Gen'ichirō Takahashi
Autor(a) de Sayonara, Gangsters
About the Author
Obras de Gen'ichirō Takahashi
文学がこんなにわかっていいかしら (福武文庫) 1 exemplar(es)
Associated Works
文藝 2006年夏季号 特集 高橋源一郎 — Contribuinte — 1 exemplar(es)
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome padrão
- Takahashi, Gen'ichirō
- Nome de batismo
- 高橋源一郎
- Data de nascimento
- 1951-01-01
- Sexo
- male
- Nacionalidade
- Japan
- Local de nascimento
- Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Membros
Resenhas
Prêmios
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 18
- Also by
- 7
- Membros
- 179
- Popularidade
- #120,383
- Avaliação
- 3.4
- Resenhas
- 4
- ISBNs
- 24
- Idiomas
- 4
- Favorito
- 2
So what is it that makes me love a book? You may as well ask me what makes me love certain women: it is beyond exhaustive analysis. The language. The style. The construction. A sense of humour. Looks. Shape. All of these and then there has to be something else, some je ne sais quoi. Some magic chemistry between it and me. I love this book and will always love it. It joins my small list of books I will never lend to anyone.
I have heard this text called experimental and futuristic and post modern and dystopia and consigned to a whole plethora of other genres and sub-genres but it does not fit any. Imagine a text wherein ancient Greek poets and playwrights discourse amongst themselves and with a teacher of poetry, a modern day Japanese teacher of poetry who teaches tiny gangsters and delinquent children. And then imagine that one of the ancient Greeks, Virgil no less, metamorphoses into a refrigerator and visits the poet and you have surely identified the genre that we are operating within - good old surrealism - one of my favourites. That the poet’s name, as given by his girlfriend, and in this world one’s lover names one, is Sayonara, Gangsters only confirms that fact.
That this was Takahashi's first novel is simply stunning - think Confederacy of Dunces, think Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - just stunning. Written beautifully and with a confidence of touch that is rare even in one so talented Sayonara, Gangsters beguiles and intrigues from the opening paragraph. From there on the journey becomes more engrossing and involving with each new scene until finally you are rationing yourself in the false hope that if you go slowly enough you will never have to finish the text.
That this came to me in translation is amazing. My admiration for Michael Emmerich is up there with my admiration for Gilbert Adair’s work in translating Perec’s A Void. I genuinely have no idea how this is done. It is a magical act of creativity and empathy.… (mais)