Dementia Fiction

Tag: Japanese

  • “The Twilight Years” by Sawako Ariyoshi

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    Jan Carson
    in

    Translated from the Japanese by Mildred Tahara First published in Japan in 1972, Sawako Ariyoshi’s novel, The Twilight Years was not translated into English for almost a decade. It is very much a period piece, beautifully written and faithfully translated, albeit a little dated in terms of its outlook and attitude. The novel’s main protagonist is Kyoko,…

  • “The Housekeeper and The Professor” by Yogo Ogawa

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    Jan Carson
    in

    Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder Memory and memory loss are reoccurring themes in Japanese novelist, Yoko Ogawa’s fiction. Last year I read and thoroughly enjoyed her most recent novel, The Memory Police which is entirely focused upon the power and importance of memory. Here, in a much earlier novel, The Housekeeper and The Professor, Ogawa…

  • “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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    Jan Carson
    in

    Translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot Before the Coffee Gets Cold was a huge hit in Japan when it was first published in 2015 and, after translation, has proven to be extremely popular internationally. It includes many tropes of Japanese literature -the focus on family structures, fantastical elements, café culture- and yet, having read a…