Watched the news about this year Akutagawa Prize winner; both male and female writers for the writer prize and new comer writer. First read Akutagawa Prize winner writer's book when I was in college (in english translation) and the impression was that the prize must really go to good writers even a foreigner could enjoy the story (though I didnt read Japanese writers works at that time).
In the news, 26 year old Mariko Asabuki as the winner of the new comer writer talked about her prize winning book. "No message whatsoever, only for immersing ourselves in the beauty of words". The judges explained why the book won the prize, "the back and forth plot and the choice of words...difficult book".
I didnt know if being difficult (to understand) is a good point for a book, for winning the Akutagawa Prize. So just for curiosity I wanted to get the book.
Had to be disappointed coz the book was already out of print. I was about to forget this book but found it in Kinokuniya today (not the Big Kinokuniya in Takashimaya though).
First scanned the book and found it was written almost in hiragana, so I thought it was not going to be too difficult to read.
Then read few pages and realized I didnt understand most of what I read. I found that by changing kanji character to hiragana is one minor tool for the writer to make the story difficult to understand.
I also found the type of Japanese verbs I hate the most are being used here and there; two verbes joined together for making new verbs...I always dont know the meaning of those type of words!
Conclusion:
the book was a too bold purchase (trial) for a beginner in Japanese Literary ;p
but anyway, I will try.
image is taken without permission from amazon.co.jp
wikipedia on Akutagawa Prize here
Mariko Asabuki featured in High Fashion online here
読んでみただけでも素晴らしいと思いますよ^_^
ReplyDeleteこのエントリーを書いた後なんだか自分は格好を付けてみたいだけじゃないかと感じて、ちょっと気持ち悪い ：（
ReplyDeleteでも、やっぱり読んでみたい、ありがとう ：）
そんなこと無いと思いますよ＾＿＾
ReplyDeletedulu(pas masih gakusei) juga aku pernah nyoba baca novel jepang yang pemenang akutagawasho tapi yappari masih kurang nyambung haha....
trus sampe sekarang ngga pernah baca buku bahasa jepang kecuali buku pelajaran atau bahan-bahan yang berhubungan dengan kerjaan (payaaah....)
karena aku gak punya kerjaan kali ya Mbak Mei...jadinya baca novel mulu ;p
ReplyDeletehaha... jelas-jelas aku juga himajin desu yo^_^ paling baca novel yang ngga pake tulisan kriting
ReplyDelete