# 🎄 2024 Aozora Short Story and Essay Advent ☃ **URL:** \ **Category:** Reading\ **Tags:** aozora-bunko, advent-challenge, bookclub\ **Created:** [November 28, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035 "2024-11-28T04:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/101 "2024-12-14T14:13:21Z")
> [@pm215](#): > > I ought I suppose to go back through it carefully looking up all the words I’m unsure of and making sure I understand it all – but I don’t think I care about it enough to put the time in compared to the other things in my to-read pile for the week. 同感. Which is why I put a ? behind my understanding of the very basic gist of the essay. 🙈 ---
**Author:** ![cat](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/cat/32/2344_2.png) [@cat](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/cat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/102 "2024-12-14T21:18:47Z")
I also had some ??? in my head while reading the 坂口 piece (理想の女), but I usually have to read his essays at least twice to understand what he’s saying 😅 I agree it seemed to be about the difference between reality and literature but also about criticisms of ‘junk’ literature because it was entertaining. Basically saying something I couldn’t quite pin down about how some of his contemporaries looked down on books written for entertainment, and how that revealed a hypocrisy I think? Some bits that stood out to me were these lines: 小説にとつては、戯作性といふものが必要なので、それは小説を不純ならしめるどころか、むしろ思想性を伸展させ、育てるものだ。 which if I try to loosely translate is like For novels, ‘trashiness’ is essential. Rather than making them less pure (literature) it cultivates their ideology (thing they are trying to say) and 私といへども、私なりに、ともかく、理想の女を書きたいのだ。否、理想の人間を、人格を書きたいのだ。たゞ、それを書かうと希願しながら、いつも、醜怪なものしか書くことができないだけなのだ。 which again if I try to loosely translate I think is like Even someone like myself, in my way, well I want to write an ideal woman. Nay (lol), I want to write an ideal human, an ideal individual. However, as I desperately try to write these characters, I can never write anything but monstrosities. Really enjoyed this one. I usually like 坂口安吾’s writing even though it always kicks my butt 😂 ---
**Author:** ![pm215](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/pm215/32/1320_2.png) [@pm215](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/pm215)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/103 "2024-12-15T14:29:44Z")
電報 certainly felt like a story based off a dream – no actual coherent narrative and fundamentally pretty meaningless… I suppose in late 1944 it must have been quite hard to think of anything positive and forward looking. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/104 "2024-12-15T16:24:15Z")
> [@pm215](#): > > no actual coherent narrative and fundamentally pretty meaningless [電報 | L32??](https://learnnatively.com/book/4ab25b86e7/) I am glad someone more advanced then me had the same impression. The language wasn’t particularly hard but I was like “did I miss something?” 🙈 ---
**Author:** ![cat](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/cat/32/2344_2.png) [@cat](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/cat)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/105 "2024-12-15T17:16:58Z")
I had the same reaction to 電報 as you two, “Uh…was there supposed to be a point here?” This is my second time reading this author, and my second time being disappointed. I wrote in my review of the last piece, “I purposefully was looking for a story by this author because I heard he was similar to Dazai and Sakaguchi” but at this point I _really_ don’t see how he is at all similar to them, other than being alive in the same time period. His writing has no magic, no pull. Maybe I need to find his recommended works or something as some authors are very hit or miss, but honestly I’m not enthused after my two introductions 😅 ---
**Author:** ![javerend](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/javerend/32/6985_2.png) [@javerend](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/javerend)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 7:22am UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/106 "2024-12-16T07:22:19Z")
Also tried out 電報 today and yeah I really got nothing. Language wasn’t too bad, but just… ? It felt like it was trying to be symbolic about something but it either was just very poorly thought out or they went way over my head here ---
**Author:** ![javerend](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/javerend/32/6985_2.png) [@javerend](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/javerend)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/107 "2024-12-16T12:16:52Z")
沼地 was fun, liked it I think the most of the 芥川 so far: still clearly edgy sadboy, but at least he’s self aware about it here lol, and had really strong imagery for the descriptions. ---
**Author:** ![pm215](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/pm215/32/1320_2.png) [@pm215](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/pm215)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/108 "2024-12-16T12:19:23Z")
I wondered fairly early on in reading 八百屋 whether this was 落語, and indeed it was. Probably a better experience performed than as reading material. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/109 "2024-12-16T14:25:51Z")
[八百屋 | L34??](https://learnnatively.com/book/0669200d0c/) husbands being useless seems to be a common trope even back then… ---
**Author:** ![cat](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/cat/32/2344_2.png) [@cat](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/cat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/110 "2024-12-16T14:34:32Z")
I listened to this performance of 八百屋 with the text: [![](https://do4ryrayvtpwi.cloudfront.net/original/2X/d/de224e3eb39329bd1f9a8daff0e22051d04845b6.jpeg "（落語）八百屋 　三遊亭円朝　朗読：向井智子") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq9T33UQTuY) Which helped a bit, but overall the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze for me. I also think the formatting used by Aozora for this one was atrocious. ---
**Author:** ![javerend](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/javerend/32/6985_2.png) [@javerend](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/javerend)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/111 "2024-12-17T10:59:30Z")
Read through 野ばら and really enjoyed it. 小川未明 was the very first aozora author I tried reading with 赤い手袋 (which I see is also coming up on the calendar), and I remember being absolutely destroyed (reading level wise) by that 2 years ago 😆 This was a nice little short, agree with cat’s review that even though it’s a children’s story it still felt like it had some meat to it to be interesting as an adult reading it. I know I’ve seen it name dropped somewhere before but I really cannot remember where. Also tried reading the first short from [夢十夜 | L38](https://learnnatively.com/book/06e7953d01/), which I also really liked. 夏目漱石 was on my list of authors I’d been kinda intimidated to try but really wanted to, but at least in short (and modernized?) form, definitely readable. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 12:42pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/112 "2024-12-17T12:42:24Z")
> [@javerend](#): > > 夏目漱石 If you want to read more, I found [こころ | L38](https://learnnatively.com/book/fec665bba3/) fairly accessible and a really good story. I think @bungakushoujo also enjoyed [坊っちゃん | L41](https://learnnatively.com/book/2f9525c2d6/) but I have yet to read this. ---
**Author:** ![mic](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/mic/32/1566_2.png) [@mic](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/mic)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 12:49pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/113 "2024-12-17T12:49:04Z")
> [@javerend](#): > > the first short from [夢十夜 | L38](https://learnnatively.com/book/06e7953d01/) I also read the first story (in my short story/newspaper article phase) and liked it very much. My tutor told me that there are interpretations that the flower 百合 by its name stands for 100年にまた合う. Edit: if I may add, that’d then usually be in another life. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/114 "2024-12-17T13:16:31Z")
[よだかの星 | L22??](https://learnnatively.com/book/5bbe393e9e/) as @cat reminded me yesterday, this story plays a role in [シャドウ | L31](https://learnnatively.com/book/51e42293c5/) (which we read earlier this year as a [bookclub](http://forums.learnnatively.com/t/home-thread/8569)) and I have read other stories by this author before that I enjoyed, so I had a bit higher expectations than usual going in. And I was not disappointed. 宮沢賢治 has a writing style I generally enjoy but the stories I have read so far always tend to lean on the darker side and this is no exception. ---
**Author:** ![javerend](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/javerend/32/6985_2.png) [@javerend](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/javerend)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/115 "2024-12-17T13:43:09Z")
> [@Biblio](#): > > If you want to read more, I found [こころ | L38](https://learnnatively.com/book/fec665bba3/) fairly accessible and a really good story. I think @bungakushoujo also enjoyed [坊っちゃん | L41](https://learnnatively.com/book/2f9525c2d6/) but I have yet to read this. Both of these are on my eventually ™ list! they felt so far away from my reading level in the world of 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮, but honestly with something like soseki project to help out (which I also consulted for 夢十夜), this stuff really doesn’t feel so far away anymore. …ok maybe 吾輩は猫である still feels pretty far away, but that might be a universal experience 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/116 "2024-12-17T13:48:57Z")
> [@javerend](#): > > but that might be a universal experience I read that in English and… even then it wasn’t easy reading. 🙈 ---
**Author:** ![cat](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/cat/32/2344_2.png) [@cat](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/cat)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/117 "2024-12-17T14:30:00Z")
I enjoyed よだかの星 - about what I expected after having it discussed quite a bit within シャドウ, but still an engaging story. As @Biblio mentioned, his work is often a bit dark and this one is no exception, and I’ll also note that his endings are often ambiguous / untidy and this one again is no exception. re: The Soseki discussion - I haven’t actually enjoyed his shorts all that much so far 😅 That said, some authors are better at long form and his shorts weren’t _terrible_ like is the case with 織田作之助. ---
**Author:** ![cat](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/cat/32/2344_2.png) [@cat](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/cat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/118 "2024-12-18T14:16:55Z")
I…don’t really know what to make of ふらんすの女？I think it was supposed to be witty jokes and scenarios but most of it was lost on me. Apparently [the author](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunio_Kishida) was big into theatre, and this does look like something that is meant to be acted out. > Kishida was known for his vehement opposition to traditional Japanese _[kabuki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki), [noh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh)_ , and _[shimpa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinpa)_ theatre. Following a temporary residency in France, Kishida became heavily inspired by European theatres, playwriting, and acting styles and believed these needed to be applied to Japanese theatre. Looking at the section on his writing style, I think this is what the piece we just read was supposed to be like > When he first composed _Old Toys_ and other earlier works, his plays began as short, one-act stories involving a small circle or pair of characters; often, these were labeled “sketch plays”. One of the most famous of these short plays is _Paper Balloon_ (1925), which follows a married couple engaged in playful banter as they conceive of a fictional scenario of how they would spend a Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/119 "2024-12-18T16:06:22Z")
[ふらんすの女 | L35](https://learnnatively.com/book/4c157e346a/) I think plays like these are best performed, not read. ---
**Author:** ![Biblio](https://deyr2qldo994j.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.learnnatively.com/biblio/32/81_2.png) [@Biblio](https://forums.learnnatively.com/u/Biblio)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035/120 "2024-12-19T13:37:20Z")
[古い伝説 | L31](https://learnnatively.com/book/e7faa39f76/) fairly straightforward language. Nothing special but quite alright. [Previous page](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035.md?page=5) [Next page](https://forums.learnnatively.com/t/2024-aozora-short-story-and-essay-advent/13035.md?page=7)