War Bride - I found this story very upsetting. The way the protagonist views words and language makes me think it stems from bad experiences and trauma, and the way loss, grief, change is an endless process. Parts of it made me think it was difficult for her to acknowledge this experience and that giving a name to it and speaking about it would make it too hard to confront. It was very sad to see how she made herself as non obtrusive as possible, always considering other people first, and ultimately being abandoned and lost inside of herself.
A "Poor Aunt" Story - I really liked how this explored the topics of identity, recognition, and writing in such a surreal way. I particularly liked this line from the protagonists friend, "(...) taking on responsibility for something means offing it salvation. I wonder, though, whether you are capable of that just now. You don't even have a real poor aunt." That really struck me, as it can be difficult to find ways towards genuine understanding of other people's situations and realities. I think it's a good topic to be explored in the realm of writing from an author's point of view. It was clever that the "poor aunt" appeared differently to everyone who looked at it, and it being a reflection of pity. I wonder what happened on the train, if maybe the "poor aunt" somehow transferred to the little girl as it seemed the protagonist pitied her. I wonder why he called his companion to make sure she was alive.
The Great Passage - I think this was my favorite reading this week. I would love to read the rest of the book, but this beginning section was so fun. It is quite a niche interest to write about dictionary making, and I love seeing these characters who feel so strongly about it. I thought the bit about his name, "Majime", was fun, and I loved seeing all the different ways words could be interpreted. Particularly with the first paragraph I'm interested in the original Japanese, as I'm unsure if these same phrases exist or if the original had different sayings.
The Emissary - The idea of language throughout this whole reading was so interesting, and how it related to generations of families and environmental changes in the world as well. The connections between this and her other work we read, Scattered All Over the Earth, are very apparent, and I find the way she explores these topics really wonderful. In this one in particular there is a sense of lost hope and stagnation, particularly with the health problems of the children, while there are also light moments of connection we see between Yoshiro and Mumei. The idea of Japan having an isolation policy and the effects of that are really intriguing, and I can't help but wonder about the state of the rest of the world. I also wonder about why the English language is banned, as well as mentions of other countries and things along those lines. I guess to avoid the feeling of isolation as much as possible and not have people think about the outside world?
The Fall of Language in the Age of English - This is clearly a very different read than anything else we've read, and it took me a few tries to get into it just because of its non-fiction and academic nature. Once I was able to though, I thought a lot of what was said about languages and particularly English was very eye-opening. I think in some ways English is even more widespread in some ways than in 2008, while at the same time the prevalence of the Internet has provided connection to other languages in a way that hadn't before been possible. I think literature has remained highly lauded, in languages other than English too, but I can completely understand Mizumura's thoughts and it is possible it will continue down that path. One thing I kept wanting to ask while reading is what timeline she had in mind? When talking about the "fall of literature" in general and in other countries, how many years in the future was she thinking that would happen? I'm also really curious what her thoughts are on all of this now, in 2024.
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