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MONKEY New Writing from Japan #3
MONKEY New Writing from Japan: Volume 3: CROSSINGS
For
readers who want to be introduced to exciting contemporary Japanese writers,
especially women (Mieko Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and more) .
MONKEY New Writing from Japan is an
annual anthology that showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature. Volume
3 celebrates Transitioning Out of the Pandemi c, we are inspired by
stories of transformation and the joyful play between Japanese and Western
literatures. MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko
Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hiromi Kawakami, and Aoko Matsuda; a graphic
narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from Stuart Dybek and Matthew
Sharpe.
readers who want to be introduced to exciting contemporary Japanese writers,
especially women (Mieko Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and more) .
MONKEY New Writing from Japan is an
annual anthology that showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature. Volume
3 celebrates Transitioning Out of the Pandemi c, we are inspired by
stories of transformation and the joyful play between Japanese and Western
literatures. MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko
Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hiromi Kawakami, and Aoko Matsuda; a graphic
narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from Stuart Dybek and Matthew
Sharpe.
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2023
4 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Ted Goossen
34 books31 followersTed Goossen is a professor of Japanese literature at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His daughter is actress Jeananne Goossen.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 16, 2023
The best thing about heading to a buffet for dinner is the opportunity to sample a bit of everything. Some of the offerings are wonderful, some merely okay, and some will remain mostly uneaten on the plate.
The same is true of any anthology of literature, and Monkey — New Writing from Japan Vol. 3 is eclectic as they come. This yearly anthology of contemporary Japanese writing translated into English by leading translators provides a few morsels of everything: short stories, poetry, essays, a chapter of a non-fiction book, a graphic narrative, even a Noh play. All illustrated in gorgeous 4 color print.
Would I pick up a full book of Noh plays? To be honest, probably not, not even one from my favorite translator, Jay Rubin. But one play — sure. That would be something new and different, even if the story is more than 600 years old.
This collection is volume 3 in the annual Monkey anthology, edited by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata. The current series was preceded by 7 volumes of Monkey Business.
This volume is organized around the theme of crossings, which unlike volume 1: food and volume 2: travel is a pretty loose concept that can encompass just about anything.
For many people, the main attraction of this collection will be the short story, “Creta Kano” by Haruki Murakami, translated by Gitte Hansen.
The story, first published in 1990 and translated for the first time here, is about a woman raped by every man who sees her and is eventually murdered by one of her rapists. This is one of only four stories by Murakami featuring a female narrator. The main character of this story, Creta Kano, later makes an appearance in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
The Murakami story isn’t bad, and the translation is wonderful, but neither is it one of Murakami’s best. If you’re only looking for another work by Murakami, this probably isn’t the book for you.
What makes this anthology worth reading by everyone with an interest in Japanese literature is the wide range of different material. It offers a sampling of some of the most popular contemporary writers, and for me, provides a shortcut to find authors I want to dig into.
What also makes this collection somewhat unique is a focus as much on the translator as the author. There is even a section at the end where each translator writes about how to render the author’s unique voice. As Asa Yonda states:
"You need only look at two different translations of a text to see how individual two translator-readers’ impressions of the same piece can be, and to understand that the voice you’re reading really is the translator’s."
Most books are published simply to sell as many copies as possible, and usually feature the author, with the name of the translator hidden somewhere in small print. In contrast, this collection was put together by translators to highlight their favorite materials regardless of commercial prospects. The intimate collaboration between writers and translators makes this book especially appealing to anyone who has struggled with translation.
My personal favorites of the collection included the short story, “Someday with the One, the Perfect Bag” by Kaori Fujino, translated by Laurel Taylor. A woman disappears leaving behind thousands of unique handbags that each have to find their perfect owner.
I also loved “Lost and Found Babies” written by Eli K.P. William. Set in Tokyo, the narrator searches for the lost and found department for things lost at the lost and found. This was brilliant, especially when the department itself was lost.
Having dealt with Japanese bureaucracy on many occasions, I really enjoyed the short story “Mysterious Deaths, The Formula, Electricians, Prohibitions” by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen. An investigation of the history of a town leads the narrator to discover annoying laws being promulgate by horned beetles in the basement of city hall for the sole purpose of aggravating humans. Kafka, with a sense of humor.
But the highlight of the collection for me was “The Little Woods in Fukushima”, an except from the full-length book, Zero F, by Hideo Furukawa, translated by Kendall Heitzman.
Furukawa writes of his family of mushroom farmers in Fukushima and everything that happened before and after the disaster. This personal story brings the rural region of Fukushima into focus and adds a human face to the tragic events. I’m looking forward to reading the full book and thankful for this collection for bringing it to my attention.
If I have one criticism of Monkey, it’s that all of the short stories feel like copies of Murakami. While I enjoy Murakami, I wish there were more contemporary novelists emulating the humor of Soseki, the gonzo grittiness of Sakaguchi, or the psychological portraits of Tanizaki. Instead, all the stories have an absurdist, disconnected feel where everything happens for unknown reasons.
Perhaps that’s the state of modern Japanese writing, or simply that many of the translators on the project have ties to Murakami and consequently, selected works with a similar feel. Or perhaps that’s simply a reflection of modern Japanese society where people toil at jobs they have no interest in and have to follow absurd rules promulgated by faceless bureaucrats with no way to protest other than through literature.
Monkey vol. 3 includes the following writers and translators:
- Upon Seeing the Evening Sky, an essay by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Hitomi Yoshio
- The Graffiti, a prose poem by Makoto Takayanagi, translated by Michael Emmerich
- Tadanori: A Noh Play, from the modern Japanese translation by Seikō Itō, translated by Jay Rubin
- Someday with the One, the Perfect Bag, a story by Kaori Fujino, translated by Laurel Taylor
- I Don’t Remember, an essay by Sachiko Kishimoto, translated by Ted Goossen
- 2020 Triptych, microfictions by Matthew Sharpe
- Walking, a story by Midori Osaki, translated by Asa Yoneda and David Boyd
- The Little Woods in Fukushima, a chapter from Zero F by Hideo Furukawa, translated by Kendall Heitzman
- The Tale of Malig the Navigator, a story by Kyōhei Sakaguchi, translated by Sam Malissa
- Four Modern Poets on Encounters with Nature, translated by Andrew Campana
- The Kingdom, a story by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton
- The Cave, a graphic story by Satoshi Kitamura
- Lessons, a poem and a story by Stuart Dybek
- Creta Kano, a story by Haruki Murakami, translated by Gitte Hansen
- Selections from Only Yesterday, poems by Mutsuo Takahashi, translated by Jeffrey Angles
- Lost and Found Babies, a story by Eli K.P. William
- A Father and His Back, a story by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton
- With the Archaeopteryx, a poem by Keijirō Suga, translated by Chris Corker
- Mysterious Deaths, The Formula, Electricians, Prohibitions, vignettes by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen
- One summer …, a story by Tomoka Shibasaki, translated by Polly Barton
- Turtles, a story by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd
- The City Bird, a story by Natsuko Kuroda, translated by Asa Yoneda
The same is true of any anthology of literature, and Monkey — New Writing from Japan Vol. 3 is eclectic as they come. This yearly anthology of contemporary Japanese writing translated into English by leading translators provides a few morsels of everything: short stories, poetry, essays, a chapter of a non-fiction book, a graphic narrative, even a Noh play. All illustrated in gorgeous 4 color print.
Would I pick up a full book of Noh plays? To be honest, probably not, not even one from my favorite translator, Jay Rubin. But one play — sure. That would be something new and different, even if the story is more than 600 years old.
This collection is volume 3 in the annual Monkey anthology, edited by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata. The current series was preceded by 7 volumes of Monkey Business.
This volume is organized around the theme of crossings, which unlike volume 1: food and volume 2: travel is a pretty loose concept that can encompass just about anything.
For many people, the main attraction of this collection will be the short story, “Creta Kano” by Haruki Murakami, translated by Gitte Hansen.
The story, first published in 1990 and translated for the first time here, is about a woman raped by every man who sees her and is eventually murdered by one of her rapists. This is one of only four stories by Murakami featuring a female narrator. The main character of this story, Creta Kano, later makes an appearance in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
The Murakami story isn’t bad, and the translation is wonderful, but neither is it one of Murakami’s best. If you’re only looking for another work by Murakami, this probably isn’t the book for you.
What makes this anthology worth reading by everyone with an interest in Japanese literature is the wide range of different material. It offers a sampling of some of the most popular contemporary writers, and for me, provides a shortcut to find authors I want to dig into.
What also makes this collection somewhat unique is a focus as much on the translator as the author. There is even a section at the end where each translator writes about how to render the author’s unique voice. As Asa Yonda states:
"You need only look at two different translations of a text to see how individual two translator-readers’ impressions of the same piece can be, and to understand that the voice you’re reading really is the translator’s."
Most books are published simply to sell as many copies as possible, and usually feature the author, with the name of the translator hidden somewhere in small print. In contrast, this collection was put together by translators to highlight their favorite materials regardless of commercial prospects. The intimate collaboration between writers and translators makes this book especially appealing to anyone who has struggled with translation.
My personal favorites of the collection included the short story, “Someday with the One, the Perfect Bag” by Kaori Fujino, translated by Laurel Taylor. A woman disappears leaving behind thousands of unique handbags that each have to find their perfect owner.
I also loved “Lost and Found Babies” written by Eli K.P. William. Set in Tokyo, the narrator searches for the lost and found department for things lost at the lost and found. This was brilliant, especially when the department itself was lost.
Having dealt with Japanese bureaucracy on many occasions, I really enjoyed the short story “Mysterious Deaths, The Formula, Electricians, Prohibitions” by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen. An investigation of the history of a town leads the narrator to discover annoying laws being promulgate by horned beetles in the basement of city hall for the sole purpose of aggravating humans. Kafka, with a sense of humor.
But the highlight of the collection for me was “The Little Woods in Fukushima”, an except from the full-length book, Zero F, by Hideo Furukawa, translated by Kendall Heitzman.
Furukawa writes of his family of mushroom farmers in Fukushima and everything that happened before and after the disaster. This personal story brings the rural region of Fukushima into focus and adds a human face to the tragic events. I’m looking forward to reading the full book and thankful for this collection for bringing it to my attention.
If I have one criticism of Monkey, it’s that all of the short stories feel like copies of Murakami. While I enjoy Murakami, I wish there were more contemporary novelists emulating the humor of Soseki, the gonzo grittiness of Sakaguchi, or the psychological portraits of Tanizaki. Instead, all the stories have an absurdist, disconnected feel where everything happens for unknown reasons.
Perhaps that’s the state of modern Japanese writing, or simply that many of the translators on the project have ties to Murakami and consequently, selected works with a similar feel. Or perhaps that’s simply a reflection of modern Japanese society where people toil at jobs they have no interest in and have to follow absurd rules promulgated by faceless bureaucrats with no way to protest other than through literature.
Monkey vol. 3 includes the following writers and translators:
- Upon Seeing the Evening Sky, an essay by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Hitomi Yoshio
- The Graffiti, a prose poem by Makoto Takayanagi, translated by Michael Emmerich
- Tadanori: A Noh Play, from the modern Japanese translation by Seikō Itō, translated by Jay Rubin
- Someday with the One, the Perfect Bag, a story by Kaori Fujino, translated by Laurel Taylor
- I Don’t Remember, an essay by Sachiko Kishimoto, translated by Ted Goossen
- 2020 Triptych, microfictions by Matthew Sharpe
- Walking, a story by Midori Osaki, translated by Asa Yoneda and David Boyd
- The Little Woods in Fukushima, a chapter from Zero F by Hideo Furukawa, translated by Kendall Heitzman
- The Tale of Malig the Navigator, a story by Kyōhei Sakaguchi, translated by Sam Malissa
- Four Modern Poets on Encounters with Nature, translated by Andrew Campana
- The Kingdom, a story by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton
- The Cave, a graphic story by Satoshi Kitamura
- Lessons, a poem and a story by Stuart Dybek
- Creta Kano, a story by Haruki Murakami, translated by Gitte Hansen
- Selections from Only Yesterday, poems by Mutsuo Takahashi, translated by Jeffrey Angles
- Lost and Found Babies, a story by Eli K.P. William
- A Father and His Back, a story by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton
- With the Archaeopteryx, a poem by Keijirō Suga, translated by Chris Corker
- Mysterious Deaths, The Formula, Electricians, Prohibitions, vignettes by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen
- One summer …, a story by Tomoka Shibasaki, translated by Polly Barton
- Turtles, a story by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd
- The City Bird, a story by Natsuko Kuroda, translated by Asa Yoneda
January 18, 2023
Monkey is an anthology collection of essays and poems on Japanese literature and releases a volume annually.
The eighth piece is a favourite and I’d like to find a full translation of the entire report and continue reading it. I’d love to hear more from the people of Fukushima and how the nuclear melt down affected their lives from many different perspectives.
The eleventh piece, Lost and Found Babies, was really interesting. I think I’d like to read a fully fleshed out version of that one, it was quite mind bending and the mc kind of fell down a rabbit hole, and I loved it.
I rated each piece separately and worked out an overall average rating of 4 stars. Overall, I really enjoyed this! I would recommend reading the pieces sporadically rather than trying to read them all one after the other in one sitting. But I think a lot of people would enjoy this!
Rep - Japanese (authors); Trans (Kuze, MTF, #4); Disability (leg injury, chronic sinusitis, asthma #8); They/Them (Mehsa #9); Gay (Matsuo Takahashi #15)
Tropes - Unreliable narrator (Malig, #9)
TWs/CWs - Ableism; Abortion; Alcohol; Animal Death; Beheading; Blood; Bugs; Cancer; Corpse; Cults (mentioned); Death; Death of a loved one; Disembowelment; Divorce; Domestic Abuse; Drugs (mentioned); Earthquake; Infertility; Medical Detail; Misogyny; Natural disasters; Nuclear Meltdown; Pandemic; Polio; Pregnancy; Rape; Sex; Sexual Harassment (mentioned); Stroke; Suicide (mentions); Tsunami; Vomit; War
The eighth piece is a favourite and I’d like to find a full translation of the entire report and continue reading it. I’d love to hear more from the people of Fukushima and how the nuclear melt down affected their lives from many different perspectives.
The eleventh piece, Lost and Found Babies, was really interesting. I think I’d like to read a fully fleshed out version of that one, it was quite mind bending and the mc kind of fell down a rabbit hole, and I loved it.
I rated each piece separately and worked out an overall average rating of 4 stars. Overall, I really enjoyed this! I would recommend reading the pieces sporadically rather than trying to read them all one after the other in one sitting. But I think a lot of people would enjoy this!
Rep - Japanese (authors); Trans (Kuze, MTF, #4); Disability (leg injury, chronic sinusitis, asthma #8); They/Them (Mehsa #9); Gay (Matsuo Takahashi #15)
Tropes - Unreliable narrator (Malig, #9)
TWs/CWs - Ableism; Abortion; Alcohol; Animal Death; Beheading; Blood; Bugs; Cancer; Corpse; Cults (mentioned); Death; Death of a loved one; Disembowelment; Divorce; Domestic Abuse; Drugs (mentioned); Earthquake; Infertility; Medical Detail; Misogyny; Natural disasters; Nuclear Meltdown; Pandemic; Polio; Pregnancy; Rape; Sex; Sexual Harassment (mentioned); Stroke; Suicide (mentions); Tsunami; Vomit; War
April 1, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for providing me with an earc in exchange for an honest review.
Obviously, Monkey was a very popular and highly appreciated magazine for us to discover new Japanese writing and I love this edition a lot too. From various authors short stories ans having to read many different topics open my eyes on the diversity and uniqueneas each of these pieces
Obviously, Monkey was a very popular and highly appreciated magazine for us to discover new Japanese writing and I love this edition a lot too. From various authors short stories ans having to read many different topics open my eyes on the diversity and uniqueneas each of these pieces
January 25, 2023
MONKEY New Writing from Japan
Volume 3: CROSSINGS
by Ted Goossen, editor and Motoyuki Shibata, editor
Pub Date 10 Jan 2023
Stone Bridge Press
General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Multicultural Interest
I am reviewing a copy of Monkey: New Writing from Japan Volume 3: Crossings and Netgalley:
Monkey, New Writing from Japan is an annual anthology that brings anthology to English readers. This volume, the third is a celebration Transitioning Out of the Pandemic, we are inspired by stories of transformation and the joyful play between Japanese and Western literatures.
MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hiromi Kawakami, and Aoko Matsuda; a graphic narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from Stuart Dybek and Matthew Sharpe.
I give Monkey five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
Volume 3: CROSSINGS
by Ted Goossen, editor and Motoyuki Shibata, editor
Pub Date 10 Jan 2023
Stone Bridge Press
General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Multicultural Interest
I am reviewing a copy of Monkey: New Writing from Japan Volume 3: Crossings and Netgalley:
Monkey, New Writing from Japan is an annual anthology that brings anthology to English readers. This volume, the third is a celebration Transitioning Out of the Pandemic, we are inspired by stories of transformation and the joyful play between Japanese and Western literatures.
MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hiromi Kawakami, and Aoko Matsuda; a graphic narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from Stuart Dybek and Matthew Sharpe.
I give Monkey five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
December 17, 2022
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with this collection. It isn't my first time reading MONKEY, but if it was, I doubt I'd be compelled to pick up another. The theme of "Crossings: Transitioning Out of the Pandemic" didn't come across clearly in the included works, and some of them were just kind of awful (by most standards, I'd say...I'm looking at you Murakami).
I did enjoy some of the nature poetry (especially Awajijo Takahashi's haiku), and the illustrations were nice. Sadly, I don't think that's enough to recommend this collection.
My thanks to Netgally and the publisher Stone Bridge Press, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own,
I did enjoy some of the nature poetry (especially Awajijo Takahashi's haiku), and the illustrations were nice. Sadly, I don't think that's enough to recommend this collection.
My thanks to Netgally and the publisher Stone Bridge Press, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own,
July 15, 2023
I must admit, this wasn't my favourite collection of writings, with a lot of the writing within this focussing heavily on very simple concepts. The quality was varied depending on the text in question and I didn't feel like there was a coherent structure to the book - rather, people just wrote things and they got put in the same volume. I'll still probably try to read future volumes, I was just a bit disappointed in my first try but having read reviews of other volumes, this appears to be an abnormality.
Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily.
Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily.
January 9, 2023
Thank you to Stone Bridge Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
MONKEY New Writing from Japan aims to introduce contemporary Japanese writers to English audiences accompanied by splendid translations. This collection focuses on post-pandemic reflections. There are a range of genres covered here from short stories to noh play excerpts to haikus and even an illustrated story. There are a variety of plots and characters introduced and it would have been great to see some of the shorter stories given more space to expand on the narratives.
MONKEY New Writing from Japan aims to introduce contemporary Japanese writers to English audiences accompanied by splendid translations. This collection focuses on post-pandemic reflections. There are a range of genres covered here from short stories to noh play excerpts to haikus and even an illustrated story. There are a variety of plots and characters introduced and it would have been great to see some of the shorter stories given more space to expand on the narratives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2022
While I appreciate another anthology of new writing from Japan, I found little in this volume to love. But that is just me, personally, and the upside of anthologies is the thought that perhaps every reader will find their own particular jewel and go on to explore the writer whose work they've enjoyed. Keep them coming, MONKEY!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this anthology.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this anthology.
December 29, 2022
There is a delightful mix of writing formats (Noh play, haiku, long form poetry, illustrated story) but there isn’t enough variety amongst the fiction. If this was your only exposure to contemporary Japanese fiction then you would be forgiven for thinking it’s all some flavour of magical realism. That said, my hopes are still high for the next volume.
January 18, 2023
I look forward now every year to the new issue of Monkey. The previous 2 issues in its new incarnation were really enjoyable, with a strong theme that held everything together. This one, with the theme of 'Crossings', felt a little looser and some of the stories/content were a little vague in holding the theme together. Nonetheless, the variety and range of the content makes it a really interesting read. 3.5 to 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews