今日も農耕的に仕事をした。
あの「Japan Times」の電子版に、チャリティ・アンソロジー『絆 KIZUNA』の書評が載りました。
皆さん、ごらんください。
_________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Fiction that binds: Japan's hope after
disaster
By STEPHEN MANSFIELD
Kizuna: Fiction for Japan,
edited by Brent Millis. CreateSpace, 2011, 228 pp., $15.99 (e-book)
It's
no coincidence that the Chinese character chosen to represent the most
expressive sentiment of the year in Japan, one that signifies hope after
disaster and misery, was kizuna, meaning a bond of fraternity. Bystanders gather
at the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto to watch as the iconic kanji is drawn by a
priest wielding a giant calligraphy brush.
In the timely named "Kizuna:
Fiction for Japan," we have a work that is both real and immaterial, a book that
can be switched on and off, its pixels massing, then just as easily vaporizing
with the brush of fingertips over a touch screen. If this suggests vapidity, it
is a delight to discover that, although you may not be able to feel the physical
density and heft of this digital book, its contents, dedicated to the victims of
the March 3, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, have verifiable weight and substance.
You may not be familiar with all the contributors to this anthology,
although the name Michael Moorcock is one that most readers will know. Over 70
writers from all parts of the globe have donated their time and creativity to
this collection of new, previously unpublished work.
Although some of
the stories are set in Japan, none are directly connected to the events in the
Tohoku region. Like the recent microfiction genre that has reached the West in
translation from China, all of these contributions are short and pithy. That
said, there is a good deal of reading here.
Judging from the imaginative
content, this is the age of sci-fi, fantasy and extreme fiction, of exploring
the outer confines of sensations and experience. The influence of powerful
imaginists like Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Kurt Vonnegut is evident.
What links these contributions are the human bonds created between the
fictive subjects, some of them fulfilled others severed. Highly descriptive and
experiential, the stories may be multi-national, but in serving up a smorgasbord
of ideas and emotions, they transcend borders. In this fiction sans frontiers,
writer Christene Britton-Jones takes us deep into the Australian Outback and its
vernacular; John Rice, an Englishman in his 80s, offers a Sherlock Holmes' tale
of extraordinary period authenticity. Another writer, Katherine Govier, searches
for the Edo Period artist Hokusai's daughter; Ken Asamatsu is haunted by a
Sapporo locale linked to the failed suicide of a friend.
There are
contributions from a Japanese novelist and scriptwriter, a Western author who
lives in India and has contributed a strange Hindu-Gothic tale, a theologian who
writes chillingly of the habits of a neo-Nazi, and an intriguing sci-fi inspired
story from Philip Overby, who claims among other things, to have served as a
chicken factory worker, plumber's assistant and ex-pro wrestler. He now teaches
English in Japan. These works by authors from very diverse backgrounds are
testament to the extent of creativity that exists in our time, and the good will
of these writers in contributing their work.
Some of these imaginative
tales replicate the concept of kizuna, the bonds that can be made between people
from jarringly different walks of life. In "Kamiya Bar" by Dan Ryan, the
legendary Tokyo watering hole, once hallowed ground for novelists, dissolute
poets and assorted flaneur, serves as the stage for a cordial encounter between
an American couple and a Japanese war veteran, in which a potentially troubling
past is resolved in the communality of the present.
Inspired by tragedy,
it was a joy to read this anthology.
All the proceeds from sales of
"Kizuna: Fiction for Japan" go to helping orphans in Japan's disaster-hit areas.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fb20120401a3.html
最近のコメント