Re:Haruki Murakami Introduces the Penguin Book of Japanese S...
by matt_the_bass on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @06:30AM
(#18014011)
It’s a good question “what do I like about him”. I like the magical realism and I like the bizarre and I like the Japanese themes. But I don’t necessarily need all three at once.
I really appreciate all the great suggestions in everyone’s responses. Many of the authors I’ve never heard of.
As a general shotgun approach at "who's who" in Japanese literature:
Kobo Abe's Woman in the Dunes is a story that's a bit bizarre/unreal; many people I know who like Murakami also like this.
Speaking of "bizarre," Yukio Mishima was quite a character -- aside from that, he was also quite a writer. Patriotism is a great short story from him that's pretty thought-provoking in a lot of ways.
Mishima's Confessions of a Mask is also another book I'd immediately recommend to people looking at Japanese literature. The protagonist is homosexual and somewhat deviant in a number of ways; the book looks at what it means to be "abnormal" and still have to fit into Japanese society (IIRC this was set in pre-war Imperial Japan).
For more modern stuff, Taiyo Fujii's Gene Mapper was a great read and a look at a future where genetic engineering/manipulation is the norm, especially for foodstuffs.