Salamander

by Masuji Ibuse, Fatimah Zainal (Translator)

Sembilan buah cerita menarik tentang perkampungan Jepun oleh pakar kekecewaan, ketiadaan sentimen, dan menggarap ciri-ciri cereka secara tersirat.

"Begitu mahir... lembut... penyayang." -Books Abroad

"Bergeliga dan lucu." -Times Literary Supplement

"Salah satu karya kesusasteraan Jepun yang paling penting pernah diterjemahkan." -Oriental Economist

"Kabus di timur menghilang untuk mendedahkan dunia yang berbeza dan persepsi yang berlainan." -Irish Times

Genres: Short Stories, Japanese Literature, Japan, Fiction, Literature, Short Story Collection

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Masuji Ibuse (井伏 鱒二) was a Japanese novelist.

At Waseda University, Ibuse was greatly influenced by the works of Shakespeare and Basho; he was also an avid reader of French fiction and poetry. Ibuse went as far as to pawn a watch to try to understand the necessities of writers.

In 1918 Ibuse met naturalist writer Iwano Homei. Homei's literature was appealing to Ibuse and would later influence some of Ibuse's literary works. Ibuse befriended student Aoki Nampachi in Waseda, Aoki was a mentor and a great influence in the writings of Ibuse, Aoki's influence can be found in The Carp, where Ibuse ideolizes Aoki's friendship and represents his feelings towards this friendship in a carp. Ibuse started writing his first essays in 1922, shortly after the death of Aoki. Ibuse often found inspiration in his loneliness and in his encounters with geishas, his first literary works where in the style of prose, he had severed ties with Waseda University and started writing for small magazines.

One of Ibuse's first contributions was for the magazine Seiki, it was originally written for Aoki in 1919 and titled The Salamander, in 1923 it was renamed Confinement.

Ibuse was known and appreciated for most of his career, although it wasn't until after the war that he became famous. In 1966 he published his most well known work, Black Rain, which won him international acclaim and several awards including the Noma Prize and the Order of Cultural Merit, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Japanese author. The novel draws its material from the bombing of Hiroshima with the title referring to the nuclear fallout. Ibuse was not present at the time of the bombing, but uses the diaries of survivors to construct his narrative. His earlier story Kakitsubata (The Crazy Iris, first published in 1951) deals with similar themes.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ben Winch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that first got me into Japanese writing. A gift from an older school-friend soon after I left high school, this beautifully-produced little Kodansha paperback of subtle, humorous, painstakingly-crafted stories slowly wormed its way into my heart over several years to become one of my most prized possessions. Man, it's a gas! The first story, 'Plum Blossom By Night', sets the tone: a miniature tour-de-force of social observation, it concerns a too-polite narrator who is accosted in the street late one night by a bloodied drunk who convinces our hero to become a witness to a hypothetical assault. The atmosphere is dreamlike, with a subtlety only the Japanese (Soseki being another example) can muster, and the ramifications continue long after the story is over. It's hilarious, sad, disturbing, intriguing - all the things a good story should be - and in its own quiet way fully the equal of Borges, Poe or Kafka. Of the other 8 stories, most are on the same level, the masterful 'Lieutenant Lookeast' (about a shell-shocked ex-army lieutenant who inadvertantly terrorises a small village upon his return home) being perhaps the stand-out. Generally it is the longer pieces that truly satisfy: 'Old Usitora' (a rebellious old man travels around the countryside hiring out his prize-winning bulls for stud despite his adult son's complaints that it is immoral) and 'Life at Mr Tange's' (an old servant couple forced to live on separate country estates carry on a tragic-humorous relationship) are my favourites. The shorter pieces do tend to be cryptic, but despite its mere 7 pages a story like 'Carp' contains a slow-building emotional kick and a vivid, haunting symbolism that ensures it does not fade or seem trivial. I also love the story 'Savan on the Roof', about a depressed and solitary writer who finds a wounded goose and nurses it back to health. Sad, touching and mysterious, this story acts like a seed, eventually flourishing and producing branches so that I am stunned to see how much came from seemingly so little. I have tried others of Ibuse's works, but so far none has grabbed me like these. Pressed to name the best 20 or so short stories of all time, I would definitely find space for 1 or 2 of Ibuse's.

[Iman Danial Hakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saya membaca versi terjemahan yang diterbitkan oleh Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Penterjemahnya adalah Fatimah Zainal.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you're a short story whore like me, you snap up collections that vibe you in the hope you'll be surprised. I don't know where I'm came across this collection—it honestly could have been a neighborhood lending library or Goodwill or my go-to collectible bookstore here in Woodland Hills. In any case, I read it and loved it. It's wonderfully strange and unpredictable. Not what I expected at all. If you come across this book, snap it up.

[Tara Hassel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read the title short story, but it is wonderful. Melancholic and absurd at the same time. The salamander will stay with me forever.

[Abdullah Hussaini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cerpen2nya sederhana dengan penceritaan yang lembut dan lucu.

Paling suka cerpen; Ushitora Tua, Salamander dan Savan di Atas Bumbung.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Salamander" is a terrific story, kind of like a Japanese version of Winnie the Pooh. (These aren't all kids stories, though.)

I saw a really crazy modern theater piece (The Other Here by Big Dance Theater) that used it as a found text, along with one other story in this collection -- Life at "Mr. Tange's."

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was also published under the title Lietuenant Lookeast, which I reviewed HERE. It includes the photo I found inside, and the story that was on the back of it!

[Avi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these stories were pretty good. Some not so good. It's so short it's hard to not just recommend the entire thing, but my favorites were Plum Blossom by Night, Lieutenant Lookeast, Salamander, and Yosaku the Settler. They were all absurdly funny. The others all had their moments, but were more uneven or minor in effect to me.

[A.K. Kulshreshth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great work to read while doing a course on writing, because it seems to break all the known rules, including the one that states that there should be a story arch. The stories set in rural Japan: a farmer has a bull which he lets out for mating, and the bull is stolen. A military man goes crazy after a strange accident.

I found the writing beautiful and haunting.

[Sae-chan]

This is the same as Lieutenant Lookeast and Other Stories...

[Alexander Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer contacto con Ibuse. Próxima parada, Lluvia negra.

Relatos muy interesantes y breves. Me hubiera gustado leer una traducción más corregida y actual, que el libro tiene ya sus años.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful stories.