和解 [Wakai]

by Naoya Siga

Reconciliation, published here for the first time in the English language, is an understated masterpiece of the Japanese 'I novel' tradition (a confessional literary form). Naoya Shiga's novella is a quietly devastating reflection on all kinds of reconciliation: from his own familial reunion, to the universal need to reconcile ourselves to the inevitability of ageing, loss and death.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Japan, Fiction

117 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published December 1, 1949

Reviews

[Rincle Tinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding the lay of the land of the I-novel will better shape reader reaction. This one delivers in its intent and impact. Understanding the physical lay of the land (Japan) meant bells of familiarity with its place names were regularly ringing. The dithering and detail instilled in the narrative make it feel real, accessible. The ‘first baby’ episode is as affecting a piece of trauma writing as I’ve come across.

[Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Con una strana espressione a metà fra una smorfia e un pianto, di nuovo guardai gli occhi di mio padre. [...] L’avevo cercato senza rendermene conto".

Potrei provare ad analizzare come si deve questo breve libro perché è estremamente importante per il romanzo giapponese come lo conosciamo oggi, ma non so quasi nulla riguardo a Shiga ad eccezione di tre fatti: ha avuto seri problemi con suo padre, ha pubblicato nella rivista letteraria Shirakaba insieme a Mushanokōji, Satomi e Arishima, e Akutagawa lo ammirava tantissimo. Non mi sembra dunque il caso.

Il libro mi è piaciuto, e mi sono rivisto nelle parole di Junkichi in... ogni singola pagina. Anche perché Junkichi non mi piace come persona. La prosa di Shiga è senza fronzoli, non cerca di mettere in risalto le sue abilità di scrittura e questo emerge nei suoi paragrafi schietti. Non sono un appassionato del naturalismo giapponese quindi non mi sorprende di aver trovato un po' lento lo stile di un suo precursore, ma è un interessante lavoro di meta-letteratura. Shiga non riesce a scrivere a causa del conflitto con suo padre, e quando i due si riconciliano l'unica cosa a cui riesce a pensare è il loro riavvicinamento, e da qua nasce "Riconciliazione".

Nel suo insieme l'ho trovato un po' anticlimatico, e immagino che sia questo il lato che non mi piace del naturalismo giapponese — ma è okay, la vita in effetti è così. Nella realtà, sono pochi i momenti in cui la tensione si scioglie in maniera catartica e poetica; a volte le cose succedono e basta, e ingigantire i fatti sarebbe una forzatura. Sono certamente curioso di leggere "A dark night's passing".

[Apollos Michio · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There was love for him in my heart, and I could sense it melting away all the bad feelings from our past.” 🫠

Reconciliation is a moving novella by Naoya Shiga about a son who reconciles with his father after years of discord which led the latter to ban his son from visiting their family home. 😡

It is moving because the book not only realistically portrays this type of reconciliation, but also other types: reconciling ourselves to the ineluctable imminence of death and ageing. (In particular, the section recounting the plight of the protagonist’s first baby is very touching in its minutiae.) 👶🏻

Life itself involves a reconciliation between life and death, good and evil, self and others, etc. If to reconcile is to live, then we all might as well practice reconciliation by opening up ours hearts and our hands to bravely accept whatever life throws at us! 🤝

4/5

[Michellelester · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realise that my disappointment comes from my position as a western reader who throughout fully expects to find that the narrator and/or his relationship with his father is not what it seems. That the first person narrative will mask someone more complex, less self-pitying than the surface presents. And that there will be some irony in the ‘reconciliation’. So unless it really is incredibly subtle, my expectations were all wrong. Despite one key event being presented in the most harrowing, stop-you-in-your tracks way, overall the story offers little other than to seek peace with family who’ve previously pissed you off. Nothing in any of the characterisations suggested why this might be so. Like I suggested at the start - I fear I’m a reader out of this novel’s time/culture and I took little from it. Happy to accept that may well be indicative of my limitations, and not the book’s, though!

[Andrea Barlien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the style of this as part of my love of Japanese writing. It was not a thrilling story nor was it full of writerly tricks but as a piece of ‘I novel’ confessional writing it did exactly what it was meant to. Clearly this book divided readers as people either loved it or hated it. I did neither - I guess I just admired it

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quiet and simple story in the best I-novel tradition. Shiga pioneered this style and joined the ranks of Soseki and others in giving slice of life and autobiographical fiction a place in Japanese literature. His book A Dark Night's Passing is considered by some the first I-novel. Like his other stories, the author channels powerful emotions using straightforward language.

I don't normally appreciate reading books about writers who struggle to write a book. But When Shiga complained to Soseki about his lack of inspiration, Soseki told him to just write a book about his inability to write. While this would be inadvisable these days, I think back then a lot of authors in early twentieth century Japan were struggling to find a voice amid the Western literature that was making its way into their country for the first time. But Shiga takes this interior conflict and expand it to encompass the struggle of a family man who is bombarded by fate with trying circumstances.

In this classic short and digestible novel, we follow the struggles of a floundering author who has just gotten married and has a kid on the way. The scenes of domestic strife and child-bearing are stirring, but fall short of brilliance. Where the work truly shines is in its depiction of illness unto death. The agony of witnessing the physical collapse of a human being is heartrending here, and is described in relation to both the very young and very old. His relationships with his family, especially his father, display an uncompromising pride. While the character growth is not given a lot of space to breathe, he does end the tale on a cheerful note, which the reader might surmise, he did for his own peace of mind. The author character talks about his personal and intimate approach to writing, which allowed him to process the interior fragments of his discontent and sorrow into a crystalline expression of human triumph and even day-to-day coping.

Shiga's books are often more memorable than his contemporaries, I think, due to their pared down style and their bleak yet uplifting plots.

[Ceil. S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just completed the book, and I believe my thoughts may become more comprehensive after a bit of "marinating" I would say.

Overall, the pacing and execution were commendable and managed to hold my interest steadily throughout. While this novel effectively captures the essence of an I-novel, a confessional literature in Japan, and maintains a commendable pace, its length prevents it from standing out as an extraordinary achievement, which, in a way, is the core issue. There's a noticeable absence of any particularly remarkable elements in this book.

Reading it in its original language might offer better insight into why Shiga is hailed as the "master of prose," as it came across as rather stoic to me. This sense of detachment in the writing style appears to be a prevalent characteristic particularly in translated Japanese works. However, it appears that this is considered a distinct style of Shiga, characterized by sentences that are almost excessively simple at times in the novel. I suspect the translator's introduction might have mentioned this, although I haven't read it.

The book, written in the first person, follows a man facing many challenges that many readers might relate to: unresolved tension with his father, the loss of his first child, and his grandmother's illness. It's no wonder that everyone around him appears to be in a similarly tense mood.
Right from the beginning, it's evident that he has a short temper due to the stresses of life's challenges, and his wife suffers as a result. However, eventually after some back and forth, he reconciles with his parents, and things somehow start to improve. The book concludes in this manner. Conclusive, but not the kind that I particularly enjoy.

I can't say I'm a fervent fan, but once again, the book's length has its merits. It's pretty remarkable what can be accomplished within such a short narrative.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/3.25 - I respect what this novella set out to do, and from a historical perspective of a Japan pre-WW1, this was very interesting, but the story itself, beyond one very harrowing chapter that goes into great detail the couple we follow lose their newborn child, was mostly just straightforward, everyday actions being described, with lots of letters and telegrams being composed and sent, going to train stations, traveling around by tram. Not exactly riveting stuff, and the emotional core between the MC and his father wasn't quite as deep or intense as I'd have liked, but considering when this was written and the cultural differences, I understand it.

Not a book I'd widely recommend, but it has its place in classic Japanese literature.

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quick and easy read concerns a young writer's troubled relationship with his father and his own experience of being a father for the first time. The section in which his baby falls ill is especially well done and, although it may be too slight to be regarded as a major literary work, it's certainly very moving. It gives the impression of being strongly autobiographical, but such Japanese 'I novels' are often more fictional than they seem. I would recommend 'The Paper Door and Other Stories' as the best introduction to Shiga in English, though.

[Rafaele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reconciliação é o maior desejo dele, parece que ele vira o personagem que escreve, a inevitável reconciliação só o desejo que passou pro papel, assim como a recuperação da avó. É quase uma metaficção, a primeira metade parece mais "real", enquanto a metade final, uma vontade, uma esperança, é quase um sonho.

[Wolfe Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough I-novel. Nothing to complain about if you know what to expect. However, Shiga's prose and stories never seem to move me in the way that the stories of his contemporaries like Natsume Soseki, Ryonosuke Akutagawa, Higuchi Ichiyo, Kafu Nagai or Yunishiro Tanizaki do.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring insubstantial autobiographical novel about an upper class Japanese writer’s difficulties with his father. The main character is a self centred twerp who treats his wife pretty nastily, and his servants, one a twelve year old girl, with offhand contempt. Not for me, thank you all the same!

[Nicola ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the plot & writing style very dull, & I really disliked the narrator. (Read for class)

[Jaani Ramaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fav. qoute:

From East and West, South and North
We make our way home at last
Together in the depths of night
We look out upon the same snow-capped peaks.'

[Miyu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tr đi sâu vào tâm tư nhân vật khi đứng trc mâu thuẫn cha con, vì bối cảnh đặt ở thời suy vong của những gđ quý tộc nên phần nào vẫn có thể thấy đc cách giao thiệp và quy tắc bất thành văn trong gia tộc xưa của NB.
Nếu k am hiểu vh đặc trưng nb có lẽ sẽ có nhiều ng lên án nv nam 9 khi đối xử trịch thượng kẻ cả và k quan tâm ts vợ, nhưng xét trên thực tế thời đấy thì hành xử của anh ta lại là điều thường thấy.
Mình để 3.75

[Duong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Một thể loại tự truyện với văn phong vô cùng súc tích và cô đọng, rất hiện đại so với văn học Nhật cuối thế kỷ 19- đầu thế kỷ 20.

[Con Bé Ki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nhờ vào "nhân duyên trời đất chuyển mùa" nên đọc Hòa giải hehe. Ngẫu nhiên mà sống. Ngẫu nhiên mà chết. Ngẫu nhiên mà đọc.