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Recent Posts: The Sun Rises in the East
Impressions of Laura VanArendonk Baugh’s Traditional Japanese Novella Kitsune-Tsuki
Another American author featured as a speaker at the recent virtual World Fantasy Con 2020 is Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and when I saw she had a few books set in Japan, I was intrigued since I love the East Asian fox myth and have written some far less traditional books featuring them myself. The first […]
The Life and Works of Korean Author Kim Dongni
This year on my main blog, the Ice Pine Palace (see links in the left column here for my affiliate blogs), my Literati Corner selection will be a novella and short stories by a very famous Korean author. Kim Dongni (김동리金東里) was born in 1913 in the historical city of Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province, […]
Recent Posts: The Enlightened Rabbit Scholastic Society
The Life and Works of Korean Author Kim Dongni
This year on my main blog, the Ice Pine Palace (see links in the right column here for my affiliate blogs), my Literati Corner selection will be a novella and short stories by a very famous Korean author. Kim Dongni (김동리金東里) was born in 1913 in the historical city of Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province, […]
Sohyeon After Midnight Book Reading Videos and Character Roll-Call
I had some time this weekend to prepare a few videos for everyone to enjoy. The first video is my character roll-call, which I made for my readers who have been struggling to pronounce my characters’ names in a couple of my novels. Character Roll-Call: Then I prepared a three-part series of me reading selections […]
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Tag Archives: Modern Japanese Literature
The singing voices of the trees communicated with her heart, even more than the bands and other festivities – The Old Capital, Part 2 – Literati Corner
This is my second post on Yasunari Kawabata’s The Old Capital (川端康成の”古都”), which I will wrap up this time as the mystery surrounding Chieko’s birth deepens. In chapter 5, Chieko goes shopping for tofu at the market in anticipation of … Continue reading
In her world Chieko was not accustomed to seeing a man asleep – The Old Capital, Part 1 – Literati Corner
My final selection for the 2020 Literati Corner is Yasunari Kawabata’s The Old Capital (川端康成の”古都”). Originally written in 1962, this novel was cited as one of the main reasons Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. I’ll … Continue reading
Digging Your Grave With A Pearl Oyster Shell – Ten Nights of Dreams, Part 1
The next Japanese language selection I have chosen for this year is Natsume Soseki’s “Ten Nights of Dreams” (夏目漱石の”夢十夜”), which is a short story rather than a novel. All of the dreams are written from the first person perspective and … Continue reading
Battle in the Underground Well and Storming the Irie Clinic – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.3, Part 2
This week, I’m wrapping up the rest of Ryukishi Zeronana’s When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 3 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編 (下)”). Most of this just follows the anime, though I think it has much more detail where the Yamainu … Continue reading
A Forty-Eight Hour War Proclamation – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.3, Part 1
We finally make it to the third volume of the trilogy in the story arc of Ryukishi Zeronana’s When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編 (下)”). This is something like the 16th book out of 16 covering the … Continue reading
The Arrival of the Spirit Guardian Hanyuu Furude – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.2, Part 3
Finishing up Ryukishi Zeronana’s When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 2 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編”), the next major section of the novel begins with nine short chapters referencing earlier story arcs in the series. All of them have the word … Continue reading
The End of the Furude Line and the Importance of Names – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.2, Part 2
Continuing our look at Ryukishi Zeronana’s When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 2 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編”), the story turns to Rika’s family and the third year of odd deaths surrounding the Cotton-Drifting Festival. “The Queen’s Mother’s Disbelief”is about Rika … Continue reading
The Houjou Family Drama and the First Mysterious Cotton Drifting Festival Deaths – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.2, Part 1
For my final Japanese selection for the year, we return to the horror-noir series popularly known from it’s anime version, Ryukishi Zeronana’s When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 2 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編”). Of course, it is known more popularly … Continue reading
The Irie Clinic Quietly Prepares to Continue Biological Research in Hinamizawa – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.1, Part 3
This time I’m finishing up Ryukishi Zeronana’s light novel version of When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 1 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編”), which makes a huge shift from Miyo Takano’s storyline and perspective to Rika Furude and Hinamizawa. There’s still … Continue reading
A Killer’s Childhood Tragedy and Her Beloved Rescuer – The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai, Vol.1, Part 1
As promised, we’re going to revisit one of the story arcs from the “Answers” part of Ryukishi Zeronana’s light novel version of When the Cicada’s Cry: The Festival Accompanying Chapter, Volume 1 (竜騎士07の”ひぐらしのなく頃に解:祭囃し編”). This title is typically left in Japanese … Continue reading
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