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Thursday, June 09, 2005

Beneath the Wheel - Hermann Hesse

Written at the age of 29, Beneath the Wheel represents the second full length novel by Hesse and it is said to be one of the most autobiographical of his works. From the beginning, the protagonist Hans is exposed to intense paternal and social expectations that force him to enter the most reputable school of the region. There he encounters an insurmountable daily rhythm that slowly grinds him down and pushes him back out of the system, damaging his health along the way, and leading him to his tragic demise back in his native Black Forest village. This book speaks out against the institutional oppression of students in Hesse's era (early 1900's) but its relevance couldn't be more applicable to our times as well. After two years of working with students in Japan of a similar age to Hans in the story, I saw the face of such oppression and I realized that it is still very much alive. The age-old desire of wanting ones prodigy to reach the highest of peaks that oneself as a parent was never able to reach has not changed, and in the case of Japan (and no doubt there are many other countries thus inclined) it seems to be one long race to the top from the day the child sees first light. Stories of truancy, refusal to go to school, nervous ticks, fainting in class, headaches, stomach aches, and general depression abound. The point of culmination in the Japanese case is sending ones children to 'juku' or cram school since state schools have recently been denounced for being too 'easy'. What price are people willing to pay for their loved ones to be part of the elite? How far can you push someone to the edge before they fall? And after all, once you have joined the so-called elite, looking back was it worth it?

Monday, June 06, 2005

Antéchrista - Amélie Nothomb

Antéchrista is one of the more recent books by the Belgium author Amélie Nothomb. Published in 2003, it comes after some popular publications such as Stupeur et Tremblements in 2001 and Métaphysique des Tubes in 2002. The story is rather simple, it concerns the lives of two teenage girls Blanche and Christa, the one naive, prude and just breaking out of her shell; the other sexy, popular and a malicious source of destruction. Christa manages to wangle her way into living with Blanche and her parents on the premise that she comes from a modest family making term-time lodging a burden her family cannot support. Blanches parent's are rapt by Christa's seductive yet ingeniously cunning charm and invite her into their home. From then on in its a recipe for how to abuse the generosity of others or how to abuse others in general - antechrista - antichrist - anarchist...whatever it may be it is a very fast-paced 'enjoyable' read.

Beyond the Curve - Kobo Abe

Beyond the Curve is a collection of short stories by Abe Kobo translated by J. W. Carpenter. I picked it up on the off chance at a 2nd-hand bookstore called 'Good Day Books' in Ebisu, Tokyo and it has turned out to be an excellent read. One story in particular has stuck with me, the title is "Record of a Transformation". The narrator, a foot-soldier in the Japanese imperial army in occupied Manchuria, China, comes down with cholera and is unscrupulously beaten and killed off by a passing General under the premise that he was a 'worthless' addition to the Emperor's cause. The spirit of the soldier leaves his decaying body at the road side and rejoins the ranks amongst fellow soldiers on a passing night convoy, on its way to fight for a strategic point. The narrator is thus in the realm of the dead yet still accompanying the living and as the story unfolds other soldiers, including the malicious General die and meet the narrator once more. This literary device provides for some fascinating reader - character -narrator distancing and contrast. Kobo has you hooked on the text from beginning to end.

Homo Japonicus - Muriel Jolivet

This is a book by Muriel Jolivet that was published in 2000. It is a long series of very personal and revealing interviews with Japanese men about all manner of pressing issues in their lives. I have been living in Japan for a while now, enough to wear that well known complacent frown that has "this place holds no secrets for me anymore" written all over it, yet when I picked this book up and began reading I was slapped and punched back into humble order - thank god! I have been acquainted with a few Japanese men over time whether through work, or at social events but the conversations were never went below the surface of things. Jolivet dares and succeeds in taking us far below to the depths of these men's lives and it what we find is usually contrary to expectations. If I met Muriel Jolivet in person, I would like to ask how she managed to persuade so many men to speak so open-heartedly to her, a stranger and a foreigner. In speculation, perhaps it was a type of 'therapy' for these men, and the neutrality of her position in relationship to their lives may have been reason enough for them to confide.

The Bang Bang Club - Greg Marinovich & Joao Silva

An unforgettable account of the lives of a group of four South African photo journalists living and working through the last days of Apartheid in the early 90's. The book was brought together by 2 of the group's members (Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva) and published in 2000. The title comes from the name that was given to the group by friends and acquaintances worldwide, echoing the extremes they often went to in documenting the chaos of war and the plight of its victims. If any of you saw and enjoyed the recent documentary "War Photographer" by Christian Frei on the work of James Nachtwey then The Bang Bang Club is definitely on a similar wave length. What I found most compelling was the level of intimacy in the writing; the details of the daily lives of these four men. The result is a harrowing vision of the personal desperation that war reporters have to deal with and the ongoing struggle to justify the 'neutrality' of their work when confronted with very live, very raw and very real atrocities.