愛と死 (Love and Death) - 武者小路 実篤 (Saneatsu Mushanokouji)

This book is a compilation of different works by Saneatsu Mushanokouji of which the first, "愛と死" (Love and Death) is probably the most famous. It is an interesting and entertaining compilation, but nothing that you haven't seen before.

The books consists of seven stories. The first and the one that gives the title to the story is the love story between two young people, and the connections to the author's own life seem pretty clear in the story (like Lucia Berlin's short stories, for another example of someone I have read lately). It is one of those cute, telegraphed stories where you know everything that will happen, but that it still holds the interest of the reader (on top of offering a view of another era). It is good but not particularly memorable.

The other stories contain some works for the stage, the tale of a first love, or the author and his relationship with his grandson (probably the best one, with the quiet, relaxed writing style of someone who has seen a lot). As with the first, they are all interesting enough, and if you are a fan of the author, they offer a look into different of his works. But none of them is a great work of art (and the 'older' writing style make them a little bit difficult to read for nowadays tastes). There is also the problem that there isn't any kind of connection within the different stories and the tonal shifts in the book are great (not that this will stop the reader from enjoying one or another story). There is also some ambiguous nationalistic comments, that can be taken on a more positive light (we can all learn from different cultures) or a more negative (Japan doesn't have to envy anything from anyone, Japan is the best).

All in all, not the best book if you want to get into Japanese literature. But not a bad one either.

The best: the humanism; they are small, cute stories; trying to offer a look into a person's fears and desires.

The worst: The compilation is all over the place; none of the stories is groundbreaking; the ambiguous 'nationalistic' tone

Further reading: "友情" (Friendship) by the same author is a more well rounded work in my opinion, but both come from the same mold. If you like one, you'll probably like the other. Soseki or Tanizaki are other authors that are not so far away in style and topics.

6/10

(Original Japanese)