Sonic Peace

by Kiriu Minashita, Spencer Thurlow (Translator), Eric Hyett (Translator)

“Even while boasting of its rapid strength and speed,” Kiriu Minashita says in the afterword to Sonic Peace , “the world is being ecstatically eroded by the violent rewriting of meaning.” Sonic Peace is a work of extreme genius and unassailable critique, fused with beauty and a love story set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic Tokyo.  Published in Japan in 2005, Sonic Peace won the celebrated Chuya Nakahara Prize in 2006, and solidified Minashita's status as one of the most important critical Japanese voices of her generation.

Genres: Poetry

118 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2017

Reviews

[Claudia DCD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it the high reading level, the vagueness of this minimalist style of poetry or is something lost in translation? It was beautiful and lines here and there speak deeply to me when they do make a connection, but I'm not sure if I got all of it. If not for the back blurb, wouldn't have known it was a post-apocalyptic tale, would have just thought it a bit of hyperbole from the narrator character. But with the added info, is the main character a robot or just has so many implants, it feels that way sometimes?

This is the style of poetry I love, hints and insinuations, but now I'm starting to realize how that comes across when you're describing a new world. I wonder how many westerners will understand the symbolic comfort of a Japanesr vending machine with everything you could possibly need, hot and cold drinks. But I mean, how many people can truly visualize and relate to acidic rain. At a certain point it doesn't matter cause the feelings are still real, translatable, connecting.

[Tyler Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lost in translation element of this work only reinforces itself. Cannot speak for the original in Japanese, but the work’s examination of what is reduced by definition takes on a new life when broken out of its native language (an effort Minashita takes on directly by employing katakana in her work). What results is a spectacle of novelty, decay, interrogation, and abstraction.

[taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

kiriu minashita has done something very cool here, and the translators did a fantastic job preserving her choices. this is a new favorite of mine in so many ways. i desperately need to speak with more bilingual readers about this…

[Casey (ish-i-ness)]

I tried really hard but I didn’t understand this. No rating.