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Shiki Nagaoka: A Nose for Fiction
The novella is just the third book to be released in the U.S. by the prolific and legendary Mario Bellatin, one of today’s leading Latin American novelists. With Shiki Nagaoka, Bellatin introduces the neglected work of a mysterious Japanese writer – a character Bellatin invented at a writer’s conference after being asked for his influences. When he saw that his joke was being taken seriously, Bellatin realized he was on to something. Shiki Nagaoka is a hilarious investigation of narrative authority and the artifice of literary persona. Bellatin’s highly stylized fictional biography recounts Nagaoka’s early life, including his failed first attempt at love, his decision to enter the monastic life, and his family’s disavowal of him. A satire of the literary biography, Bellatin contextualizes Shiki’s untranslatable masterwork, his early use of narrative photography, and his influence on other important world writers, including Juan Rulfo and José María Arguedas. And of course Bellatin portrays Nagaoka’s incredible nose, the deformedly large appendage that determines his life path. Bellatin’s exhaustive research also uncovered a series of revealing photographs of his mysterious life – an archive of which are included in the book.
- GenresFiction
78 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
2 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Mario Bellatin
83 books188 followersMario Bellatin grew up in Peru as the son of Peruvian parents. He spent two years studying theology at the seminary Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo and graduated from the University of Lima. In 1987, Bellatin moved to Cuba, where he studied screenplay writing at the International Film School Latinoamericana. On his return to Mexico in 1995, he became the director of the Department of Literature and Humanities at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana and became a member of the National System of Creators of Mexico from 1999 to 2005. He is currently the director of the School of Writers Dynamics in Mexico City.
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March 29, 2023
At the end of his life he embraced the idea that, realistically, the size of his nose has determined his existence.
Where does a person fit in society that allows them the vantage point to hone their artistic craft; or, perhaps, is it how doesn’t an artist fit into society that shapes the tools for their artistic vision? Frustration, alienation and solitude are a fiery furnace where great beauty can be forged. Shiki Nagaoka: A Nose for Fiction is a ‘biography’ written by Mario Bellatin on the life and works of Nagaoka, whose comically enormous nose made him a subject of ridicule and an outcast throughout his life. The fictional biography began as a playful, Nabokovian-like joke but progresses into insightful analysis of artistry and culture where the rejection and alienation or deformity chiseled out from the block of ‘normal’ society forms a flawless mold for the creation of beauty,
The backstory of Bellatin’s Shiki Nagaoka helps elucidate the understanding of the brief biography. During a literary conference, Bellatin was asked to name his largest influences and invented the author Shiki Nagaoka for humors sake¹. During the question-and-answer portion, he invented details of the as-yet-untranslated Japanese author (one book of which is written in a language understood only to Nagaoka) with a preposterously large nose. The audience never realized this was a joke, even when Bellatin cited Juan Rulfo (author of the highly influential Pedro Páramo) as another Nagaoka-influenced writer. With only the best type of humor, Bellatin continued the joke and wrote this biography for those eager to learn more of an author that never existed (hilariously enough, reviews float about the internet where the reviewer still has not recognized the joke and begs for translations of the works). Even the translator plays along in his introduction and furthers the mythology, which is outstanding and brings a smile to my heart. While the impetus for the book was to further a joke, Bellatin uses this as a platform to discuss a wide variety of social and artistic topics from deformity and alienation to pushing the boundaries of literature through a union of mixed media. There is also a fantastic interplay in the idea that Bellatin has created a fictional character and given him reality in which the ‘real’ Nagaoka feared being thought of as a fictional character due to his features. This is the sort of literature and humor that makes it worth getting out of bed each day.
The women discussed whether his nose was a punishment for having participated—the mother, like much of her society—in the excessive enthusiasm that accompanied the arrival of foreign ideas.
Nagaoka’s destiny seems eternally knotted to his nose. For many, the nose represents the influence of foreign invaders, both physically and ideologically, in traditional society,
Bellatin belongs to the group of the ‘abnormal’ as defined by his novella, lacking an arm and decorating it with extravagant prosthesis. He doesn’t hide himself, he puts it in everyone's face and celebrates his difference. As Mike points out in his wonderful review, most of Bellatin’s characters have a deformity or illness of sorts that forces them outside the gates of society. Yet, like the Artists of the Floating World in the biography, literally and metaphorically separate and above the society of the streets, being alienated is fertile soil for creation. Nagaoka spends his life writing stories, primarily featuring noses as focal characters, and eventually opens a photo development booth where he blends prose with pictures to press literature in a bold new direction. This style captures the appreciation of Juan Rulfo and José María Arguedas.
Bellatin is a master of literary games, and the brief biography is merely a door to a deep cavern of examination and understanding. How often we reject what we do not understand, ridicule what is different, hurt beings not unlike ourselves because we only look at the outside and refuse to see the inside. Shiki Nagaoka is a plea to accept and respect all, who knows what nose is hiding the next great work of art inside.
3.5/5
¹ This NY Times article provides more details on the joke and an excellent examination of the life and works of Bellatin.
The only known photograph of Shiki Nagaoka, intentionally damaged by his sister.
Where does a person fit in society that allows them the vantage point to hone their artistic craft; or, perhaps, is it how doesn’t an artist fit into society that shapes the tools for their artistic vision? Frustration, alienation and solitude are a fiery furnace where great beauty can be forged. Shiki Nagaoka: A Nose for Fiction is a ‘biography’ written by Mario Bellatin on the life and works of Nagaoka, whose comically enormous nose made him a subject of ridicule and an outcast throughout his life. The fictional biography began as a playful, Nabokovian-like joke but progresses into insightful analysis of artistry and culture where the rejection and alienation or deformity chiseled out from the block of ‘normal’ society forms a flawless mold for the creation of beauty,
The backstory of Bellatin’s Shiki Nagaoka helps elucidate the understanding of the brief biography. During a literary conference, Bellatin was asked to name his largest influences and invented the author Shiki Nagaoka for humors sake¹. During the question-and-answer portion, he invented details of the as-yet-untranslated Japanese author (one book of which is written in a language understood only to Nagaoka) with a preposterously large nose. The audience never realized this was a joke, even when Bellatin cited Juan Rulfo (author of the highly influential Pedro Páramo) as another Nagaoka-influenced writer. With only the best type of humor, Bellatin continued the joke and wrote this biography for those eager to learn more of an author that never existed (hilariously enough, reviews float about the internet where the reviewer still has not recognized the joke and begs for translations of the works). Even the translator plays along in his introduction and furthers the mythology, which is outstanding and brings a smile to my heart. While the impetus for the book was to further a joke, Bellatin uses this as a platform to discuss a wide variety of social and artistic topics from deformity and alienation to pushing the boundaries of literature through a union of mixed media. There is also a fantastic interplay in the idea that Bellatin has created a fictional character and given him reality in which the ‘real’ Nagaoka feared being thought of as a fictional character due to his features. This is the sort of literature and humor that makes it worth getting out of bed each day.
The women discussed whether his nose was a punishment for having participated—the mother, like much of her society—in the excessive enthusiasm that accompanied the arrival of foreign ideas.
Nagaoka’s destiny seems eternally knotted to his nose. For many, the nose represents the influence of foreign invaders, both physically and ideologically, in traditional society,
When Shiki Nagaoka was born, the new, liberal politics of commerce, established by decree when military forces abandoned absolute power, were still fresh.Rejected by an obdurate, not-yet-ready society, he escapes into the monkhood and is further rejected by his family for taking up religious convictions. However, even in religious monastery is he subject to cruel ridicule and alienation due to his ‘abnormal’ features, where ironically even a sect devoted to the love of all mankind in servitude to God rejects those that are different. What better portrait of society exists than one where the religious and the society of the masses reject and fear anything that doesn’t fit their mold.
Bellatin belongs to the group of the ‘abnormal’ as defined by his novella, lacking an arm and decorating it with extravagant prosthesis. He doesn’t hide himself, he puts it in everyone's face and celebrates his difference. As Mike points out in his wonderful review, most of Bellatin’s characters have a deformity or illness of sorts that forces them outside the gates of society. Yet, like the Artists of the Floating World in the biography, literally and metaphorically separate and above the society of the streets, being alienated is fertile soil for creation. Nagaoka spends his life writing stories, primarily featuring noses as focal characters, and eventually opens a photo development booth where he blends prose with pictures to press literature in a bold new direction. This style captures the appreciation of Juan Rulfo and José María Arguedas.
To be able to see reality modified not only by the lens of the photographer but also by the written word that accompanies those images is a path that infinitely strengthens the narrative possibilities of actual reality.The biography itself accomplishes this goal, featuring nearly half it’s length in photographs with descriptions to tie them into Nagaoka’s life. Interestingly enough, the only photograph of Nagaoka is damaged by his sister to hide his nose, lest he not be thought of as a fictional character.
Bellatin is a master of literary games, and the brief biography is merely a door to a deep cavern of examination and understanding. How often we reject what we do not understand, ridicule what is different, hurt beings not unlike ourselves because we only look at the outside and refuse to see the inside. Shiki Nagaoka is a plea to accept and respect all, who knows what nose is hiding the next great work of art inside.
3.5/5
¹ This NY Times article provides more details on the joke and an excellent examination of the life and works of Bellatin.
The only known photograph of Shiki Nagaoka, intentionally damaged by his sister.
October 1, 2022
Me acuerdo que cuando lo empecé a leer busqué como una loca a Shiki Nagaoka en Internet. Buscaba sus libros, su vida o al menos algún estudio posterior sobre su obra. No encontraba nada, ni siquiera en Wikipedia. Más tarde advertí que 'Shiki Nagaoka: Una nariz de ficción' era una biografía ficticia sobre un escritor también ficticio. Cuando me di cuenta me sentí bien tonta. Caí por completo en la trampa de Mario Bellatin. Muy graciosa la broma.
November 30, 2020
después de tres años, he regresao!!!
January 16, 2014
I love everything about this book.
"When he turned fifteen, Shiki Nagaoka began to study foreign languages. In an astonishingly short period, he came to master them with admirable skill. He then began to write his literary texts in English or French, to later convert them into his mother tongue, thereby achieving the effect that everything from his pen resembled a translation. Years later he was able to put into writing the ideas which inspired that exercise. In his essay "Treatise on the Observed Language," which appeared much later from Fuguya Press in 1962, he affirms that only by means of reading translated texts can the real essence of the literary, which exists in the language, be understood, not in any way like some scholars affirm. Only by transferring the stories from a Western orthography into traditional ideograms is it possible to achieve the true artistic possibilities of any work. Strangely, in spite of his apparent attachment to foreign languages, Shiki Nagaoka did not for a single moment allow the minutest influence of other literatures to color his work. In each of his texts, he was remarkably faithful to the narrative structures of his ancestors. That limitless devotion to ancestral practices, though adapted to his particular system, made him an uncommon author in an era during which most artists were dazzled by newly discovered foreign forms of expression."
"When he turned fifteen, Shiki Nagaoka began to study foreign languages. In an astonishingly short period, he came to master them with admirable skill. He then began to write his literary texts in English or French, to later convert them into his mother tongue, thereby achieving the effect that everything from his pen resembled a translation. Years later he was able to put into writing the ideas which inspired that exercise. In his essay "Treatise on the Observed Language," which appeared much later from Fuguya Press in 1962, he affirms that only by means of reading translated texts can the real essence of the literary, which exists in the language, be understood, not in any way like some scholars affirm. Only by transferring the stories from a Western orthography into traditional ideograms is it possible to achieve the true artistic possibilities of any work. Strangely, in spite of his apparent attachment to foreign languages, Shiki Nagaoka did not for a single moment allow the minutest influence of other literatures to color his work. In each of his texts, he was remarkably faithful to the narrative structures of his ancestors. That limitless devotion to ancestral practices, though adapted to his particular system, made him an uncommon author in an era during which most artists were dazzled by newly discovered foreign forms of expression."
September 23, 2014
Bellatin construye con solvencia la biografía de un personaje apócrifo. La documentación fotográfica que acompaña al texto funciona como un juego de espejos que construye en el lector la sensación de verosimilitud de un imposible. La addenda del cuento de Akutagawa y la narración anónima funcionan de la misma manera.
October 24, 2013
Read during a period when I was afflicted by unstoppable allergies, this fictional biography of an obscure Japanese author with a grotesquely large nose resonated with me…as you might imagine.
Even so, were I not feeling like my own nose had grown to ponderous dimensions, I would have still enjoyed Mario Bellatin’s careful deployment of deformation as humor and as metaphor. Most of Bellatin’s production crosses into the absurd, and in that he falls in line with a few other Latin American authors whose peculiar short works are off in a category all their own. While Borges is the godfather of this kind of work, I tend to be more fond of his descendants than Borges himself. Perhaps because they are more attracted to the absurd than the old librarian ever was.
This is Bellatin’s third work to appear in English. It tells the tale of a forgotten 20th century Japanese master burdened by a ponderous nose and a family who saw his deformation as a mark upon his character. As a fan of fake bios to begin with, I truly enjoyed Bellatin’s sense of transparent unreality propped up in a very real landscape of Japan in the early 20th century. And we are left with the mystery of Nagaoka’s final work; a literary masterpiece transcribed in an unknown, and as yet, untranslated language.
Even so, were I not feeling like my own nose had grown to ponderous dimensions, I would have still enjoyed Mario Bellatin’s careful deployment of deformation as humor and as metaphor. Most of Bellatin’s production crosses into the absurd, and in that he falls in line with a few other Latin American authors whose peculiar short works are off in a category all their own. While Borges is the godfather of this kind of work, I tend to be more fond of his descendants than Borges himself. Perhaps because they are more attracted to the absurd than the old librarian ever was.
This is Bellatin’s third work to appear in English. It tells the tale of a forgotten 20th century Japanese master burdened by a ponderous nose and a family who saw his deformation as a mark upon his character. As a fan of fake bios to begin with, I truly enjoyed Bellatin’s sense of transparent unreality propped up in a very real landscape of Japan in the early 20th century. And we are left with the mystery of Nagaoka’s final work; a literary masterpiece transcribed in an unknown, and as yet, untranslated language.
July 27, 2019
This book is one of the strangest I've ever read. It's a fake biography about a fake Japanese writer by a real (I think?) Mexican author. After reading it, I'm left wondering if the author is real? The translator? The publishing house? Anyone involved in this short, clever, crazy little book? Definitely worth a read.
September 3, 2020
Este libro surge a partir de una conferencia en el que Bellatin fue invitado, junto a otros escritores, a hablar de su escritor favorito y él presentó a Nagaoka Shiki como un reconocido escritor japonés. Bellatin hace un juego de realidad-ficción con esta falsa biografía-dossier que contiene incluso supuestas fotografías relacionadas con el autor-protagonista. Admiro la creatividad de Bellatin, los juegos literarios que hace y la importancia que le otorga a la metaliteratura: las imágenes, los documentos y el performance. Me parece curioso que en las citaciones al comienzo del libro mencione a Akutagawa cuyo cuento La nariz se basa en el cuento La nariz del siglo XIII y a su vez Bellatin en esta "biografía" refiera que Akutagawa se inspiró de Nagaoka Shiki. Una vez más, mezcla personas reales con datos imaginados, difuminando la línea de lo cierto y de la ficción.
August 12, 2015
This has to be my favorite of Bellatin's literature so far. Its clever in style and the story is filled with humor. However, it is also filled with the sadness of being a deformed/disabled person and inspiration that a disability can bring to a person's life.I simply loved it.
April 25, 2014
Quite interesting, nice light reading
December 23, 2018
“In his final years Shiki Nagaoka wrote a book that for many is fundamental. Unfortunately it dosen’t exist in any known language.“
Mexican writer Mario Bellatin’s “Shiki Nakaoka. A Nose for Fiction” is a fascinating portrait of the mostly unknown, but mysteriously influential japanese writer, Shiki Nagaoka, whose extraordinary nose "was such that he was considered by many to be a fictional character."
And by the way: yes, Shikii Nagaoka is indeed a fictional creation by the literary trickster Bellatin. The book is a fictional biography, complete with photos of the writer's alleged family, his nose-maintenance-gear and so on.
Hillariously funny, but also a moving portrait of a creative soul, who throughout most of his life had to se himself reduced to his physical deformity. Highly recommended.
Full bookreview (in Danish) at bognoter.dk: https://bognoter.dk/2018/12/22/mario-...
Mexican writer Mario Bellatin’s “Shiki Nakaoka. A Nose for Fiction” is a fascinating portrait of the mostly unknown, but mysteriously influential japanese writer, Shiki Nagaoka, whose extraordinary nose "was such that he was considered by many to be a fictional character."
And by the way: yes, Shikii Nagaoka is indeed a fictional creation by the literary trickster Bellatin. The book is a fictional biography, complete with photos of the writer's alleged family, his nose-maintenance-gear and so on.
Hillariously funny, but also a moving portrait of a creative soul, who throughout most of his life had to se himself reduced to his physical deformity. Highly recommended.
Full bookreview (in Danish) at bognoter.dk: https://bognoter.dk/2018/12/22/mario-...
January 28, 2023
De acuerdo, Bellatin juega su papel Borgiano y nos entrega una biografía tan ficticia que sólo puede ser considerada real. Nagaoka Shiki inició como una broma sutil a una pregunta redundante sobre influencias e inspiración y terminó conviertiéndose en un ejercicio literario fantástico para pasar un buen rato leyendo e imaginado al autor riéndose a carcajada suelta de los lugares comunes que los Congresos Literarios todavía suelen tener.
June 24, 2024
As an interesting detail, it must be mentioned that the principal characters all possessed extraordinary noses. What's more, those appendages had their own names, time and again. It has come out that on one occasion he confessed to his sister that as soon as he realized its slight resemblance to Proust's work, he fell into a state of near dementia.
August 16, 2019
An amazing fictional biography, full of credible and incredible references to the world and neighborhood of The Nose. What can I say, you actually had me going there, so now I am a huge fan of Shiki Nagaoka, (and Señor Bellatin), and hope that some of his essays will resurface!
May 20, 2023
Como siempre un gusto leer las ficciones de Bellatin.
November 4, 2016
Biografía ficticia, novela corta, excelente texto. Recomendado por Bolaño - junto al excelentísimo Daniel Sada- Bellatin no defrauda. Me parece que comparte con Alejandro Zambra el ingenio no así el estilo que es más sobrio y elegante. Conseguir el resto de sus novelas cortas es un deber al que me acometo ya. Junto con Zambra, Aira, Sada forma aparte de los contemporáneos que están escribiendo de una manera nueva, fresca y sorprendente.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews