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239pages. poche. Broch.
- GenresJapanese LiteratureJapan
284 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Hisashi Inoue
64 books15 followersInoue Hisashi (井上 ひさし Inoue Hisashi?, 16 November 1934 – 9 April 2010) was a leading Japanese playwright and writer of comic fiction. From 1961-1986, he used the pen name of Uchiyama Hisashi.
Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacist, who was also involved in an agrarian reform movement and who managed a local drama troupe. For reasons which are not clear, he was listed in the family registry as legitimate. He lost his father when he was 5 years old and after suffering from child abuse at the hands of his stepfather, he was subsequently sent off to a Lasallian orphanage in Sendai, where he received a Christian baptism. He graduated from Sophia University’s Facility of Letters, continuing on to graduate school in French literature, with a two-year hiatus in between to raise more money for his studies by working at a sanatorium in Kamaishi, Iwate.
Even before graduation, Inoue began is literary career as a stage manager and by writing scripts for the Furasu-za striptease theater in Asakusa, Tokyo. It was common to have a one-hour vaudeville performance before and between strip acts, and many famous actors, including Kiyoshi Atsumi started their careers in such an environment. He wrote a semi-fictional account of his life during this period in Mokkinpotto Shi no Atoshimatsu ("The Fortunes of Father Mockinpott"). After graduation, he obtained a position as a script writer for a puppet drama Hyokkori Hyotanjima, which aired from April 1964 for a five year period.
After an initial career in radio, he wrote his first stage play Nihonjin no Heso in 1969 for Theatre Echo. He first gained literary recognition for his satirical comic plays in the tradition of the Edo period gesaku genre. Inoue has won a very large number of literary awards in the course of his career, including the 67th Naoki Prize in 1972 for his novel Tegusari Shinju ("Handcuffed Double Suicide"). He followed on this success in 1981 with Kirikirijin ("The People of Kirikiri"), which was awarded both the Yomiuri Literary Prize and the 2nd Japan Science Fiction Award.
In 1984, Inoue established his own theatre troupe, called Komatsuza, to perform his own plays. These include biographical works on Meiji period writers Ishikawa Takuboku and Higuchi Ichiyō, whom he had long admired. In 1988, he completed a comic trilogy: Kirameku seiza, Yami ni saku hana, Yuki ya kon kon, depicting the lives of ordinary people in the Shōwa period. Despite his activity with the theatre, Inoue continued to write novels, winning the 1982 Seiun Award for Best Novel for Kirikirijin, the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for Treasury of Disloyal Retainers in 1986, the 27th Tanizaki Prize for Shanghai Moon in 1991, and the Kikuchi Kan Literary Award for Tokyo Seven Roses in 1999. In 1984, the Writer's Block Library was opened in Kawanishi, Yamagata, thanks to Inoue's donation of his 100,000 volume book collection. Inoue was awarded the Asahi Prize in the year 2000 and the Yomiuri Literary Prize again in 2010. In 2004, he was designated a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government.
Chichi to kuraseba, has been translated into the English language by Roger Pulvers under the title The Face of Jizo.
(from Wikipedia)
Inoue was born in what is now part of Kawanishi in Yamagata Prefecture, where his father was a pharmacist, who was also involved in an agrarian reform movement and who managed a local drama troupe. For reasons which are not clear, he was listed in the family registry as legitimate. He lost his father when he was 5 years old and after suffering from child abuse at the hands of his stepfather, he was subsequently sent off to a Lasallian orphanage in Sendai, where he received a Christian baptism. He graduated from Sophia University’s Facility of Letters, continuing on to graduate school in French literature, with a two-year hiatus in between to raise more money for his studies by working at a sanatorium in Kamaishi, Iwate.
Even before graduation, Inoue began is literary career as a stage manager and by writing scripts for the Furasu-za striptease theater in Asakusa, Tokyo. It was common to have a one-hour vaudeville performance before and between strip acts, and many famous actors, including Kiyoshi Atsumi started their careers in such an environment. He wrote a semi-fictional account of his life during this period in Mokkinpotto Shi no Atoshimatsu ("The Fortunes of Father Mockinpott"). After graduation, he obtained a position as a script writer for a puppet drama Hyokkori Hyotanjima, which aired from April 1964 for a five year period.
After an initial career in radio, he wrote his first stage play Nihonjin no Heso in 1969 for Theatre Echo. He first gained literary recognition for his satirical comic plays in the tradition of the Edo period gesaku genre. Inoue has won a very large number of literary awards in the course of his career, including the 67th Naoki Prize in 1972 for his novel Tegusari Shinju ("Handcuffed Double Suicide"). He followed on this success in 1981 with Kirikirijin ("The People of Kirikiri"), which was awarded both the Yomiuri Literary Prize and the 2nd Japan Science Fiction Award.
In 1984, Inoue established his own theatre troupe, called Komatsuza, to perform his own plays. These include biographical works on Meiji period writers Ishikawa Takuboku and Higuchi Ichiyō, whom he had long admired. In 1988, he completed a comic trilogy: Kirameku seiza, Yami ni saku hana, Yuki ya kon kon, depicting the lives of ordinary people in the Shōwa period. Despite his activity with the theatre, Inoue continued to write novels, winning the 1982 Seiun Award for Best Novel for Kirikirijin, the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for Treasury of Disloyal Retainers in 1986, the 27th Tanizaki Prize for Shanghai Moon in 1991, and the Kikuchi Kan Literary Award for Tokyo Seven Roses in 1999. In 1984, the Writer's Block Library was opened in Kawanishi, Yamagata, thanks to Inoue's donation of his 100,000 volume book collection. Inoue was awarded the Asahi Prize in the year 2000 and the Yomiuri Literary Prize again in 2010. In 2004, he was designated a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government.
Chichi to kuraseba, has been translated into the English language by Roger Pulvers under the title The Face of Jizo.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 18, 2024
Un thriller qui n'en a pas l'air. Une des meilleures lectures de 2024.
January 11, 2026
Trouvé par hasard dans une boîte à livres en octobre, ce livre ne m’a accompagné jusqu’en décembre qu’à force de persévérance : long, verbeux et ennuyeux.
Le livre comprend dix chapitres (douze dans la version japonaise originale) et un épilogue.
Chaque chapitre se présente sous la forme de lettres, mettant en scène une histoire différente et des personnages distincts.
Vers la fin, dans l’épilogue, une surprise nous attend : certains personnages des histoires précédentes se retrouvent pris en otage dans un hôtel. J’ai trouvé l’idée de réunir les histoires de cette manière très ingénieuse. Cependant, la raison qui les relie n'est que superficielle, simple hasard des circonstances, et ne va pas plus loin que cela.
Le livre comprend dix chapitres (douze dans la version japonaise originale) et un épilogue.
Chaque chapitre se présente sous la forme de lettres, mettant en scène une histoire différente et des personnages distincts.
Vers la fin, dans l’épilogue, une surprise nous attend : certains personnages des histoires précédentes se retrouvent pris en otage dans un hôtel. J’ai trouvé l’idée de réunir les histoires de cette manière très ingénieuse. Cependant, la raison qui les relie n'est que superficielle, simple hasard des circonstances, et ne va pas plus loin que cela.
March 13, 2008
Un polar à l'intrigue très étonnante et à l'écriture très maîtrisée. Vous vous ferez avoir, et vous aimerez ça!
January 9, 2016
Petit chef d'oeuvre épistolaire.
Hilarante critique des moeurs japonaises.
Chaque chapitre est une nouvelle constituée de lettres ou de documents officiels, et le dernier chapitre, toujours épistolaire, réunit les personnages... Il ne faut pas en dire plus et il ne faut surtout pas lire la quatrième de couverture qu en dit beaucoup trop. Je le savais par Babélio alors je ne l'ai pas lue avant. Mais j'aurais été en furie si je l'avais fait. Picquier doit rééditer sans cette quatrième.
Hilarante critique des moeurs japonaises.
Chaque chapitre est une nouvelle constituée de lettres ou de documents officiels, et le dernier chapitre, toujours épistolaire, réunit les personnages... Il ne faut pas en dire plus et il ne faut surtout pas lire la quatrième de couverture qu en dit beaucoup trop. Je le savais par Babélio alors je ne l'ai pas lue avant. Mais j'aurais été en furie si je l'avais fait. Picquier doit rééditer sans cette quatrième.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews