Published: 1968 (Shueisha) Yukio Mishima’s novel, Life for Sale, is a rollicking surrealist novel that follows a young salaryman, Hanio, who fails to commit suicide and then turns to an ad in the paper to do the trick. Hanio, nihilistic and without family, decides that he will sell his life to anyone by any meansContinue reading “Life for Sale-Yukio Mishima”
Category Archives: 1960’s
Franny and Zooey-J.D. Salinger
Published: 1961 (Little, Brown) What happens when precocious children grow up to be paralyzed by their own history? J.D. Salinger explores the inner-life of pseudo-Bohemian Upper East Siders, Franny and Zooey Glass, as they grapple with the suicide of their older brother and the weight of the education he gave them. Franny is a stubborn,Continue reading “Franny and Zooey-J.D. Salinger”
The Face of Another-Kobo Abe
Published: 1964 (Kodansha) Setting: 1960’s Osaka Summary: In this follow-up to Abe’s award-winning novel, The Woman in the Dunes, a leading plastics scientist’s face becomes disfigured from a chemical burn, spiraling him into isolation and alienation from others and his past self. This novel is split into three journals which the unnamed scientist uses to explain to hisContinue reading “The Face of Another-Kobo Abe”
The Woman In The Dunes-Kobo Abe
Published: 1962 (submitted to Yomiuri Prize) Setting: An unnamed coastal fishing village Summary: This Yomiuri Prize winning novel begins and ends in a dream like sandscape, a place where sand accumulates like time and swallows the visitor whole. Jumpei, an entomologist looking for the next new insect to classify, stumbles upon a desolate village with aContinue reading “The Woman In The Dunes-Kobo Abe”
Will Reviews Things 