derpinsel.com - pixels, stories and texts by angela solis

Dance Dance Dance

One of the reasons why I don’t have a favorite author is because I think that authors tend to reach a “low point” in their career and produce works that aren’t as good as their previous ones.

Reading Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance is a good example. I like Murakami’s works in general because he managed (consciously or unconsciously; whether he denies it or not) to combine Western aspects of literature to Japanese ones. Now that I get more familiar with his characters, I think what attracts me more to his works in general is the idea that he has intellectual, and to some extent, idealist characters/protagonist. It’s not much about the “wasakan ng utak” that walrus from Peyups.Com refers to (I don’t even see his works as “wasakan ng utak”, really, but anyway I digress), but mostly because his characters think too much. These aspects of his characters’ personalities make me draw near to them but at the same time it make me feel detached to them. In that way, I admire Murakami for creating “real” people for I believe that human beings are complex creatures that we cannot be compartmentalized in certain personality categories. More »

ASIA2670 Required Readings Book Review

I finished reading all the required books/novels for my ASIA2670 class!

I know I have to write something about the books that I’ve read. Overall I enjoy reading all of them and majority managed to find their way on my favorite books list.

Without further ado… More »

Paper

Am in the process of writing the first draft of my essay for ASIA2670. I’m writing about Murakami Haruki. It feels weird that I am actually picking on one of the authors that I like, but hey, maybe this is the way I show my appreciation towards his works. But to tell the truth it’s a bit difficult writing about him and his books because my thoughts are, apparently, differ from what a majority of his fans think. They see him as a postmodern writer, but I don’t really see him as such. Siguro baka magtaka ang mga tao when they learn that I see Murakami as a traditional Japanese writer (even though I know that he is influenced by Western authors). Basta, ibubuhos ko na lang ‘to sa paper.

Seven Japanese Tales

Seven Japanese Tales is the second book that I have to read for my ASIA2670 class. Medyo battered na ‘yung kopya ko kasi naiipit sa loob ng bag at nagugulo. Anyhow.

I haven’t finished reading everything in this book since my class was required to read only three (”Shunkinsho”, “Shisei” and “Aoi Hana”) tales, but I definitely love this book. I find Tanizaki Jun’ichiro’s writing really compelling and “graphic” and well, I like authors like that. Despite of the “perversed scenes” that one might encounter in some (if not all) of his stories, Seven Japanese Tales is still a good read. More »

On Murakami

Habang nagpo-progress ako sa aking Japanese Literature class, I cannot help but think na hindi as “postmodern” si Murakami Haruki as what most of his foreign readers think about him. Ayokong magpost sana sa Peyups where there’s a thread for him and actually explain why do I think this way because I am afraid that I might take all the magic and excitement out of the people who actually read his works.

Hindi sa ayaw ko kay Murakami ha. In fact, I actually owe it to him and to his works kaya ako na-immerse sa Japanese Literature (well of course, it’s really because of my minor degree, that’s why I consume this crazy amount of translated Japanese short stories and novels). But really, the more na I learn more about earlier Japanese writers such as Mori Ogai, Natsume Soseki, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, et al., I really cannot help but think that he is still traditional when it comes to his writing. I guess kaya lang siya nagmumukhang modern is because of his weird plots, but looking at his works in general, I think may pattern pa rin siyang sinusundan.

More on this later when I write my paper.

Kokoro

This is the first novel that I had to read for my Japanese Literature class for this term. Uh, sabi nila required reading daw ang Kokoro sa Japanese high schools so widely-read talaga ‘tong novel na ‘to sa Japan.

If asked what’s my initial impression about this novel, it’s like Tuesdays with Morrie gone wrong, hehe (although it’s not fair to compare both books kasi pangit kaya yung Tuesdays…). I mean, it’s about an optimistic young guy who crossed paths with an old, intelligent but cynical man. Sige, I can tolerate the cynicism though, at marami rin naman akong natutunan. Maganda naman yung narration, but somehow the book didn’t really capture my attention. Para pa ngang nanadya eh, kasi since the narrator (he doesn’t have a name here) is a university student, there are a lot of statements made by the old man (sensei) na seem to refer to education and life, and it just so happened that most of them are pretty pessimist in nature. Tulad na lang nito.

O tulad nito:

It is true that everybody begins his university career cherishing great ambitions, like a man who sets out on a long journey; and that, after a year or two, most students suddenly realize the slowness of their progress and, seeing that graduation is not far off, find themselves in a state of disillusionment. (173)

Paano ka naman gaganahan niyang mabuhay? Ha ha ha!

Anyhow, isa lang sa ayaw ko dito sa book na ‘to ay yung narrator mismo. Makulit kasi siya. Ang dami niyang tanong. Parang pilit na pilit yung pagpasok niya sa buhay ni sensei. At nakakairita siya, kasi ayoko ng ganung klaseng tao. Kaya siguro wala, sa halip na makisimpatiya ako sa mga iniisip at mga angas niya sa buhay ay naging detached lang ako.

On secrets, books, and going out alone

Lumabas akong mag-isa after ng aking Media Anthropology test kaninang hapon. It’s been a while since I last had a “self” time kasi kadalasan lumalabas ako with friends eh. Anyhow, bali kumain lang ako ng lunch sa school pagkatapos ng test ko, tapos eh pumunta na ako sa Winnipeg Art Gallery para puntahan ang installation ng PostSecret. I missed the book signing last January 17th, sayang.

At oo nga pala, bawal ang cameras sa loob ng gallery so walang pictures. Eto na lang, sa labas ‘to ng gallery. More »

The heart of things

…is very cynical, ha ha ha!

I will write about Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro later as I have to prepare for school, but there’s a passage in that particular book that made me really cringe. And sad.

I went back to my lodgings as soon as the ceremony was over, and stripped to the skin. I opened the window of my room, which was on the second floor and, pretending that my diploma was a telescope, I surveyed as much of the world as I could see. Then I threw the diploma down on the desk and lay on the floor in the middle of the room. In that position, I thought back over my past and tried to imagine what my future would be. I thought about my diploma lying on the desk and, though it seemed to have some significance as a kind of symbol of the beginning of a new life, I could not help feeling that it was a meaningless scrap of paper too. (p. 69)

Talk about combination of cynicism and pessimism! And it’s funny and scary that I read this passage months before my graduation. Oh my.

Something to look forward to

Managed to get a long time off at work (I won’t be working until Friday next week) so I’ll be able to catch up on my academic and non-academic books. FINALLY. It feels so good falling asleep with a book on hand and then waking up and start reading it where I left off.

Currently finishing Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart, by the way. I might start reading The Decay of the Angel by Mishima Yukio.

Also, I already got my booklist for my ASIA2670 Modern Japanese Literature in Translation. I am so excited! We’re going to read and discuss these books:

- Woman in the Dunes (Abe Kobo)
- Setting Sun (Dazai Osamu)
- Masks (Enchi Fumiko)
- Snow Country (Kawabata Yasunari)
- Confessions of a Mask (Mishima)
- A Wild Sheep Chase (Murakami Haruki)
- Kokoro (Soseki Natsume)
- Seven Japanese Tales (Tanizaki Jun’ichirō)

This class is a lovely excuse to discover Japanese literature, yes. :3

After Dark

It took me a month before I started reading After Dark and I finished it within a day, which is surprising, considering the amount of time I spend reading Murakami’s books.

I think reading After Dark is like a breath of fresh air for me because even though the usual things that I see in most of Murakami’s works are also present in this book, I think I like the way the story was narrated here. For me, the way the narration was written reminds the readers that we are passive readers and witnesses to everything that we see in the book. Yet in some way we are not “passive” because our minds are at work — our heads are screaming what the characters should and shouldn’t do, and we react to the things that they say or do. Sabi nga nila, post-modern daw. More »