ポッドキャスト読書会と西加奈子作品への導入
Hello everyone, it's Asami today, and it's a soloepisode, and it is also...なんだっけ?
ポッドキャスト読書会エピソードです。
前回、6月の回かな?に本や対象を語るっていうテーマで、
大丈夫じゃなくて大丈夫のしおりさんが企画してくれた。
企画なんですけれども、
It is now August, and I skipped the July one, butthe August one is here,
and the theme this month is 西加奈子の世界なんですね。
なんでしょうね、西加奈子さんは、
I first read her stuff I believe when I was a unistudent, you know, so like 1920s, something likethat,
and...
なんできっかけだったか忘れちゃったんですが、
おそらく、
I think someone who I trust the book taste of haverecommended me to her,
works, and that's why.
I have so far read さらばと愛と、
猫の表紙のやつ、なんていうんだっけな、
白い、
Let's see...
白いしるし?
That's right, 白いしるしでした。
を読んだことがあります。
I think, and all of this has been a while,
and I think ideally I wanted to read another bookby her,
what's on my list is 福笑い、
and 桜。
But I guess I didn't have time to read it thistime around,
which kind of defeats the purpose of this podcast読書会,
sorry about that,
but let me talk about the two books that I didread,
さらばと愛,
that I remember about,
and sort of,
kind of, yeah, just throw my two cents in there,
it's gonna be a short episode.
帰国子女としての共感と西加奈子の描く世界
I think for me,
Nishikanako is the first author that I havepersonally read
that really captured my 帰国至上-ness,
really sort of in a visceral way.
She herself was born in Tehran,
and I think that sort of plays a role in it,
which is sort of a very strong part of さらば aswell,
like a central theme,
and I think her relationship to this like, youknow,
Syria in 愛 and in さらば
is like a sort of her ongoing theme in her life aswell.
I'm not entirely sure what periods of her life wasspent abroad,
and I don't know if the Middle East were the onlyplaces she's been to,
maybe she's been to other places,
but the way she captures this in a character
in these two books,
さらば and 愛,
were really kind of the first time I've read abook
and saw, wow,
I feel seen?
Like, this sounds really cheap when I say that,
but it was kind of an experience where,
oh, somebody else put words into what I wasexperiencing
in a way that resonated with me, right?
And perhaps, especially in the case of さらば,
his sort of foreigner experience is
portrayed through a 小学生 character,
so he's like maybe 10, 11,
so maybe, and that's around the time I was also
experiencing this foreignness,
I was a middle school student when I went toSingapore for the second time,
so perhaps that's what it is,
and for me, Nishikanako, having only read thesetwo novels,
is that person.
It's that person who captures this sense ofisolation,
but also a freedom,
that a lot of 帰国史上 kind of experiences to avarying degree.
We all know we're not permanent residents
of wherever we are at that time,
and yet, when your world is so small as a kid,
that's all you have, that's all you got,
you don't really think about the whole largerworld
that's happening outside of your few meters radiusof your life,
so I think that's what I felt,
this sort of weird sense of alienation
that is both isolating and freeing at the sametime.
Anyway, so yeah,
for me, Nishikanako is that person who does it sowell,
西加奈子作品の多様性と背景
and I think it is a bit funny,
because when I was trying to pick the other booksI wanted to read
from Nishikanako in preparation for this episode,
which didn't happen,
I was faced with a lot of mixed reviews,
where some people are like,
oh, I love everything she writes,
I read every single one of her works,
and I also found plenty of reviews where it'slike,
Nishikanako for me is a bit of hit or miss,
when it hits, it hits so deep,
and it's like nothing else,
but sometimes it misses,
and when it misses, it's in a surprising way,
that it's like, oh, did I even read the sameperson's work?
So I think that's kind of interesting, right?
I think, of course,
what speaks to you is so personal,
but for a writer to have such vast differentstyles
and sort of headspace to occupy
across different works is kind of interesting,
and if I were to psychoanalyze her,
I think that also comes from this
kikoku shijou background that she has,
it's like when you are sort of
in a different cultural mind space,
maybe you think differently,
maybe you sort of experience the worlddifferently,
and it's, you know,
it's almost like having two separate persons,
or maybe three personalities living inside you.
For me, over time, I feel like
the difference has sort of
slowly been reduced,
like I don't really feel that different as aperson
between English and Japanese language mind spaceand such,
I don't think my character changes all that much,
but I think I used to definitely feel this way,
where, you know, I felt more sort of
science-y and logical-minded in English,
whereas in Japanese, I was more like
a literature-loving,
kind of, you know, very bunkei girl,
for the lack of a better word.
So, there's that.
Yeah, who knows, I don't know if Nishikanako
experiences this, but I have a feeling
maybe that's what it is,
that's sort of the reason why she has verydifferent styles of writing,
you know, works like Saraba and Ai
is like a giant epic spanning across decades
of people's lives,
whereas other works by Nishikanako that I haven'tread
is more sort of smaller
in time and space,
and it's a very quieter, observant novel,
and I'm curious to read those as well,
but I was surprised to find out
日本人作家の英訳ブームと西加奈子の作品
that her novel is not being translated in Englishmassively,
given the popularity in Japan.
These past, I don't know, 5-10 years,
I've seen a rise in Japanese authors beingtranslated in English,
like Japanese contemporary authors, right,
like people who are still alive, and especiallyfemale authors
have been translated a lot in English,
people like Kagami Mieko, or...
Anyway, I've seen a lot of her,
even new works, you know, the works that came outjust last year,
something being translated already on the shelvesin English bookstores,
which I think goes to show how the world isinterested
in what Japanese women have to say, which isawesome,
very happy for that,
but I don't see Nishikanako amongst those listsall that often,
because I think her works are very well-known
and very popular, at least to a similar level tome,
as Kagami Mieko and other people,
so I am kind of surprised.
Maybe it's too specifically Japanese,
or maybe it's not Japanese enough, you know,
maybe it's not what sort of the Western English-speaking audience
who wants, you know, subconsciously,
a Japanese female author to write about,
and maybe that's why sort of the publishers make adecision
to not bring those.
So, so far I could only see
Nishikanako's English translation as
桜, it's one of her works,
more recent works, by Alison Markin-Powell.
I think, and this, I'm like looking at the event
that happened in like April this year,
so I guess it's a relatively new publications,
and I mean there are a bunch of other sort of,
other languages translating Nishikanako's work,
but for English that was the only one I couldfind,
with like, you know, enough press and everything.
I am kind of surprised.
You know.
Yeah, and Sakura is her debut English novel.
Again, very surprising.
So, if you're listening to this,
and you'd rather read her in English,
I guess, yeah, go ahead and pick up Sakura, right?
By Alison Markin-Powell's translation.
So, there's that.
Interesting, yeah.
現在読んでいる書籍の紹介
Well, I think that's about it for what I have tosay.
About Nishikanako, I really do need to get better
about actually reading books for podcastDokushokai,
which is terrible on my part,
but Shiori-san, I'm sure you are okay with that.
I do have a lot of Tsundoku,
not proud of it, but it's there.
Oh, why don't I do a little what I'm reading
at the end of this podcast?
So, in terms of books that I'm reading,
I am currently reading Immense World by Ed Yong.
I'm still reading it, just like in my lastchapters.
Really, really, I'm really enjoying it.
I think it's taking me long,
because every time he mentions a new insect oranimal,
I can't help but Google it,
and I go into the rabbit hole of it.
That's how good his writing is,
but it's also a bad design,
because it makes me get distracted about what's inthe book.
So, there's one.
I'm also reading Nutt Hamsons.
He's a Norwegian author.
What is the title?
Growth of the Soil, yes.
I picked him up because I was in Norway thissummer,
and I kind of like reading a novel based in thatcity,
even though, I guess, Nutt Hamsons was there,
what, like, a hundred years ago,
before I got there this summer.
So, I read Hunger by him,
and Growth of the Soil is another one that myfriend recommended me.
It's sort of, like, kind of fun in a differentway.
You know, his writing,
and sort of what he's writing about,
is really from another time of this world.
I feel, even though it's only just one centuryago,
it feels like our concerns,
what matters as a humanity,
really hasn't changed, and also changed a lot.
It's kind of funny, like, out of the bodyexperience that I'm having.
But I'm also taking it real slowly on this one,
because I read this before I go to bed with my e-reader,
so that I can have my lights off and then read.
And that just means I'm going to fall asleepafter, like, two or three pages.
So, it's slow, and it's a long book, but it'shappening.
Anyway, I think that's enough for the Dokusho,Pottakesu Dokushokai.
エンディングと次回の予告
Thank you, Shiori-san, for always hosting andsetting a theme for it.
I don't know what's happening for September.
I think it's someone else that's hosting it,
or, I mean, like, when I say host, it's likesetting the theme.
If it aligns, I will come back to it.
Alright, thanks for listening, everyone, and havea nice week. Bye-bye!
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening, and find us on X at Eigo deScience.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time!