Customer Reviews

Kafu the Scribbler: The Life and Writings of Nagai Kafu, 1879-1959 (Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies)

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Japanese literature has been regarded for far too long in a patronising light as 'exotic' and 'obscure'. Mention Japanese literature and the average Westerner is likely to think of Kazuo Ishiguro - a citizen of Britain who writes in English - or, if they are particularly well read, Mishima Yukio. However, anyone who actually takes the trouble to read Japanese literature will discover one of the finest and most distinguished literary traditions in the world. And within that tradition Nagai Kafu holds a small, but unique and fascinating place. Kafu wrote most of his work in the early half of the century, soon after the westernisation of Japan had properly set in, and his work is therefore full of peculiarly Japanese problems to do with the preservation or disappearance of Japanese tradition. However, Kafu's universality is his very particularity. By focusing lovingly on the details of a corner of the world's history that is disappearing before his eyes, he evokes within us all the great sadness of changes and creates a timeless sense of longing and nostalgia. Nor is that all. While his work may at first appear only relevant to a limited timeand place, it should soon be clear that his work has increasing relevance today, since it questions the vain ambitions of materialism and the ethics of the 'progress' that are uglifying the world and laying waste to older, more spiritual and picturesque traditions. This volume contains a fascinating biography of the man and Seidensticker's translations of several of Kafu's stories. The stories are undoubtedly the highlight of the volume, and I would urge the reader to look to these before reading Seidensticker's arrogant and narrow-minded comments in the biography. The bad points of this book spring from this arrogance, for Seidensticker refuses to judge Japanese literature within the Japanese tradition and looks always for literary qualities now considered outdated even in the West. An example of this arrogance is the fact that of some of the stories, he does not deign to translate the whole text, judging, "This does not spoil the dramatic unity of this piece, for it had none to begin with." Surely that is for the reader to decide. It is very sad that Seidensticker's attitude, one now decried by academics within the field of Japanology, mars this otherwise lyrical and elegant volume. Particularly reccomended ofthe stories are the elegiac Coming Down with a Cold and Quiet Rain, both of which are beautifully rendered sketches of the shadowy world of the geisha, which Kafu loved and drew on for inspiration.