他们自在别处

by Yōko Ogawa, 小川洋子, 伏怡琳 (译者)

《他们自在别处》是小川洋子的最新短篇小说集，包含八个短篇，每篇故事均以动物命名。害怕去往任何未知远方的女子偶然获悉一匹赛马将远赴法国参赛，一同前往的还有一匹承担陪同职责的马匹，于是她成了这世上或许唯一一个牵挂“陪行马”的人；直到老翻译家辞世，身为作家的我都未曾与他见上一面，河狸的小树枝却成了彼此之间一道奇妙的桥梁和纽带；失去孩子的母亲本已下定决心此生再不提起孩子的名字，阴差阳错间她来到动物园工作，发现猎豹的英文单词中竟然藏着孩子的身影……小川洋子营造了一个光影交错的幻想空间，隐藏其中的却是生命中避无可避的生死悲欢。

Genres: Fiction

183 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2013

About the author

Yōko Ogawa (小川 洋子) was born in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Waseda University, and lives in Ashiya. Since 1988, she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Professor and his Beloved Equation has been made into a movie. In 2006 she co-authored „An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics“ with Masahiko Fujiwara, a mathematician, as a dialogue on the extraordinary beauty of numbers.

A film in French, "L'Annulaire“ (The Ringfinger), directed by Diane Bertrand, starring Olga Kurylenko and Marc Barbé, was released in France in June 2005 and subsequently made the rounds of the international film festivals; the film, some of which is filmed in the Hamburg docks, is based in part on Ogawa's "Kusuriyubi no hyōhon“ (薬指の標本), translated into French as "L'Annulaire“ (by Rose-Marie Makino-Fayolle who has translated numerous works by Ogawa, as well as works by Akira Yoshimura and by Ranpo Edogawa, into French).

Kenzaburō Ōe has said, 'Yōko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating.' The subtlety in part lies in the fact that Ogawa's characters often seem not to know why they are doing what they are doing. She works by accumulation of detail, a technique that is perhaps more successful in her shorter works; the slow pace of development in the longer works requires something of a deus ex machina to end them. The reader is presented with an acute description of what the protagonists, mostly but not always female, observe and feel and their somewhat alienated self-observations, some of which is a reflection of Japanese society and especially women's roles within in it. The tone of her works varies, across the works and sometimes within the longer works, from the surreal, through the grotesque and the--sometimes grotesquely--humorous, to the psychologically ambiguous and even disturbing.

Reviews

[Rita Lei Chen 雷晨 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living in the chaotic world, the living seeks the meaning of breathing, trying to pick up the past that has become a cloud of smoke, recalling the past that is no longer vivid, for longing, for doubts, and more and more It is wondering why I am so persistent.

The eight short stories in the book are all extended by animals, or highlight the emotional outflow of the characters. The clever thing is that although the narrative is the character, the focus is on the animal that has been ignored by the world. The species in the book can be regarded as a symbol. They are the horses accompanying them or the rabbits of the town’s citizens. Although they don’t understand the complexity of the world and only use their own habit to face them, they have different meanings in the author’s writing, rich in meaning and feelings, and at the same time It reminds people of the inexplicable melancholy and the unforgettable loss in their hearts.

Reading the author's work for the first time, and after reading the first chapter of the story, you can understand the intimacy and obscurity between the lines. You can use your daily routines in a normal way, and add a little bit of difference in the characters, and slowly adjust the characters that can resonate. We are curious about what we look like in the distance, curious about the future changes, but we are afraid, but we take steps. We prefer to stay where we are and stay in our comfort zone until our depressed emotions resurface.

I always think that the most important thing is the next second. The refusal this time and the next missed appointment slowly condense into inertia. Until the past can no longer be reproduced, I regret not being firmer at that time. Sometimes I often wonder whether the world has seen its own deeds, regardless of good or evil, always worrying about the future variables, but never thought that I will be one of the future variables.

Ordinary people have their own different stories and disappointments. As everyone is waiting for the opportunity, looking forward to seeing the completeness of their hearts, but the all-encompassing exterior and irreparable regrets have changed their original intentions bit by bit, so I can’t help but There may always be a place for curiosity, there may always be a character, and there may always be one thing that can make me understand where the emptiness in my heart comes from.

The text in the book is simple and easy to enter people's hearts, reminding him/it/they are always waiting somewhere for themselves to fill and act.

[Erika]

The typical "Yoko Ogawa" style short stories.
Since I'm feeling down right now, I don't think I can finish reading this book.
Her book is sad and depressing for me right now.

DNF 40% on 2022/2/5
(I'll come back and finish it.... someday.)

[Wenjing Fan · Rating 2 out of 5]

说以“动物”串联起来有点牵强吧，怀疑作者自己知不知道写小说的时候想表达什么。像是那种初中生觉得自己每一天都很重要很有暗示性，所以把故事事无巨细地写下来作为文章的作品。不喜欢

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of eight short stories having the common theme of an animal. Or more accurately, of the bond the protagonist and an animal share. In some stories, the animal feels like a reflection of the human nature, sometimes it has a special significance for the main character. I'm not really sure if that's a good way of describing it, but in any case, their purpose in the stories is to make the protagonist think about their own life.

It's written in a descriptive, contemplative way, that is probably typical of Ogawa, but I've only read "The Housekeeper and the Professor" from her before. It was fairly difficult for me to read and I certainly didn't understand many subtleties due to the language barrier, but I enjoyed what I could get from it.

Also, the cover is gorgeous!