Still Lives

by Natsuki Ikezawa, Dennis Keene (Translator)

Ikezawa has been described as one of the best short story writers in the world today. When he won his country's highest literary award ten years ago, readers hailed the arrival of a new voice in Japanese clear, unerring, and resonant. As the title itself suggests, all four of the stories in this collection are in some way about people moving away from ordinary life, seeing things from a distance, as though looking at their world through the window of a spaceship moving into orbit. In the last and most daring piece of all, an international team is sent to explore a ruined site in northern Afghanistan. A helicopter crash reduces their number to two, a Japanese and a Frenchman, who decide to press on. Watched by a high, circling eagle, they find what appears to be a ruined citadel, among whose stones they hear a form of music so strange it seems to call to them from another world. And the longer they stay the deeper they are drawn into it, until they're forced to to return, or to go beyond... Here, and we hope in other collections to come, readers will encounter a rare writer whose work attains the highest level of imagination, yet remains always anchored in a reassuring normality. Welcome to "a brave new lyrical world."

Genres: Japanese Literature, Japan, Short Stories, Fiction

227 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Natsuki IKEZAWA (池澤 夏樹) is a Japanese writer and translator.

Reviews

[Jun Amano · Rating 3 out of 5]

いいんだけど、インパラのほうが好きだ。

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brilliant set of novellas--elegantly composed, profound, brimming with subtle beauty. It's easy to see why Ikezawa is considered one of the foremost authors in Japan.

[Emiko Igari · Rating 3 out of 5]

不思議な物語が２編。

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

These stories sound impressive, and they're often interesting, but it seems to me they all have the same basic message, and one that is not terribly original or meaningful.

[YO · Rating 2 out of 5]

スティル・ライフのみ

[Stefan Gašić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prvi susret sa japanskom književnošću... i ne potpuno zadovoljavajući. Ikezava je fizičar, ili neki od te sorte, meni nepodnošljive, pa nije teško prepoznati njegovo opredeljenje i u pričama, gde mu svi glavni likovi imaju neke veze sa modernizacijom ili tehnologijom. Glavni problem jeste to, a između ostalog, i paralela koja ih veže pa deluju gotovo preslikano.
Dijalozi su pomalo neuverljivi, retko kada baš osetim da je to dijalog kao pisana stvar a ne izgovorena, a ovde je to bio slučaj, što samim tim i smanjuje doživljaj novele.
Čak postoje i propusti u zapletu, neki bizarni preokreti koji nisu nimalo u skladu sa ostatkom priče ili su u nelogičnosti, pa čak i veoma predvidivi preokreti.
Prva priča, po kojoj je zbirka i dobila naziv je stvarno očaravajuća, ali kako se ide ka drugom delu knjige, sve je lošije stanje. Prva vuče prosek, otuda 3 zvezdice, inače bi bilo i gore.

[Nadinedebussy]

C'est toujours aussi étrange de lire un livre qu'on a chez soi depuis des mois qui correspond pile à un état d'esprit du moment. Cette connivence muette avec un auteur parce qu'on ouvre son livre au bon moment. Le moment arrive au hasard, parfait ou pas. Les rencontres se font ou l'on ne fait que se croiser entre les lignes.

[Shinsuke Nakata · Rating 4 out of 5]

87年の芥川賞作品「スティル・ライフ」と「ヤー・チャイカ」の2作品。池澤夏樹監修の世界文学全集に興味を魅かれ本人の小説も読みたくなった次第。世界文学全集による波及効果とも言える。

春に読んで良かったなと思える本。季節の変わり目・決まらない近い将来・3.11震災の影響とかで、感情に鍬が入り柔らかく掘り起こされているところに、この小説に出てくる人物たちが染み出させる心情の波がすっと入ってきた感じ。全体的には抒情的でもありいくらかは科学的でもあり、そういうところに面白さがあるのかもなとも思う。