Customer Reviews

Darkness in Summer (Tuttle Classics of Japanese Literature)

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This is a modern Japanese novel set in European countries. I read it decades ago as part of my introduction to Japan. I had read Mishma; you couldn't ask for a more brilliant contrast. Kaiko (1930 - 1989) is sophisticated and nihilistic but full of gusto for life as you can see by his enthusiam for food, alcohol, sex, sleep and fishing. Though not set in Japan, it is a fine glimpse to the possibilities of Japanese cosmopolitanism of the 1970s. This book is rich with precious images and wisdom. The same may be said for "Into a Black Sun."

This is a novel about Japanese who rejected Japan and wish to remain overseas without ever going back. The book begins with a man seeing a woman that he hasn't met for a number of years. They indulge in sex and then later on into foods. The whole novel can be seen as what happens when you give yourself up to simple pleasures. The couple either stays indoors and has lots of sex or they give up sex to go out to eat and try local cuisines. Because as the man explains to the woman in the story, "You can't have both. You can either have good sex or eat rich foods."
Then the novel takes on a dark tone. The man sits in the apartment all day and sleeps. He only wakes up long enough to eat pizza and then drifts off again. The woman keeps the apartment clean, tries to cheer him up, cooks for him, offers him sex, and even attempt to throw a small party to get him interested in anything. Yet, all he can do is sleep.
He finally comes out of himself by going out pike fishing. Things seem to be working out for only a little while.
It is a difficult novel to finish reading because the pace is very slow and there is little activity beyond meeting basic human urges. Usually the end of the book picks up and has a really good ending that ties up all the loose ends. This novel never got there, like a plane that never really got off the ground.
There was a great deal of inner monolouge about what he was thinking and how bored she was that he wasn't talking. I can't think that such an absurd arrangement would last a whole entire Summer. There wasn't a lot of commuincation between the two. What communication there was, she had to initiated and keep going.
The best part of the novel was how it showed how Japanese living in different countries sometimes act. They have much more freedom and are freed from the social rules of Japan. This same freedom creates an emptiness inside that no amount of food or sex can fill. Kaiko illustrated this in how sloth the man was. In fact, neither one can find anything to fill a vacuum inside.
I would have liked the novel better, if it had taken off at some point. It just didn't go anywhere. There are better Japanese novels out there.
This is a curious experimental look at living aboard through Japanese eyes.