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Sto caricando le informazioni... We, the Children of Catsdi Tomoyuki Hoshino
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 Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.  lydia1879 | Aug 31, 2016 |   After a newly written preface by Hoshino for the collection, "To All of You Reading This in English," We, the Children of Cats begins with the short story "Paper Woman." This story ended up being my favorite piece included in the volume and made me want to read everything that Hoshino has ever written. This set my expectations pretty high for the rest of We, the Children of Cats; for the most part, I wasn't disappointed. I did tend to prefer Hoshino's short stories ("Paper Woman, "The No Fathers Club," "Chino," "We, the Children of Cats," and "Air") over his longer novellas (Sand Planet, Treason Diary, and A Milonga for the Melted Moon.) For me, reading Hoshino's works was often a heady and even dizzying experience; his shorter pieces are still mystifying but more grounded, immediately accessible, and easily grasped as a whole. The stories collected in We, the Children of Cats are not directly related to one another although many share common elements and themes. Faint echoes of Hoshino's earlier stories can often be seen in his later works. Latin America is a frequent touchstone in We, the Children of Cats. Which, considering Hoshino's personal interest and time spent in the area, shouldn't be too surprising. The influence of magical realism, which has strong ties to Latin American literature, is also readily apparent in Hoshino's stories. Perhaps my favorite recurring theme to be found in We, the Children of Cats is that of the power granted to words and language and their ability to change, process, create, restore, and transform truth and reality. As Bergstrom's illuminating afterword asserts, transformation is the key to We, the Children of Cats. Some of the stories are more realistic (some are even based on or inspired by actual events) while others are more fantastic, but they all deal with transitions, growth, and changing identity in some way. Hoshino's writing style tends to be discursive and his stories aren't always particularly straightforward, but his imagery is powerful and poetic. Every once in a while there would be a thought, idea, or phrase that would momentarily floor me. After reading We, the Children of Cats, even I felt changed or transformed in some nearly indescribable way. We, the Children of Cats isn't an easy collection, at times it can be difficult and even troubling, but I am glad that I put in the effort needed to truly appreciate it. Experiments in Manga (  ) PhoenixTerran | Apr 10, 2013 |
 “My wish is for the words in these stories to . . . lodge themselves within the bodies of all of you.” By thus concluding his introduction to this collection, Tomoyuki Hoshino throws down the gauntlet: reader, you have been warned. [...] In his preoccupation with modification of body and being, Hoshino shares an affinity with cinema’s poet of imperfect transformations, David Cronenberg, in films such as Videodrome (1983), Dead Ringers (1988), and The Fly (1986). Hoshino also reminds me of Cronenberg in the unwavering integrity of his uncompromising vision and his willingness to trust and challenge his readers.  We, the Children of Cats collects five stories and three novellas published by Hoshino between 1998 and 2006; a lengthy afterword, 'The Politics of Impossible Transformation' by Brian Bergstrom, also provides a useful overview and introduction to the author and his work. [...] The lesson Hoshino of the opening story learns is that: "novels are already meaningless, that their meaning has always been illusory." Nevertheless, Hoshino the writer continues to write -- if not to find meaning so at least to capture and present, at least momentarily, the illusory. With its very different stories -- of varying length (several are, after all, even billed as novellas) and intensity -- the collection can feel a bit unwieldy and is perhaps best read intermittently, rather than in one go. Nevertheless, We, the Children of Cats is an interesting collection, and certainly a good introduction to an interesting writer. "Every story and novella in this collection startles, confuses, yet finally energizes the attentive reader. The style of the translation is, as I hope the above quotes reveal, lively and realistic in dialogue and beautifully lyric in description when that tone is called for. The editor and translators are to be congratulated on presenting us with such an impressive sample of this brilliant contemporary writer." In Tomoyuki Hoshino I see Kenzaburo Oe’s first true successor: a daringly intelligent, political writer capable of beauty and darkness, one that sees the power that is still capable of the written word. But Hoshino, roughly thirty years Oe’s junior, is also a product of a more contemporary, fractured Japan, a citizen who grew up surrounded by the creeping shadows of postmodernism and magical realism. But Hoshino, who would also compare favorably to the post-modernist proclivities of Kobo Abe, feels fresh in the current landscape of Japanese novelists. Surreality is certainly no stranger to contemporary Japanese literature and it’s certainly the kind of literature that often is translated into English, hoping to strike that Murakami goldmine, but in Hoshino there is a certain amount of control that many others either lack or eschew. Each moment is crafted, specifically engineered for meaning. Which is not meant to say that Hoshino is an easy writer, or that his stories feel artificial. Hoshino’s prose always exudes a confidence, a message that what you’re reading is important and meaningful, even when the outlandish, or otherworldly, obfuscates that meaning you know lies beneath the surface. Appartiene alle Collane EditorialiFound in Translation (PM Press) Premi e riconoscimenti
We, The Children of Cats showcases a new collection of provocative early works by Tomoyuki Hoshino, winner of the 2011 Kenzaburo Oe Award in Literature. Drawing on sources as diverse as Nabokov, Garcia-Marquez, Kenji Nakagami and traditional Japanese folklore, Hoshino creates a challenging, slyly subversive literary world all his own. By turns teasing and terrifying, laconic and incandescent, the stories in this anthology demonstrate Hoshino's view of literature as 'an art that wavers, like a heat shimmer'. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari  
 Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni...GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)895.6Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages JapaneseClassificazione LCVotoMedia: (3.6)
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I loved the short stories. I do really enjoy Japanese writing, and I think, for the most part, Hoshino was no different. I didn't really like the novellas, though. A part of me felt like I wasn't even supposed to like the novellas? I don't know. I found it really challenging to read sometimes.
At points, the writing was beautiful and had that particular style of magical realism that I love. It was strange, and wonderful, and surreal. At other points, the writing was completely absurd and bizarre and I couldn't tell who the narrative voices were.
So I'd say I loved most of this novel. I think if I had read the acknowledgements at the end of the collection, I would've been able to understand it better, but at that point I was pretty done with this book.
Such a mixed review -- but if you're new to magical realism or you aren't sure about Japanese authors, I wouldn't pick this up. (