bsd-bibliophile

[bsd-bibliophile]

‘To fall for,’ 'to be fallen for’ I feel in these words something unspeakably vulgar, farcical, and at the same time extraordinarily complacent. Once these expressions put in an appearance, no matter how solemn the place, the silent cathedrals of melancholy crumble, leaving nothing but an impression of fatuousness. It is curious, but the cathedrals of melancholy are not necessarily demolished if one can replace the vulgar 'What a messy business it is to be fallen for’ by the more literary 'What uneasiness lies in being loved.’

Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human

[bsd-bibliophile]

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Maplopo

Translations: Check out Maplopo’s translations of Dazai, Nakajima, Sakaguchi, and Soseki.

Maplopo Magazine: Coming this year! Click the link to reserve your copy!

Learn Japanese: Find the advanced Japanese language program that puts you ahead of your goals. Iterative. Intuitive. Expansive. To respect educational principles is to build upon them. Our highly collaborative, growth-oriented methodology entwines trusted pedagogy with new forms of active learning and is designed to address current wants while also preparing learners for needs not yet imagined. No matter the environment, we help learners internalize the Japanese language… from roots to branches.

Yobanashi Café

Access to their translations free on their website.

Buy the collection Retrogression by Dazai Osamu on Amazon.

Translations Page: where you can find translations of literary works by Dazai Osamu, Satō Haruo, and Tokugawa TsunayoshiBiographies Page: where you can find short biographies on a variety of authors related to the translations.

Publications: Want to buy their translations and add them to your library? Check out these publications available for purchase.

Dazai’s School Notebooks: Dazai Osamu attended Hirosaki High School from 1927 until 1930, and many of his school notebooks from this period, complete with the inky doodles of a bored schoolboy, are currently being held in various University and Museum archives.

M Skeels

List of published translations

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Purchase M Skeels’ translation of “Immaculate” by Oda Sakunosuke at Project MUSE!

Award-winning sound novel Scarlet and Blank is now out in English on Steam! 

Japan Reads (Shelley Marshall)

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Read Short Stories Now

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Anne’s Side Blog:

My side blog where I post anything and everything that is not included on my main blog. The Ask Box is currently open.

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[bsd-bibliophile]

We Orientals tend to seek our satisfactions in whatever surroundings we happen to find ourselves, to content ourselves with things as they are; and so darkness causes us no discontent, we resign ourselves to it as inevitable. If light is scarce, then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty. But the progressive Westerner is determined always to better his lot. From candle to oil lamp, oil lamp to gaslight, gaslight to electric light—his quest for a brighter light never ceases, he spares no pains to eradicate even the minutest shadow.

Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, In Praise of Shadows

[bsd-bibliophile]

...I still wait for someone. Who on earth am I waiting for? For what sort of person? Maybe what I’m waiting for isn’t a human. I dislike humans. No, I fear them. When I meet someone and indifferently exchange such greetings as ‘How are you?’ or ‘It’s become cold,’ greetings I don’t want to make, I somehow get the unpleasant feeling that there is no such horrible liar in the world as I, and I wish I were dead. Also, the other people, too, are unduly wary of me and use diplomatic speech which tries very hard to be harmless and inoffensive, and relate their pompous, false feelings. As I listen to it all, I find their petty cautiousness deplorable, and the world becomes more and more unbearably odious. Are ‘people in the world’, I wonder, creatures that spend their whole lives greeting each other in stiff, formal patterns, being cautious about each other, then growing tired of each other? I hate meeting people.

Dazai Osamu, “Waiting”

[bsd-bibliophile]

It is important - even necessary - for us to become acutely aware of the fact that we can’t trust ourselves. The only ones you can trust to some extent are people who really know that.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, “The Story of a Head that Fell Off” from Rasōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

[bsd-bibliophile]

Happy Birthday Nakahara Chūya-sensei!

To celebrate Nakahara Chūya’s birthday here are his top three quotes from my blog:

Quote #3:

Searching for memories that aren’t there, this heart of mine Closes itself up, languishes like an old moldy box of trinkets And then there are these sunken cheeks, these cracked lips- Bitterness bred in cruelty comes rushing out in silence…

I’ve grown accustomed to it all, and have leaned to bear it But sometimes any degree of loneliness can bring you down And while I cannot know for sure, sometimes it seems as if These tears are no longer tears for having loved someone…

- Nakahara Chūya, “Poem of the Sheep” from Poems of the Goat

Quote #2:

Soiled Sorrow: today too snow falls on it; soiled sorrow: today too wind blows on it.

Soiled sorrow is like, say, a fox’s fur; soiled sorrow in its torpor dreams of death.

Soiled sorrow frightens me piteously; soiled sorrow can’t be remedied, and the sun sets…

- Nakahara Chūya, “Soiled Sorrow” from The Poems of Nakahara Chūya

Quote #1:

Now in this world full of sadness, Don’t let your heart harden. For the sake of whatever intimacy we could have, Don’t let your heart harden.

Hardened, the heart is oblivious to the world, And words fall silent on the soul. Nurturing serenity, man returns to that dreaminess Known at the beginning, and can make sense of it all.

- Nakahara Chūya, “Untitled” from Poems of the Goat

[bsd-bibliophile]

Sima Qian continued writing tirelessly thereafter as well. He had ceased to live in this world and existed only as the characters in his writings.

Nakajima Atsushi, “Li Ling” from The Moon over the Mountain and Other Stories

[bsd-bibliophile]

Yesterday’s beliefs may become tomorrow’s doubts, and today’s doubts may melt away in tomorrow’s sun.

Fukuzawa Yukichi, An Encouragement of Learning

[bsd-bibliophile]

There is joy in the darkness; there is sorrow in the light.

Kunikida Doppo, “My Sad Recollection of a Picture” from Selected Stories of Doppo Kunikida

[bsd-bibliophile]

I was a petal quivering in the slightest breeze, about to fall any moment. Even the slightest insult made me think of dying.

Dazai Osamu, “Memories” from Crackling Mountain and Other Stories

[bsd-bibliophile]

Moonlight incites dark passions like a cold flame, making hearts burn with the intensity of phosphorus. Mysterious passions that give rise, for example, to ‘songs of the moon.’ You don’t have to be a poet to learn about the transience of life from the moon. If you’ll forgive the expression ‘artistic madness,’ isn’t that how the moon influences us?

Edogawa Ranpo, “Doctor Mera��s Mysterious Crimes” from the Edogawa Rampo Reader

[bsd-bibliophile]

Reporter: What do you think about Dazai? Sakaguchi: He is one of the great authors. He is an author that possesses a keen observation of humans. He will most likely remain one of the world’s top authors. I am very proud of the fact that Japan gave birth to Dazai. Even in France you would be hard pressed to find an author with his talents. This type of writing that observes humanity is not mainstream, but there are few in literary history able to write like him, coming from a sub-stream writing circle. With that in mind, the Japanese can take pride in him. It is possible that he is one of the greatest. I hold his works in high esteem, like rakugo. I think it is the greatest, rakugo, and one should not speak ill of this. Rakugo is enjoyable and amusing. If it is a piece that extends joy eternally, then that merits being called one of the greats. Dazai is one of the greatest rakugo authors, therefore he will have a place in history.

Sakaguchi Ango, “Eroticism and Literature” Interview

[bsd-bibliophile]

It had become a habit with him lately to listen to his heart’s pulsation while lying in bed. As usual, the palpitation was calm and steady. With his hand still on his chest, he tried to imagine the warm, crimson blood flowing leisurely to this beat. This was life, he thought. Now, at this very moment, he held in his grasp the current of life as it flowed by. To his palm it felt like the ticking of a clock. But it was more, it was a kind of alarm that summoned him to death. If it were possible to live without hearing this bell–if only his heart did not measure out time as well as blood–then how carefree he would be! How thoroughly he would savor life!

Natsume Sōseki, And Then

[bsd-bibliophile]

Every indication was that I was being taken for a fool. Perhaps it was my clothing.

Dazai Osamu, “Eight Scenes from Tokyo” from Self Portraits

[bsd-bibliophile]

My love was torn as a flower is torn, whose delicate petals can never be restored to their stem.

Ozaki Kōyō, The Gold Demon

[bsd-bibliophile]

Long ago, I used to think Love poems were banal

Now I read love poems And find value in them

But I still prefer the loftier forms To love poems

- Nakahara Chūya, “Exhaustion” from Poems of the Goat

[bsd-bibliophile]

Surely you realize they’re all a pack of lies. However, everyone realizes that they are lies, so, in the end, it no doubt boils down to the same thing as the truth.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Kappa