A Work in Progress

Fumiko Enchi's Masks-Background

Choosing a Japanese classic to kick off my Reading Japan summer project might have been a little ambitious.  Or maybe just choosing Fumiko Enchi as a writer was ambitious.  A slender book does not mean it will be a fast or easy read.  In the case of Enchi and her 1958 novel Masks, I am already diverging into many directions and suspect I will need to revisit this book later in the year.  

I have been reading about Enchi and she is a much respected Japanese writer of novels and plays.  She had an interesting life and it seems as though her life experiences are somewhat reflected in her writing.  Masks is a novel in three parts with each section taking the name of a Noh mask that is found in the ancient traditional Noh Theater.  The novel has a feminist (to my untrained eyes anyway) to it, and there are many references to classic Japanese literature, in particular Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji.  I'm impressed to learn that much of early classical Japanese Literature was written by women.  Other cultures, as we know, tends to be very male-centric but here we have a tradition of female writers being an accepted part of the culture.  

All this fascinates me and I think I will need to pick it all apart in bits and pieces and continue to revisit it.  I thought I would share just a few things I have come across here.  I'm perhaps halfway through the book and might finish it this weekend and hope to flesh things out as I go or when I finish, but here are a few things that I have been thinking about as I have started reading.

According to the book jacket "Fumiko Enchi's masterpiece is a deeply psychological exploration of grief and jealousy".  Although much of the story seems to be about Yasuko who is a widow who lives with her mother-in-law (her husband having died in an avalanche several years previously), I think it is actually Mieko, the mother-in-law, that is the real central character.  Yasuko is caught in a love triangle with two men, but it is Mieko's machinations that are driving the rivalry.  As she pushes the "dalliance" terrible consequences are going to ensue.  "Enchi has crafted a stunning novel of seduction and infidelity.

Of course I was interested to read more about Enchi herself and found some information in a literature encyclopedia.  I think I will write more about her later, but this is what the entry had to say about Masks.  (Possible spoilers in the next paragraph).

"Onna-men (Female Masks, 1958; translated as Masks, 1983), one of Enchi's major novels, presents the life of Togao Mieko, a woman novelist who is more than fifty years old and vengeful toward her deceased husband, who kept her from being happy as a young woman.  Enchi again uses the ikiryo (spirit of the living), which she incorporates into a climactic ending when the spirit of Mieko possesses her daughter in a bizarre scheme to have the young woman give birth to an heir to the family name.  Revenge is clearly Mieko's motive, for her daughter was not fathered by Togano, and the child will therefore not carry the Togano family blood."

My reading so far feels a little nebulous.  Things move slowly and there was a section where an essay written by Mieko concerning the Tale of Genji was included.  I can see where having a bit more knowledge about Noh masks and the Lady Mursaki story would make for a richer experience, but I think it's not impossible to enjoy the story without having read about the other aspects of the story.  I have three books about Noh masks and theater that I will share soon and am curious about Lady Murasaki.  Maybe this will prompt me to read The Tale of Genji this year.  But first to finish reading Masks.  More details to follow!

Summer TBR: Reading Japan

It is not quite summer but I am all ready for my summer reading project.  For the last several years I have chosen either a destination or a genre to indulge myself in.  Last summer it was Australia and a few years back it was The Netherlands.  I always have great fun with these projects.  I don't cut myself off in August and often will just keep going if my curiosity and desires have not been sated.  

This year my inspiration came in part through a movie repertory series at a local indie arthouse cinema.  They are doing a series of a dozen or so films (including two silents scored with live music) by the much respected film director Yasujiro Ozu.  I had never seen his work before, but five films in and I am addicted and a convert.  I think he might well be my favorite--certainly top three when it comes to favorite films/directors.  

I will have more to share about Ozu, my reading choices and where I have already "been" so to speak with my reading (I started a little early this year).  Sorry about the poor photo above--it was a quickie to give you a peek, but I will break them down into groups as I go.

This is what I am reading at the moment and already I am completely absorbed and veering off into various paths.  Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone has long (very, very long) been on my shelves.  She is a first generation Japanese-American and her memoir was published in 1953, though it covers her life from her childhood in the years before WWII living in Seattle.  Like so many other immigrant families--her own life straddles two cultures and she writes about not feeling truly part of one or the other.  Eventually her family will be relocated to an internment camp.  And I am finding it utterly compelling.  She has such an interesting voice and she instantly draws you into her life story.

It has taken me a while to settle on one novel to begin with (actually I have already read Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel and will write about it soon).  But I am finding Fumiko Enchi's novel Masks compelling in a different way than Monica Sone's memoir but equally as good.  It was published in 1958 and is a contemporary classic novel.  I think I am so drawn to it as it has a certain feel to it that is similar to what I am finding in watching the Ozu movies.  There is a great deal of depth to the stories and a feeling of tradition yet at the same time changes to life as it was known and challenges to family life and domesticity that came after the war.  In Masks there is another layer that I love and that is pointing me in another direction--the masks referred to in the title are those used in the ancient traditional Japanese theater of Noh.  So, more layers of meaning, which makes for a very rich reading experience. 

I have already requested books with pictures of these masks, a book of Noh plays and will also see of I can find videos of Noh performances.  Ozu uses these in some of his movies.  I love how it all ties in together, one thing overlapping onto another.  Even the Sone book references something that overlapped in an Ozu movie I just saw.  I love these literary and cinematic connections.  I hope to write more about all my reading.  If I have not been reading much in the way of classics, this may be the year where I don't read so many Western Classics, but will dip into Eastern Classics and not, I hope, only modern classics.  

But we will see where this all goes.  I am sure I will move from classics and earlier novels to more contemporary fiction and crime fiction and hopefully more memoirs, too.  And I plan on reading about Ozu and Japanese film.

Of course, if you have any suggestions, they are always most welcome.  if you see something in the pile above and are curious about it, please ask and I will share the title or description.