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プロローグ
小説の書き手である「わたし」は、物語を始めるにあたり、日本語の表記の範囲を定め、登場人物となる13氏族を制定し、世界を作り出す。けれどもそこに、プログラムのバグともいうべき異常事態が次々と起こり、作者は物語の進行を見守りつつ自作を構成する日本語の統計を取りつつ再考察を試みる……。
プログラミング、人口知能、自動筆記…あらゆる科学的アプローチを試みながら「物語」生成の源流へ遡っていく一方で、書き手の「わたし」は執筆のために喫茶店をハシゴし、京都や札幌へ出張して道に迷い、ついにはアメリカのユタ州で、登場人物たちと再会する……。情報技術は言語の秘密に迫り得るか? 日本語の解析を目論む、知的で壮大なたくらみに満ちた著者初の「私小説」であり、SFと文学の可能性に挑んだ意欲作。
プログラミング、人口知能、自動筆記…あらゆる科学的アプローチを試みながら「物語」生成の源流へ遡っていく一方で、書き手の「わたし」は執筆のために喫茶店をハシゴし、京都や札幌へ出張して道に迷い、ついにはアメリカのユタ州で、登場人物たちと再会する……。情報技術は言語の秘密に迫り得るか? 日本語の解析を目論む、知的で壮大なたくらみに満ちた著者初の「私小説」であり、SFと文学の可能性に挑んだ意欲作。
326 pages, Hardcover
Published November 24, 2015
About the author
Toh EnJoe
40 books29 followersToh EnJoe (Japanese: 円城 塔 Hepburn: Enjō Tō, pen name) (born September 15, 1972) is a Japanese author. His works are usually literary fiction, speculative fiction or science fiction.
Born in 1972 in Sapporo, he graduated from the physics department of Tohoku University, then went on to the graduate school at University of Tokyo and received Ph.D. for a mathematical physical study on the natural languages. He worked as a post-doc researcher at several research institutes for seven years, then abandoned the academic career in 2007 and found a programmer job at a software firm (resigns in 2008 to become a full-time writer).
In 2006, he submitted Self-Reference ENGINE to a science-fiction novel contest Komatsu Sakyō Award. Although it did not win the award (none did in this year), it was published from Hayakawa Shobō in 2007. At almost same time, his short story Obu za bēsbōru ("Of The Baseball") won the contest of literary magazine Bungakukai, which became his debut in literary fiction.[3]
His literary fictions are often dense with allusions. Labyrinthine annotations were added to "Uyūshitan" when it was published in book form in 2009, where there were none when published initially in literary magazine. Often, his science fiction works take motif from mathematics. The narrator of "Boy's Surface" (2007) is a morphism, and the title is a reference to a geometrical notion. In "Moonshine" (2009), natural numbers are sentient through a savant's mind's eye in a field of the monster group.
Project Itoh's Genocidal Organ was also a finalist of Komatsu Sakyō Award contest and published from Hayakawa Shobō in 2007, along with Enjoe's Self-Reference ENGINE. Since then they often appeared together at science fiction conventions and interviews, and collaborated in a few works, until Itoh's death of cancer in 2009.
At the press conference after the announcement of Enjoe's Akutagawa Prize in January 2012, he revealed the plan to complete Itoh's unfinished novel Shisha no teikoku. It was published in August 2012, and received the Special Award of Nihon SF Taisho.
Born in 1972 in Sapporo, he graduated from the physics department of Tohoku University, then went on to the graduate school at University of Tokyo and received Ph.D. for a mathematical physical study on the natural languages. He worked as a post-doc researcher at several research institutes for seven years, then abandoned the academic career in 2007 and found a programmer job at a software firm (resigns in 2008 to become a full-time writer).
In 2006, he submitted Self-Reference ENGINE to a science-fiction novel contest Komatsu Sakyō Award. Although it did not win the award (none did in this year), it was published from Hayakawa Shobō in 2007. At almost same time, his short story Obu za bēsbōru ("Of The Baseball") won the contest of literary magazine Bungakukai, which became his debut in literary fiction.[3]
His literary fictions are often dense with allusions. Labyrinthine annotations were added to "Uyūshitan" when it was published in book form in 2009, where there were none when published initially in literary magazine. Often, his science fiction works take motif from mathematics. The narrator of "Boy's Surface" (2007) is a morphism, and the title is a reference to a geometrical notion. In "Moonshine" (2009), natural numbers are sentient through a savant's mind's eye in a field of the monster group.
Project Itoh's Genocidal Organ was also a finalist of Komatsu Sakyō Award contest and published from Hayakawa Shobō in 2007, along with Enjoe's Self-Reference ENGINE. Since then they often appeared together at science fiction conventions and interviews, and collaborated in a few works, until Itoh's death of cancer in 2009.
At the press conference after the announcement of Enjoe's Akutagawa Prize in January 2012, he revealed the plan to complete Itoh's unfinished novel Shisha no teikoku. It was published in August 2012, and received the Special Award of Nihon SF Taisho.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 9, 2023
Possibly the most meta book of all time.
Not sure why this is marketed as a sequel to Epilogue, but still very enjoyable. Some parts didn’t really work for me, but overall a very enjoyable and rewarding (albeit extremely difficult!) experience. The parts analyzing novel writing and previous parts of the story(?) itself we’re particularly entertaining.
Not sure why this is marketed as a sequel to Epilogue, but still very enjoyable. Some parts didn’t really work for me, but overall a very enjoyable and rewarding (albeit extremely difficult!) experience. The parts analyzing novel writing and previous parts of the story(?) itself we’re particularly entertaining.
Displaying 1 of 1 review