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Mokusei!: A Love Story
Two men talk in Tokyo. One, a Belgian, is a diplomat. The other, Dutch, is a photographer. What, they wonder, is the real face of Japan? How can they get beyond the European idea of the nation and its people—with its exoticism—and see Japan as it truly is? The Belgian has an idea: he helps the photographer find a model to shoot in front of Mount Fuji as the “typical Japanese.” The plan works better than either had imagined—in fact, it works too well: the photographer falls in love, neglects his friend and his career, and, feeling out of place and disillusioned in Holland, returns to Japan as often as possible over the next five years. A reunion is planned: the three will meet again at Mount Fuji. Time, it seems, has stood still . . . except the woman has a secret, and plans of her own.
This moving novel of obsession and difference is the latest masterwork from one of the greatest European writers working today, redolent with the power of desire and alive to the limits of our understanding of others.
This moving novel of obsession and difference is the latest masterwork from one of the greatest European writers working today, redolent with the power of desire and alive to the limits of our understanding of others.
64 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
2 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Cees Nooteboom
243 books427 followersCees Nooteboom (born Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria Nooteboom) was a Dutch author. He has won the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, the P.C. Hooft Award, the Pegasus Prize, the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs for Rituelen, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature and the Constantijn Huygens Prize, and has frequently been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.
His works include Rituelen (Rituals, 1980); Een lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1981); Berlijnse notities (Berlin Notes, 1990); Het volgende verhaal (The Following Story, 1991); Allerzielen (All Souls' Day, 1998) and Paradijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2004). (Het volgende verhaal won him the Aristeion Prize in 1993.) In 2005 he published "De slapende goden | Sueños y otras mentiras", with lithographs by Jürgen Partenheimer.
His works include Rituelen (Rituals, 1980); Een lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1981); Berlijnse notities (Berlin Notes, 1990); Het volgende verhaal (The Following Story, 1991); Allerzielen (All Souls' Day, 1998) and Paradijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2004). (Het volgende verhaal won him the Aristeion Prize in 1993.) In 2005 he published "De slapende goden | Sueños y otras mentiras", with lithographs by Jürgen Partenheimer.
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May 29, 2024Excellente novelle. Uit graniet gehouwen.
June 9, 2016
Avrupalıların Japonya ile ilgili konulardan beslenerek kitap yazmaları genellikle başarılı sonuçlanmıyor. Ya bir kopya edebiyat olmaktan öteye geçemiyor ya da Avrupalı kibrin buram buram satırlara gizlendiği bir şey ortaya çıkıyor. Bu iki kategoride de değil. Ancak bu kadar kısa bir metinle, aşk öyküsü anlatıp, bir yandan da Japon kadınına dair bir şeyler söylemek istiyorsa, daha vurucu bir novella beklerdim ben. Bence yalnız bir öykü olarak görülse daha başarılı olacağını düşündüğüm bu kısa roman, oldukça sıradan, derinlikten uzak ve yetersiz. Yazarın öylesine yazdığı bir şeymiş izlenimini uyandırıyor.
Kötü olduğuna kalpten inandığım ve insanların okumak için parasını harcamasını istemediğim kitaplara iki puan verdiğim için bu esere üç puan verdim.
10/
Kötü olduğuna kalpten inandığım ve insanların okumak için parasını harcamasını istemediğim kitaplara iki puan verdiğim için bu esere üç puan verdim.
10/
December 12, 2021
2,5⭐
Uma história de amor entre um fotógrafo holandês e uma japonesa que conheceu no Japão.
Contada muito rapidamente e em poucas páginas, poderá ter sido este o motivo pelo qual não me apaixonei perdidamente por esta história.Não houve tempo suficiente para ficar rendida a este amor... Soube a pouco...
Uma história de amor entre um fotógrafo holandês e uma japonesa que conheceu no Japão.
Contada muito rapidamente e em poucas páginas, poderá ter sido este o motivo pelo qual não me apaixonei perdidamente por esta história.Não houve tempo suficiente para ficar rendida a este amor... Soube a pouco...
December 8, 2024
Kitap beni çok şaşırttı. Küçük bir aşk hikayesi okuyacağımı düşünüyordum, çok farklı bir Japonya ve Japonya ziyaretçileri eleştirisi buldum.
Kitabın ilk bölümünde; iki dostun, imparatorun doğum gününde imparatorluk sarayı bahçesindeki sohbetleri yer alıyor. Özellikle Japonya ziyaretçileri ile ilgili çok doğru tespitler yapılmış. Açıkçası çevremde, aynı düşünceleri ve beklentileri ben de çokça görüyorum. Yazarın da dediği gibi; hepimizde, Japonya hakkında ‘bilgimizden daha değerli fikirlerimiz’ var. (sf; 12)
Eserin, bu bölümünde, tekrar tekrar okuduğum, üzerinde düşündüğüm, şaşırtıcı, güzel ve etkileyici cümleleri var.
Kitabın diğer bölümlerinde bir aşk hikayesi yer alıyor. İlk bölümde verilen anahtarlarla okunduğunda bu aşk ilişkisi; ‘fikirler’ ve bir fotoğrafçı bakışı ile gelişen görsel imgeler üzerine kurulmuş bir ilişki gibi görünüyor. Çünkü, karakterleri tanımıyoruz, ilişkiyi nasıl algıladıklarını bilmiyoruz.
Benzerlerini evvelce çokça okuduğumuz bu aşk hikayesini de, yüzeysel kurgu ve anlatım tarzını da beğenmedim.
Başka bir konu da, çevirinin dili. Türkçe cümle kuruluş kurallarına uymayan cümleler var. Bunlar bir türlü anlaşılamayan cümleler oluşturmuşlar. Bunların redaktör hataları olduğunu düşünsem de, çevirinin yeterliği konusunda tereddüt oluşturdu.
Kitabın ilk bölümünde; iki dostun, imparatorun doğum gününde imparatorluk sarayı bahçesindeki sohbetleri yer alıyor. Özellikle Japonya ziyaretçileri ile ilgili çok doğru tespitler yapılmış. Açıkçası çevremde, aynı düşünceleri ve beklentileri ben de çokça görüyorum. Yazarın da dediği gibi; hepimizde, Japonya hakkında ‘bilgimizden daha değerli fikirlerimiz’ var. (sf; 12)
Eserin, bu bölümünde, tekrar tekrar okuduğum, üzerinde düşündüğüm, şaşırtıcı, güzel ve etkileyici cümleleri var.
Kitabın diğer bölümlerinde bir aşk hikayesi yer alıyor. İlk bölümde verilen anahtarlarla okunduğunda bu aşk ilişkisi; ‘fikirler’ ve bir fotoğrafçı bakışı ile gelişen görsel imgeler üzerine kurulmuş bir ilişki gibi görünüyor. Çünkü, karakterleri tanımıyoruz, ilişkiyi nasıl algıladıklarını bilmiyoruz.
Benzerlerini evvelce çokça okuduğumuz bu aşk hikayesini de, yüzeysel kurgu ve anlatım tarzını da beğenmedim.
Başka bir konu da, çevirinin dili. Türkçe cümle kuruluş kurallarına uymayan cümleler var. Bunlar bir türlü anlaşılamayan cümleler oluşturmuşlar. Bunların redaktör hataları olduğunu düşünsem de, çevirinin yeterliği konusunda tereddüt oluşturdu.
November 21, 2018
"It was a passion that would burn him down to his roots and through which all that came before and after would fade, because this time it was love first and foremost and only secondly a story."
A slim and slight novella from my favorite author. Cees Nooteboom's Mokusei (1982) should really be called a short story as it fits on 86 largish-print pages with wide margins. Mr. Nooteboom focuses only on three motifs in the story, and they are some of the main themes in his opus: love, the nature of the past, and fascination with Japan.
The beautiful and beautifully told story of Mr. Presser, a Dutch photographer, who falls "head over heels" in love with a young Japanese woman, is a sweet tale of love predestined to fail, if one wants to equate not achieving the "happily ever after" with failure. But even so, and despite the memories and the pain, isn't having lived and not loved a greater failure?
The love story is intermingled with meditations on the contrast between a visitor's preconception of the country they visit and the reality of that country. Mr. Presser's friend, a Dutch cultural attaché in Japan, warns him that it is virtually impossible for a foreigner to understand Japan and it is not even the matter of "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." The visitors
Three and a half stars.
A slim and slight novella from my favorite author. Cees Nooteboom's Mokusei (1982) should really be called a short story as it fits on 86 largish-print pages with wide margins. Mr. Nooteboom focuses only on three motifs in the story, and they are some of the main themes in his opus: love, the nature of the past, and fascination with Japan.
The beautiful and beautifully told story of Mr. Presser, a Dutch photographer, who falls "head over heels" in love with a young Japanese woman, is a sweet tale of love predestined to fail, if one wants to equate not achieving the "happily ever after" with failure. But even so, and despite the memories and the pain, isn't having lived and not loved a greater failure?
The love story is intermingled with meditations on the contrast between a visitor's preconception of the country they visit and the reality of that country. Mr. Presser's friend, a Dutch cultural attaché in Japan, warns him that it is virtually impossible for a foreigner to understand Japan and it is not even the matter of "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." The visitors
"[...] know a little, which is really nothing, about Japanese culture, but that doesn't bother them, they have something better than knowledge, they have an idea about Japan."Naturally, the passing of time and the way that the past exists never escape Mr. Nooteboom's attention:
"Long ago, and at the same time a sort of yesterday. For that kind of time no verb tenses exist. Memory flows this way and that between the perfect and imperfect, just as the mind, left to itself, will often prefer chaos to chronology."Some time ago I reviewed here J.M. Coetzee's The Good Story where he writes about human relationships as interactions between projected fictions. Nooteboom mentions people's multiple masks instead:
"Three masks she was now wearing, one on top of the other, the Asiatic, that one of her own impenetrability, and the third, equally unrevealing veil of sleep."One must praise the superb translation by Adrienne Dixon. To sum up: what would be a great book for most authors is just a good one for Cees Nooteboom.
Three and a half stars.
November 1, 2024
hafif bir dili olsa da nooteboom'u dinlemeyi seviyorum...
February 6, 2017
"Japonya'nın Japonya'yı ondan çekip aldığını düşünüyordu. Mişima gibi birisi korkunç,düşüncesiz bir kararlılıkla gerçekleştirdiği intiharla kurguyu bölünceye dek büyük bir dinginlik içinde,sessizce dolaşan Japonların Japonya'sı,onu da ikiye,sevgi ve nefret gibi sıradanlıklara ayırmıştı." Japonya'nın dışından Japonya'ya bakmanın nasıl bir süreç olduğuyla başlıyor Mokusei. Ardından hüzünlü bir aşk hikayesiyle devam ediyor.Her ne kadar öykü olarak yeterli bulmasam da,kitapta bazı cümlelerin derinliğini sevdim.Şu alıntıda olduğu gibi:
"İnsanlar ancak birkaç sözcük biliyorlarsa her şeyi anlayabilirler. Bu çok rahatlatıcıydı,paylaşılan bir dil,diye düşünüyordu,her zaman zararlıdır,çünkü sözcükler ağızdan çıkar çıkmaz yalanlar söylenir."
"İnsanlar ancak birkaç sözcük biliyorlarsa her şeyi anlayabilirler. Bu çok rahatlatıcıydı,paylaşılan bir dil,diye düşünüyordu,her zaman zararlıdır,çünkü sözcükler ağızdan çıkar çıkmaz yalanlar söylenir."
April 29, 2020
A trite and sentimental story about a Dutch photographer who falls in love with a model on his first trip to Japan. Over a period of 5 years he visits the country as often as he can to be with this woman. Eventually she tells him that she wants a conventional life with a Japanese husband and is about to be married. The guy is devastated. The only thing that is remotely interesting is the comment by the protagonist's friend about the fact that lots of foreigners fall in love with Japan for all the wrong reasons (the assumption that it is a supremely beautiful and spiritual country), then get quickly disillusioned when confronted with the real Japan. I can't even comprehend why this got published and translated.
February 2, 2018
I read this tiny book in about an hour. I read the English translation. It is a fabulous intense novella about love, disappointment, being an alien and more. Like other books by Nooteboom it is both something and nothing. To be honest, I think you just have to read it and I suspect everyone will take something different from it.
I have read several of Nooteboom’s books and found them variable. This is very good.
I have read several of Nooteboom’s books and found them variable. This is very good.
May 25, 2025
Beste 1 euro die ik ooit besteed heb. Hoe diep in de ziel kun je kijken in 60 pagina’s? Nooteboom komt akelig dichtbij de bodem. Veel van hem heb ik tot mijn spijt nog niet gelezen, maar aan de hand van deze novelle alleen al, dat in 1982 in de huidige vorm verscheen, zie je zijn meesterschap. Mocht Nooteboom als eerste Nederlander ooit een Nobelprijs voor de Literatuur winnen, dan heeft hij dat dubbel en dwars verdiend. Het is hem – en ons – gegund.
February 7, 2026
S.21: „Kunst ist für alles gut, sogar um Toyotas zu verkaufen.“
S.45: „Später, als alles vorbei war, sollte er viel darüber nachdenken: Wann beginnt so etwas, eine große Liebe.“
S.50: „Er hatte das Gefühl, seine Seele, die er irgendwo über dem Ozean verloren haben musste, geselle sich langsam wieder zu ihm.“
S.68: „Jemand der schläft, ist nahe und zugleich weit weg, von dir und sich selbst, machtlos und dennoch machtvoll gerade durch diese Abwesenheit.“
S.45: „Später, als alles vorbei war, sollte er viel darüber nachdenken: Wann beginnt so etwas, eine große Liebe.“
S.50: „Er hatte das Gefühl, seine Seele, die er irgendwo über dem Ozean verloren haben musste, geselle sich langsam wieder zu ihm.“
S.68: „Jemand der schläft, ist nahe und zugleich weit weg, von dir und sich selbst, machtlos und dennoch machtvoll gerade durch diese Abwesenheit.“
June 10, 2018
Da questo libro trapela un grande erotismo espresso come tensione dello spirito nella ricerca di qualcosa: dell'anima di una nazione, del non conoscibile dell'altro nell'incontro amoroso e della Vita come assoluta perfezione artistica.
August 26, 2022
Nooteboom é um escultor de frases. Só queria ter mais para ler.
July 27, 2021
70 pag di storia d'amore tra un fotografo olandese e una donna giapponese che esprime amore per il Giappone (ma al tempo stesso eccessiva romanticizzazione e un tocco di superiorità europea, cosa che non mi ha arriso tantissimo), la differenza culturale e la tensione per qualcosa di perduto.
Poco incisivo, ma scritto in un linguaggio molto delicato, sicuramente leggerò altri libri dell'autore.
Poco incisivo, ma scritto in un linguaggio molto delicato, sicuramente leggerò altri libri dell'autore.
October 19, 2014
sade ve kısa bir anlatımla baş döndürücü bir aşk hikayesi anlatılmış. nooteboom'un neden en sevdiğim yazarlardan biri olduğunu bu kitabı okurken bir kez daha anladım. insana gezginliğini, yabancı olma duygusuna bakış açısını değiştirtecek bir anlatımı var. umarım daha çok kitabı türkçeye çevrilir de daha geniş kitlelerce tanınır.
October 11, 2020
'n Gecondenseerd verhaal over een intense verliefdheid in een land dat je lijkt te ontglippen.
December 11, 2025
Twijfel. Was dit nu geniaal? Of gewoon heel erg matig?
April 16, 2025
Mir hat das Buch leider gar nicht gefallen. Zwei Sterne gibt es nur, weil es in Teilen ein an sich interessantes Thema anreißt.
+Mir hat das Ende gefallen: Satoko heiratet kurzfristig jemand anderen. Der Fotograf ist tief betrübt darüber, obwohl es auf der Hand lag, dass aus den beiden niemals etwas werden kann.
+Ich finde die Thematik, sich aufgrund seiner eigenen Vorstellungen und Imagination, in einen Menschen zu verlieben, sehr interessant. Sich wegen einer mysteriösen und verschlossenen Aura von jemandem angezogen zu fühlen, ist mir sehr verständlich und es spricht mich sehr an, über Gefühle zu lesen, die mehr der Imagination des Verliebten entspringen, als dass sie von dem realen Charakter der anderen Person hervorgerufen werden.
-Allerdings verliebt sich der Protagonist größtenteils in Satoko oder Mokusei, weil er ihre Fremdheit und ihre japanische Abstammung, anziehend findet. Er verliebt sich nicht in ihre mysteriöse Aura an sich, sondern in ihr kulturelles Verhalten und ihr, aus seiner Perspektive, fremdes Aussehen. Mir hätte das Buch deutlich besser gefallen, hätte er sich nicht aufgrund ihrer japanischen Herkunft in sie verliebt, sondern aufgrund ihrer Person, unabhängig ihrer Nationalität. So wie das Buch geschrieben ist, finde ich es in Teilen rassistisch. Der Protagonist beschreibt Satoko als besonders anziehend, da sie mysteriös ist, und ihm wie maskiert vorkommt, wobei ihre „Maske“ ihr „undurchdringliches japanisches Gesicht“ ist:
„Drei Masken trug sie jetzt, übereinander, die asiatische, die ihrer eigenen Undurchdringlichkeit, und als Dritte den ebenso verhüllenden Schirm des Schlafs.“ S.59
-Der Fokus des Buches liegt auf der Tatsache, dass der Fotograf in eine japanische Frau verliebt ist, weil sie japanisch ist und nicht, weil sie ihn als Person interessiert. Wäre sie nicht japanisch, wäre er nicht interessiert. Er verliebt sich nur in sie, weil er sich auf der Jagd nach einem japanischen Idealbild befindet - nicht ihretwillen oder auch nur seiner eigenen Projektion wegen.
-Der innerliche Kampf des Protagonisten, das wirkliche Japan anzuerkennen, nachdem es nicht mit seinem idealen Weltbild Japans übereinstimmt, finde ich respektlos der Kultur gegenüber. Dem Fotografen ist Japan nicht japanisch genug, obwohl er nicht imstande ist, sich überhaupt ein akkurates Bild über die Kultur zu machen.
-Das Buch war mir viel zu oberflächlich.
+Folgendes Zitat hat mir aber gefallen: „Jemand, der schläft, ist nahe und zugleich weit weg, von dir und sich selbst, machtlos und dennoch machtvoll, gerade durch diese Abwesenheit.“ S.68
+Mir hat das Ende gefallen: Satoko heiratet kurzfristig jemand anderen. Der Fotograf ist tief betrübt darüber, obwohl es auf der Hand lag, dass aus den beiden niemals etwas werden kann.
+Ich finde die Thematik, sich aufgrund seiner eigenen Vorstellungen und Imagination, in einen Menschen zu verlieben, sehr interessant. Sich wegen einer mysteriösen und verschlossenen Aura von jemandem angezogen zu fühlen, ist mir sehr verständlich und es spricht mich sehr an, über Gefühle zu lesen, die mehr der Imagination des Verliebten entspringen, als dass sie von dem realen Charakter der anderen Person hervorgerufen werden.
-Allerdings verliebt sich der Protagonist größtenteils in Satoko oder Mokusei, weil er ihre Fremdheit und ihre japanische Abstammung, anziehend findet. Er verliebt sich nicht in ihre mysteriöse Aura an sich, sondern in ihr kulturelles Verhalten und ihr, aus seiner Perspektive, fremdes Aussehen. Mir hätte das Buch deutlich besser gefallen, hätte er sich nicht aufgrund ihrer japanischen Herkunft in sie verliebt, sondern aufgrund ihrer Person, unabhängig ihrer Nationalität. So wie das Buch geschrieben ist, finde ich es in Teilen rassistisch. Der Protagonist beschreibt Satoko als besonders anziehend, da sie mysteriös ist, und ihm wie maskiert vorkommt, wobei ihre „Maske“ ihr „undurchdringliches japanisches Gesicht“ ist:
„Drei Masken trug sie jetzt, übereinander, die asiatische, die ihrer eigenen Undurchdringlichkeit, und als Dritte den ebenso verhüllenden Schirm des Schlafs.“ S.59
-Der Fokus des Buches liegt auf der Tatsache, dass der Fotograf in eine japanische Frau verliebt ist, weil sie japanisch ist und nicht, weil sie ihn als Person interessiert. Wäre sie nicht japanisch, wäre er nicht interessiert. Er verliebt sich nur in sie, weil er sich auf der Jagd nach einem japanischen Idealbild befindet - nicht ihretwillen oder auch nur seiner eigenen Projektion wegen.
-Der innerliche Kampf des Protagonisten, das wirkliche Japan anzuerkennen, nachdem es nicht mit seinem idealen Weltbild Japans übereinstimmt, finde ich respektlos der Kultur gegenüber. Dem Fotografen ist Japan nicht japanisch genug, obwohl er nicht imstande ist, sich überhaupt ein akkurates Bild über die Kultur zu machen.
-Das Buch war mir viel zu oberflächlich.
+Folgendes Zitat hat mir aber gefallen: „Jemand, der schläft, ist nahe und zugleich weit weg, von dir und sich selbst, machtlos und dennoch machtvoll, gerade durch diese Abwesenheit.“ S.68
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2020
Seagull Books offered a free download of “Mokusei!: A Love Story” by Dutch author Cees Nooteboom (who a few days ago was awarded the Formentor Literature Prize for being “a universal author who writes with the consciousness of belonging to the great European cultural tradition (...)” and I decided to take advantage of it and read it. It’s my second novella by Nooteboom and I see that I probably will not become the fan of his writing.
The story is about fascination of a Dutch photographer with Japan and his unfulfilling and yet deeply rewarding love affair with a mysterious Japanese model. I had no expectations when I started reading but soon I realised that it’s another of these stories about a white Westerner infatuated with, as the main character’s friend, a Belgian diplomat posted to Tokyo said, “the idea of Japan”. He mocks Westerners blind to everything that’s ugly and dysfunctional, who see Japan only in rosy colours (and I must admit that living in Japan I have met a fair number of those). Though I appreciate the story I couldn’t shake the feeling that when a white European writes about Japan it always ends up feeling wrong. There is a lot of romanticisation of Japan, a lot of clichés (Japanese wearing masks to hide their true selves being one), from the looking for a Japanese model who would look... “more Japanese” than the ones shown to choosing a picturesque, orientalist background for a photo shoot for the commissioned brochure: Mount Fuji with a fake torii, to photograph a model wearing a kimono. There is a mention of Japan being “differently different” and though I nod in understanding what the author wanted to convey, it still sounds unoriginal.
And yet, I understand that this novella, written in 1980, has aged. People do not write about Japan in this way anymore, with such curious mixture of superiority and admiration at the same time. I treat it as a testament to the times when Japan was still an obscure, enchanted land for many Westerners. On a personal level I appreciate the beautiful language and if I forget that it’s about Japan, also the subtle way Nooteboom conveyed the melancholia of the protagonist. But I’m not sold on the overall outcome.
The story is about fascination of a Dutch photographer with Japan and his unfulfilling and yet deeply rewarding love affair with a mysterious Japanese model. I had no expectations when I started reading but soon I realised that it’s another of these stories about a white Westerner infatuated with, as the main character’s friend, a Belgian diplomat posted to Tokyo said, “the idea of Japan”. He mocks Westerners blind to everything that’s ugly and dysfunctional, who see Japan only in rosy colours (and I must admit that living in Japan I have met a fair number of those). Though I appreciate the story I couldn’t shake the feeling that when a white European writes about Japan it always ends up feeling wrong. There is a lot of romanticisation of Japan, a lot of clichés (Japanese wearing masks to hide their true selves being one), from the looking for a Japanese model who would look... “more Japanese” than the ones shown to choosing a picturesque, orientalist background for a photo shoot for the commissioned brochure: Mount Fuji with a fake torii, to photograph a model wearing a kimono. There is a mention of Japan being “differently different” and though I nod in understanding what the author wanted to convey, it still sounds unoriginal.
And yet, I understand that this novella, written in 1980, has aged. People do not write about Japan in this way anymore, with such curious mixture of superiority and admiration at the same time. I treat it as a testament to the times when Japan was still an obscure, enchanted land for many Westerners. On a personal level I appreciate the beautiful language and if I forget that it’s about Japan, also the subtle way Nooteboom conveyed the melancholia of the protagonist. But I’m not sold on the overall outcome.
February 25, 2019
An eighty five pages long tragic love story of Arnold Presser, a Dutch photographer and a Japanese model, Sakoto.
My soft spot for anything remotely related to Japan/ese got me this. Originally written in Dutch, the book has a promising beginning. Opens with a conversation between a diplomat De Goede and Presser.
The conversation between both bring out the difference between observation, expectations, and reality. To Presser Japan is land of beautiful gestures, kimonos, Mt. Fuji, Basho's Haikus and Hokusai's paintings: a Japan devoid of pollution, consumerism and expanding modern cities.
Presser also realises his passion for photography might only find an income through brochure-photography: the ones people glance once and discard twice. While on one such trip to photograph a beautiful Japanese girl in front of Mount Fuji he meets Sakoto, with whom he has a passionate and secret love affair for five years.
He gives her two names Snow Mask as her expressions are unreadable to him and Mokusei: one of the few of fragrant flowers Japan has.
The language of the book is beautiful and functional. The author-translator has bought out the balance between unbound unexplainable passion and controlled narrative. The conversation that opens the book aligns well with the suffering and internal torment of Presser. He can neither open up to his friends nor can he settle down with Sakoto.
The ending of the book is as predictable as it can be. A beautiful-mysterious-homely-Asian girl refuses to leave her parents and decides to get married to look after her parents. I don't understand why couldn't Presser ever suggest to her, that he moves to Japan and lives with her, instead of her leaving the country. Presser is like a typical rootless creative head protagonist with hypersensitive heart, but he is not close to his family or friends so why not leave the Netherlands if his love was that intense?
I have nothing to take away from this book other than beautiful language.
My soft spot for anything remotely related to Japan/ese got me this. Originally written in Dutch, the book has a promising beginning. Opens with a conversation between a diplomat De Goede and Presser.
The conversation between both bring out the difference between observation, expectations, and reality. To Presser Japan is land of beautiful gestures, kimonos, Mt. Fuji, Basho's Haikus and Hokusai's paintings: a Japan devoid of pollution, consumerism and expanding modern cities.
Presser also realises his passion for photography might only find an income through brochure-photography: the ones people glance once and discard twice. While on one such trip to photograph a beautiful Japanese girl in front of Mount Fuji he meets Sakoto, with whom he has a passionate and secret love affair for five years.
He gives her two names Snow Mask as her expressions are unreadable to him and Mokusei: one of the few of fragrant flowers Japan has.
The language of the book is beautiful and functional. The author-translator has bought out the balance between unbound unexplainable passion and controlled narrative. The conversation that opens the book aligns well with the suffering and internal torment of Presser. He can neither open up to his friends nor can he settle down with Sakoto.
The ending of the book is as predictable as it can be. A beautiful-mysterious-homely-Asian girl refuses to leave her parents and decides to get married to look after her parents. I don't understand why couldn't Presser ever suggest to her, that he moves to Japan and lives with her, instead of her leaving the country. Presser is like a typical rootless creative head protagonist with hypersensitive heart, but he is not close to his family or friends so why not leave the Netherlands if his love was that intense?
I have nothing to take away from this book other than beautiful language.
January 30, 2021
A Dutch photographer travels to Japan, wants to take authentic photos, asks for an ugly girl in a model agency and falls in love with her the very moment he lays his eyes on her. (Even Mount Fuji is not safe from his attraction: he compares it to a female breast.) They have an affair that lasts years. In the end, however, they are not able to overcome what separates them culturally.
I found the story too obvious and too predictable. The beautiful writing couldn’t hide the fact that the story itself was sentimental and frankly dull. It just didn’t touch me at all.
I found the story too obvious and too predictable. The beautiful writing couldn’t hide the fact that the story itself was sentimental and frankly dull. It just didn’t touch me at all.
June 12, 2020
June 12th, 2020 : Nooteboom's descriptive language (via Dixon) is some of the best I've read in a while. He's terrific at that. I'm not sure he's terrific with cultures, people.
January 27, 2023
Average tbh. Nothing much is there. I did find the phrase, mono no aware interesting but that's all from an 86 pager! Average story and average storytelling.
May 13, 2023
Failed to fulfill the promise of the first few paragraphs. Beautiful prose used to relate a predictable story through an occasionally racist, always objectifying, white male gaze.
May 5, 2025
2,5 ⭐️
January 24, 2026
HM, also eine süße Liebesgeschichte, schön geschrieben. aber das kritische, postkolonial geschulte Auge erkennt dann doch orientalistische Fetischisierung. Deshalb, aus Solidarität mit meinen ostasiatischen Geschwistern, nur 3 Sterne.
December 6, 2010
This book consists of two long stories/short novellas: Mokusei, and De Boeddha achter de Schudding. The second one, about Bangkok in the early 1980's, was kind of a drag, against my expectations.
However, Mokusei is a quite a good read. It's about a photographer who goes to Japan on an assignment and falls in love with his model, a young Japanese lady. For anyone who has been involved with Japanese culture, either directly, through friends, through reading, etc., this story will strike a chord. It's a very enjoyable read.
By the way, I just noticed this cover is to a German version and without the second novella, but it's the only cover I found. I read it in the Dutch original. Cees Noteboom, the author, is a fairly prominent modern writer.
However, Mokusei is a quite a good read. It's about a photographer who goes to Japan on an assignment and falls in love with his model, a young Japanese lady. For anyone who has been involved with Japanese culture, either directly, through friends, through reading, etc., this story will strike a chord. It's a very enjoyable read.
By the way, I just noticed this cover is to a German version and without the second novella, but it's the only cover I found. I read it in the Dutch original. Cees Noteboom, the author, is a fairly prominent modern writer.
September 20, 2014
I picked it up at my school library because it was short and I had nothing else to read. It's weird because I did not really like it, but at the same time, the poetry of the story and the writing touched me. It's really really short, you can read it in less than an hour, and I wouldn't especially recommend it to anyone .. But it's not a bad book at all. Seeing Japan in that way is really interesting, especially for me who was a Japan addict a few years back.
January 26, 2011
A charming little book about people who are fascinated with Japan and japanese Women but break their spirits in the face of the unbreachable cultural gap. Interesting to note: Nootebook also already foreshadows the protagonist of All Souls Day, a book he wrote some 15 years later.
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