P]

I love Coin Locker Babies.