Read the intro + first story in my lesson! My first ever book from the 大正時代 (the stories in here were written between 1916-25). All the chapters are named after flowers - this one was 鈴蘭 (aka lily of the valley). True to their name, they look like little bells
I’d really struggle without my teacher, b/c the language, expressions, and sometimes kanji choices, are just different enough - which is why I picked it. That said, I’m not convinced it’s L39 difficult just yet - but let’s see what the remaining stories bring. I think I actually will take notes next time, b/c I’ll probably want to reread this at some point later on, and I’m planning to read other works from this era too. Reading マリア様がみてる | L28 has been good preparation in some ways. Tho this feels a bit more mature(?), substantive(?), serious(?) or something.
Speaking of マリみて, I’m on the 2nd of 3 stories in マリア様がみてる 10 レイニーブルー | L28 and I’ve been relying on the translation less for this one. It’s in the middle of some drama that I’m enjoying - a mix of being grumpy at Sachiko (a frequent sentiment), and feeling for Yoshino and Rei), and book 11 is the last book for S2 of the anime. (Sachiko does eventually get better, as the series progresses).
I have been reading a different translation of 源氏物語 (源氏物語 1 | L35?? weirdly considered by Natively as the second volume of a virtual series with no author ) which is muuuuch easier to read. I kinda wonder how much is lost in translation, but whatever.
The story is kinda insane From chapter 2, it’s basically 光君 (=源氏) trying to seduce (and sleep with)falling in love with all the hot women around. Doesn’t work all the time, but he is himself insanely hot (also, married, but it’s not like it’s going to stop him).
My favorite part so far happens when
he is trying to seduce some guy’s wife (classy). She keeps avoiding him (I wonder why). One night, she realize just in time that he is about to get into her room (and bed; consent? What is that, food?) and swaps with her step-daughter (daughter of her husband from a previous marriage). When 光君 gets there, both him and the girl are quite surprised by the situation (not sure of her age, but according to online sources she is one year younger than him). The main character, while realizing that the wife tricked him, thought, well, yolo, I’m here already.
光君: this may sound out of the blue but I actually always loved you please sleep with me this is not a trick or anything.
girl: wut but we never met?
光君: *just stays there being hot*
girl: huh okay I guess?
Next day, 光君 is like “maaaaaybe I should send her a love letter to at least pretend? Nah, I guess I’m just an a**hole; that will teach her a valuable life lesson”.
I finished 自滅 | L28, which I ended up enjoying in the end despite the fact I posted several days ago that I wasn’t. The last three short stories were much more interesting for me than the first two, but I do have to admit the ideas behind each of the stories were unique and kept me engaged. In general, though, I wish some of the characters had a little bit more depth. I always feel like horror short stories end up lacking a tiny bit in that department, but I guess that’s how it goes.
Now I am moving on to 海がきこえる | L30?? for my “read and then watch the adaptation” bingo square. I am ready for some showa YA!
I am always sceptical with books made from movies. The authors usually seem to see it just like a job that’s to be done to get some money. But I hope it’ll turn out well.
The original translation? Or the original text? Because, being more than a thousand year old, the original is basically written in a different language…
In this case the book predates the movie. So the movie is the adaptation of the book, not the other way around. Hoping it will turn out well, though! I’ve already seen the movie before and so far the book is a little different…
Oh god, in a later chapter
he comes across a 10 yo girl, thus too young to be his lover, so he asks instead to become her legal guardian. He even mentions, unprompted, that he is actually married but lives separately from his wife because they don’t get along too well (gee, I wonder why). Literal grooming.
The dude he is talking to is like haha yes, but, actually, no.
For fun, the exchange (starts line 6; 尼君 is her grandmother and current legal guardian)
I remember really enjoying the snippets I read years back (in English); I even specifically picked up an English copy of the book to go all the way through one day. Guess what happened. I love that one of the OG books consists of some dude running around sleeping with women and grooming a small child; really puts into perspective how nothing has changed in the last thousand years.
In other news, I finished 秋の牢獄 | L31 last night! All it took was a forum outage to finally get me to wrap it up.
Reporting back to @Naphthalene@bungakushoujo@nikoru since we were discussing what stories you guys liked most from the book way back, my ranking of stories from the book:
Second story
First story
Third story
I put story three at the bottom, but I still liked it! I liked the whole collection; it wasn’t perfect, per se (hard to achieve that with short stories), but I thought they were all decently written and had some fun food for thought. I left a review here (it’s pretty funny reading everyone’s reviews and what they thought of the book; lots of differing opinions), and I feel like I summed up my thoughts pretty well with this:
The biggest issue most will likely come across is pacing: these stories are unhurried, introspective looks at particularly unique and isolating situations. The author has some neat ideas, and they’re not fussed about getting there quickly. It’s all about the journey, not the destination, and if you vibe with that you’ll likely like this book.
I’ve got one more book by the author on my shelf (竜が最後に帰る場所 | L30??), which I’ll definitely have to pick up down the line.
Now to see what bingo square I can squish this into…
It’s not even the worst he does. He tries to convince her to get into his van because he has candies come to his place because he has pretty pictures and dolls and whatnot. She refuses, so he ends up just kidnapping her. He does have pretty pictures and dolls though, so it’s all okay
Yes, it’s pretty okay most of the time, but there’s still some Heian vocabulary (clothing, tools, musical instruments, building parts, …) increasing the difficulty. People also throw poems at each other like it’s a rap battle. They are left as is because they contain pun or metaphors and are then followed by an explanation of the meaning in parentheses (basically, the translator’s interpretation). I tried to parse a couple and then just gave up. When 源氏 says the other’s retort was weak, I just believe him.
powerful guy does random stuff consequence-free. Truly shocking.
That being said, the afterwords of the translator says that plot is going to happen, so maybe there’s more?
Nice! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I felt pretty much the same about it.
Oooh, I bet a パリピ孔明 S1 | L27 -esque anime of 源氏物語 would be fun. 源氏 isekais into the future and proves his prowess to modern-day ladies with unintelligible rap poetry. (Now I’ve got that show’s theme song stuck in my head…)
First as in before reading the book? That seems like a good way to have the story spoiled. If the author wanted people to read something before the story itself, they would write a まえがき…
That’s what I would think too, but yeah ppl intentionally do it. Consequently authors either don’t go too deep or they put a spoiler warning before that section
It’s not that different from reading the back of a book, I guess? Basically a way to get a preview… But I agree it’s kinda weird
As an aside, but as spoilers go, American movie trailers (not that I see many these days) are far worse than any あとがき I’ve read, in terms of spoiling the movie. Not to mention anime OPs and EDs
) which is muuuuch easier to read. I kinda wonder how much is lost in translation, but whatever.
From chapter 2, it’s basically 光君 (=源氏) 
So the movie is the adaptation of the book, not the other way around. Hoping it will turn out well, though! I’ve already seen the movie before and so far the book is a little different…
(Now I’ve got that show’s theme song stuck in my head…)