What are you reading today?

[bungakushoujo]

I finished reading 屑の結晶 | L30 yesterday and I enjoyed it a lot. I’m not the biggest fan of mystery books, but this was more on the psychological/human drama side of things and I ended up finding it really compelling. One for fans of complex characters and well done 心理描写! But, warning: it does contain depictions of child abuse/emotional abuse from toxic parents. I would certainly read more mystery books from this author!

I am still working my way through 越境者が読んだ近代日本文学―境界をつくるもの、こわすもの | L36??, although progressing slower than I would have hoped. I finished the first section that was about “Japan and the West”, which covered all things western in modern Japanese literature: how westerners are depicted, stereotyped (or not), differences between depictions of western men and women as well as Japanese men and women, and a section about Japanese writers who studied or lived abroad and how it influenced them and their work. I actually ended up finding the chapter pretty engrossing and it was interesting reflecting on my own experiences while reading it - some things were mirrored and some were not, but overall the passages quoted made me appreciate the power of literature in capturing human struggle and conflict and turning it into something understandable and beautiful.

After that section, I came away with a burning desire to read 遠藤周作 (I’ve only ever heard about 沈黙 | L39 , so I did not realize the complete scope of the topics he writes about!) and reread the short story アメリカひじき from アメリカひじき・火垂るの墓 | L30??. I’d also like to read 佐川君からの手紙―舞踏会の手帖 | L30?? at some point - an 芥川賞 winner about a real crime that happened where Japanese man who killed a woman in Paris and ate her body…

I’ll be starting the next section today, which is about 「甘え」and I’m not exactly sure what to expect. I’m thinking it’s going to deal with self reliance versus reliance on the community because the chapter subheadings seem to deal with 甘え in England and America. There is a great big section about Ernest Hemingway and 甘え in his works. I barely ever read lit from the Anglo sphere and don’t know much about it, so this should be a nice change of pace for me! Curious to see how it’s tied back to Japan and what contrasts there are.

[pm215]

@bungakushoujo

There is a great big section about Ernest Hemingway and 甘え in his works

Huh, that’s interesting, given that I’ve mostly seen 甘え considered as a somewhat Japanese culture specific concept. I wonder to what extent they’re pointing out that it’s more universal than that and to what extent they might be reading something into the work that the author wasn’t even considering.

[bungakushoujo]

@pm215

Huh, that’s interesting, given that I’ve mostly seen 甘え considered as a somewhat Japanese culture specific concept. I wonder to what extent they’re pointing out that it’s more universal than that and to what extent they might be reading something into the work that the author wasn’t even considering.

I shall report back after reading and let you know

[Aik]

Finished 呪われ姫の求婚 | L32. Bit disappointing overall. Wish it was the story of a 咒師 running around in the forest with a wooden mask and wolf’s head on her head and a bunch of skulls for doing magic that the first chapter or so set up, rather than the whole princess competition thing.

Started リバーズ・エンド (電撃文庫 は 2-9) | L30?? - hell of a prologue. Definitely has my attention.

[Naphthalene]

@Aik

Started リバーズ・エンド (電撃文庫 は 2-9) | L30?? - hell of a prologue. Definitely has my attention.

What is it about?

[seanblue]

I wrapped up 本好き 32 a few days ago. I read the first two bonus chapters but skipped the last one since it seemed boring and pointless.

I’ve decided to spend the rest of the year reading オレが私になるまで | L21. I’m rereading the first volume now and will go into the rest immediately from there. I also plan to finish 夜の名前を呼んで 5 | L23 since I have one chapter left to wrap up the series, and it feels silly not to finish it before end of year. Everything else in progress I’ll probably just carry over.

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In other news, 星屑テレパス | L24 is finally getting volume 5, scheduled for end of February. So I’ll hold off on my next manga order until then or a month later if anything else I want ends up scheduled for March. (Still waiting for more ごちうさ, so if I’m lucky that’ll come out end of March.)

[Aik]

Not entirely sure yet actually. The basic idea seems to be seishun romance boy meets girl type thing set in a junior high school - but there seems to be some kind of science fiction background thing going on that’s going to lead to lots of drama and tragedy - strong Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu or SaiKano vibes. I suppose the events of the prologue can’t really be considered a spoiler, but it kinda feels that way, so: It opens up with the love interest girl bleeding to death while they walk down the river together, then jumps back a year earlier to tell the story.

[bungakushoujo]

@bungakushoujo

I shall report back after reading and let you know

I am now reporting back! Section 2 of 越境者が読んだ近代日本文学―境界をつくるもの、こわすもの | L36?? was all about 甘え!

I am going to hide the summary of what it was about and my thoughts behind some drop downs since I think this post is going to get a bit long (and will perhaps be boring for a lot of people I’m going to spare you alllll).

About the section

I knew what 甘え was but would not have been able to explain it deeply, but the book got right into that. The intro dipped its toes into the psychological implications of 甘え (as in, the author referenced “The Drama of the Gifted Child” by Alice Miller at some point - a deep take I did not see coming haha), and works by an author called 土居健郎 who wrote about 甘え and Japanese society were referenced heavily.

甘えについて

According to 土居健郎, 「甘え」has the following characteristics:

甘えは対象との同化の感情であり欲求である。そして同化される側と同化する側は非対称であるのがその特徴である。すなわち、甘えさせる側と甘える側にはステータスの違いがある。甘えが成立するかしないかは一に甘えさせる側にかかっている。甘えさせる側に支配権と権威があって、甘える側は相手の意に従わざるをえない関係だ。

「甘え」という概念の延長線上にアイデア
リゼーションというのがある。理想化といってもよい。これは相手を尊敬し、慕うということで、人間が成長発達する上では不可々なものである。ちょうど健康な精神の発達に甘えがなくてはならないのと同じである。

甘えはノンヴァーバル（非言語的）、ノンストラティジック（非戦略的）、それからアンコンシャス（無意識的）

For reference, the simple dictionary definition:

人の好意をあてにする気持ち。

In other words, 甘え something like the is a non-verbal, non-strategic and unconscious process that involves one party’s idealization + reliance on the kindness of the other party, and that other party’s adaptation to that ideal for the sake of the other person.

Structure and Comparative Analysis of 志賀直哉 and Hemingway

That is all a bit abstract and squishy, isn’t it? Luckily the author structured the section in such a way that all became clear.

After the definition of 甘え, the author provided some examples of 甘え from his own life and experiences with intercultural communication, and followed it up with an exploration of the general attitude towards 甘え in Japan and North America (Europe also briefly mentioned). Then, the concept of 甘え was used as a lens for a comparative critical reading of 「暗夜行路」by 志賀直哉 and various Hemingway short stories including The Old Man and the Sea.

As mentioned, the section covered 甘え in both Japan and the West, and @pm215 ’s comment about 甘え being a specific Japanese cultural concept was touched upon by the author:

@pm215

Huh, that’s interesting, given that I’ve mostly seen 甘え considered as a somewhat Japanese culture specific concept.

Author response:

甘えという感情は日本文化では顕著な表現を与えられているが、決して日本に限られたものではなく、普遍的なものだというのが土居健郎の持論であるが、一部に日本特有な現象だと思われ、その説は狭臨な日本人論と思われ、誤解されたことがあったらしい。

After reading the argument made by the author, I would also agree that it is universal but manifests differently in the west due to cultural attitudes. One random example from the book was an American wife telling her husband who tried to act spoiled “I’m not your mom!” and rejecting his attempt for 甘え - he did not receive it in the end but it was an attempt nonetheless and helps you see how the concept is universal.

I really enjoyed the section on 暗夜行路 (wow, it’s almost as if I love Japanese literature and spent thousands of hours learning Japanese to gain access to it… I love encountering reminders of why I do what I do!), but enjoyed the Hemingway portion a bit less since I’m just not a huge Hemingway person. It was, however, interesting reading a comparative analysis on two different authors writing around the same time period. The use of 甘え as a lens really brought out the cultural differences and gave me new insight into “rugged individualism” in America from an outside pov (amongst other topics) and I had several “目から鱗” moments when reading.

甘え and Language Learning

However, one of the most interesting portions was the author recounting his experiences learning English in Tokyo and talking to foreign staff at his university for practice. He recalled that he spent a lot of time hanging around their private quarters trying his best to communicate in English and they kindly indulged him, helping him learn. Later he went to America on a Fullbright scholarship and recounted his time there:

取ったコースの教授全員が日本から来たこの「ひたむきな青年」をかわいがってくれた。少なくともそう私は思った。私は戦後の書物を読んで育ったので、日本に対して無批判に批判的だった。その分、私は無批判にアメリカを謳歌した。アメリカに甘え、同化しようとした。そういう私を見て、アメリカ人の教授は私を気持よく甘やかしてくれたのだろうか。とにかく私にとって、こんな住み心地のよいところはなかった。

He went on to reflect on the various students of English and Japanese he met throughout the years and hypothesized that successful learners ended up in an environment that provided them lots of 甘え and support as they practiced versus unsuccessful learners who were likely to have not been indulged by speakers of their TL. Applying that same thought to my own experiences learning the languages I speak was quite insightful - it makes sense that being willing to ask for a bit of others and have that indulged can be an important ingredient in the overall recipe!

I had a fantastic time reading about all of that, but I think I will be putting the book down for a few days now since that’s about enough big brain time for one week. The next chapter is about 康成川端 and 山の音 | L38, which many Japanese people have described to me as “extremely dull”. So, I’m excited to find out more about it in the hopes that I can increase my chances of enjoying it myself if I end up reading it one day! But first - time for a break.

I’ll probably end up starting one of the lighter books I have sitting around unread on my kindle, but I’m not sure what yet….

[Naphthalene]

@bungakushoujo

versus unsuccessful learners who were likely to have not been indulged by speakers of their TL.

It took me a few attempts to parse this sentence, but I figured out it’s Target Language, not TimeLine nor, you know, TL.

[bungakushoujo]

@Naphthalene

It took me a few attempts to parse this sentence, but I figured out it’s Target Language, not TimeLine nor, you know, TL.

Hahaha right, TL means something else around these forums I meant “target language”

[cat]

This is like when Brandon almost made the videos category “AV”

[pm215]

@bungakushoujo

The next chapter is about 康成川端 and 山の音 | L38, which many Japanese people have described to me as “extremely dull”.

The only thing I know about 山の音 is that there’s a bit in Jay Rubin’s Making Sense of Japanese where he’s smug about having caught a flub in Seidensticker’s published English translation of it

[bungakushoujo]

@pm215

The only thing I know about 山の音 is that there’s a bit in Jay Rubin’s Making Sense of Japanese where he’s smug about having caught a flub in Seidensticker’s published English translation of it

I read that many years ago and completely forgot about it, but now that you mention it…

[shitsurei]

I have a copy of it on my shelf because I don’t like getting rid of books. I only ever read the section on は and が since that was really the only good explanation of that in English when I started Japanese [redacted]* years ago

At this point I can’t exactly trust myself to use them correctly, but they don’t confuse me anymore, no thanks to Jay Rubin I suppose I just needed to read thousands of pages and listen to hundreds of hours of speech Although fwiw, I think the ToKini Andy explanation is the most concise one that makes some sense of it.

*Mostly I just am lazy to calculate, but it’s somewhere between 20 and 25 years at this point.

[Naphthalene]

Well, after more than 30 years, and various attempts over three different languages, I have finally finished 赤毛のアン | L30??
I always stopped during the early parts (usually the chapter where she lies about losing the purple broche, but I generally didn’t care much for her early antics).
Turns out I really liked the later part. Who’d have thought. Well, I think getting older also helped appreciating it more…

Only one more book to finish my bingo card!

[Mara]

That’s funny, 'cause I saw your update on bookmeter right above or below a different children’s book read by someone else and I thought everyone was padding their 2024 numbers at the last minute with easy children’s books.

[暁のルナ]

Just finished reading マリア様がみてる 5 ウァレンティーヌスの贈り物〈前編〉 | L29 - that was a rough one to get through emotionally! So now I’ll (probly) follow it up by reading something light and happy like 私の百合はお仕事です! 5 | L27 and then starting マリア様がみてる 6 ウァレンティーヌスの贈り物〈後編〉 | L29 - which is the last volume corresponding to S1 of the anime (yay!) . Update: whoops, もう始まっちゃった … given that, I might have to switch the jpdb deck to frequency order, at this point. Hmmm

This was my first time reading with my brand new Kindle Paperwhite, and wow I’m in love with this thing! I don’t have to look at my phone anymore, and be distracted by notifications and all that stuff. It’s so wonderful!!

Otherwise finished 百合姫 2025年2月号 | L26?? and the first 4 volumes of わたゆり reread. I’ll be reading very little else besides マリみて until I’m done with the series (37 books) most likely. Book clubs are variable at this point, but at worst I’ll catch up with them once I’m done with the series

[Naphthalene]

@Mara

I thought everyone was padding their 2024 numbers at the last minute with easy children’s books.

Well, I did keep it for the end because I thought it was easy (and it was). It was also much better than I expected once I pushed past the first half! I kinda wish I could tell that to kid me… but it’s done.

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And I’m done with 坊っちゃん | L41! Done with my bingo card with a few hours to spare.
As usual, I really like the writing style of 漱石, but, also as usual, the end came randomly out of nowhere. That was a bit disappointing… The titular character is hilarious enough to make it a 4.5* for me.

[CatDQ]

@Naphthalene

And I’m done with 坊っちゃん | L41!

I have a furigana version of this on my bingo for 2025. Was thinking it wouldn’t be that hard but now contemplating what I’ve let myself in for I may need to re-think this.

[Naphthalene]

The plot isn’t hard to follow at all! As usual, the author makes jokes that relates to contemporary events, but the notes in my version explained everything. The jokes fell a bit flat from having to read the notes, but still
There’s some old vocabulary, but I assume that the furigana version will edit/update it (or worst case scenario provide a note)