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/lit/ - Literature

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18104927 No.18104927 [Reply] [Original]

Favorite East Asian literature? I recently read "Tales of Moonlight and Rain" (a collection of Japanese ghost stories from the 1770s) and was blown away.

Preferably pre-1950, but feel free to post modern stuff too.

>> No.18104931
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18104931

Also read Lu Xun's corpus a little while back, which rocked too.

>> No.18105012

For me, it’s Junichiro Tanizaki

>> No.18105031

>>18104931
Man, last japanese book I read was The box man by kobo abe and it made me feel like an uther retard. Still an extremely enjoyable experience but I'll have to give it a second go and see if I'm able to get a firmer sense of what the fuck was going on. Aslo, red pill me on Lu Xun and where could I start with him?

>> No.18105411
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18105411

>>18105031
He's like China's Hemingway and Edgar Allen Poe put together in cultural impact. Definitely the most important fiction writer of the early 20th century for them.

Beyond that, his stories are short and funny and pretty easy to read without context. "A Madman's Diary" is like a spooky Poe story, while "Ah-Q" is a brutal satire of China at the time: just a peasant version of Ignatius Reilly going around getting owned while also thinking he is way better and smarter than everyone. Eventually the 1911 Revolution makes it to their village and... you can guess what happens from there.

Both of those are easy places to start, and his most famous stories.

>> No.18105441
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18105441

Read pic related last winter, thoroughly enjoyed, probably going to check out more of the author's work and other contemporary stuff. Something about the plain, somber prose really does it for me.

>> No.18105463

My fav book of jap lit was probably thousand cranes by kawabata but tanizaki seems great as well. I read his short stories The Tattooer, Terror, The Thief, and Aguri. All of them were GREAT, apart from the thief, but even that was more interesting upon reread. Stoked to get to the makioka sisters and naomi.

Not sure about chinese lit. Would love to get into it so rec me some, you fucking imbeciles.

>> No.18105702
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18105702

>>18105463
I know jack shit about Chinese literature but I found this chart a while ago

>> No.18105733

>>18105441
I love this book

>> No.18105907

>>18105702
Fire tyty

>> No.18105962

I'm already familiar with Jap novelists on a surface basic level and bought Silence by Endo that I'll get around to reading

I'm interested in non-Jap Asian novels if you guys can recommend me some good ones. China, other East Asian countries, India, Middle East, anywhere as long as it's Asia

>> No.18105968

>>18105702
Cool thanks

>> No.18105977

>>18105962
>China, other East Asian countries, India, Middle East, anywhere as long as it's Asia
Yes what this guy said, i'd love em too

>> No.18106273

>>18104927
>>18105012
>>18105441
Ywnbj

>> No.18106828

>>18105441
This book is great

>> No.18106935

>>18105012
Why?

>> No.18107390

The last Asian book I read was Fortress Besieged. It was pretty good, won't be entering my favorites anytime soon but still a funny & deft satire.

>> No.18107544
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18107544

Worth a read?

>> No.18107802

>>18107544
Yes, but not that translation. Get Tyler or Seidensticker.

>> No.18107813

>>18107802
What's wrong with the translation?
Everywhere I looked seems to agree that Washburn is the most accurate, while maintaining the poetic prose.

>> No.18108198

>>18105441
Is there at least one Japanese writer which writes good, dense, prose? Somber and straightforward seems to be the rule. I understand about translation, but still, I've read them in three different languages and it's always the same.

>> No.18108207

>>18108198
Kawabata's prose is somber and clean, but his stories arent very straightforward. They depend heavily on the symbols, which he allows you to interpret in many ways.

>> No.18108866

>>18105702
This kills the weeb. One of the best charts on /lit/ desu.

>> No.18109163

I had to read a short story from Kawabata for english class called "the dancing girl of izu" and I enjoyed it greatly.

>> No.18109805

Akutagawa is amazing. I put him together with Borges, Babel, Basile and other great short stories writers.

>> No.18110153

>>18105441
Definitely read The Gate next.