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Lost in the 4rest: Experiments in Kishōtenketsu
Kishōtenketsu is an ancient Chinese and Japanese literary structure that presents stories in four distinct ki (introduction), shō (development), ten (surprise), and ketsu (conclusion). Unlike many Western flavors of plot, here surprise supersedes conflict as the foundation of tales worth telling.LOST IN THE 4REST collects 52 four-sentence pieces that experiment with this fascinating literary format. Part flash fiction, part prose poetry, and across multiple genres, each selection creates a self-contained world, moment, or emotion held together by shock, wonder, or counterpoint. Together they offer a brief, vivid glimpse into the possibilities of non-Western narrative.
70 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 24, 2016
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30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2023
I've read books written with the kishōtenketsu style. They were good. This one.... not so much.
They were all short, 4-koma style stories, as in, they were usually about 4 sentences long, I didn't count it in all the stories though.
The length wasn't the problem, it was nice to be able to read it in bite-sizes, and I know you can do a lot of amazing things with 4, and even 2 sentences (some 2 sentence horror stories can be a good example).
A couple of the stories presented here were okay. But most of them felt either unfinished or made no sense to me. I appreciate what the author was trying to do with playing with the style and length, but I do feel like most stories missed the mark, and a few would have been better expanded into a proper story.
All in all, pretty meh. If you're picking it up to study kishōtenketsu, I wouldn't bother. There are better stories that display it out there.
They were all short, 4-koma style stories, as in, they were usually about 4 sentences long, I didn't count it in all the stories though.
The length wasn't the problem, it was nice to be able to read it in bite-sizes, and I know you can do a lot of amazing things with 4, and even 2 sentences (some 2 sentence horror stories can be a good example).
A couple of the stories presented here were okay. But most of them felt either unfinished or made no sense to me. I appreciate what the author was trying to do with playing with the style and length, but I do feel like most stories missed the mark, and a few would have been better expanded into a proper story.
All in all, pretty meh. If you're picking it up to study kishōtenketsu, I wouldn't bother. There are better stories that display it out there.
December 8, 2024
Volevo imparare il kishōtenketsu, e faticando a capirne l'estetica ho comprato questo libercolo di storie (cosa c'è di meglio che learning by observation?) orbene... le storie sono tutte abbastanza mediocri, alcune sconclusionate.
Capisco che la struttura è particolare e che non sempre si può pretendere di capire degli esperimenti, ma qui la percentuali delle storie che non ho capito è davvero troppo alta.
Detto questo: il mio obiettivo di capire la struttura di un kishōtenketsu è stato quasi soddisfatta, e questo gli fa gudagnare una stellina extra.
Capisco che la struttura è particolare e che non sempre si può pretendere di capire degli esperimenti, ma qui la percentuali delle storie che non ho capito è davvero troppo alta.
Detto questo: il mio obiettivo di capire la struttura di un kishōtenketsu è stato quasi soddisfatta, e questo gli fa gudagnare una stellina extra.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews