Posted in Book reviews Literature The Orient

Loups-Garous and the mythology of domestication

Natsuhiko Kyougoku’s Loups-Garous is a thrilling blend of traditional Japanese storytelling forms with modern genre sensibilities. It is my pick for book of the year for 2020.

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Posted in Book reviews Literature The Orient

Zaregoto, the Debut Novel and the Nihilism of Failure

‘Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle (The Blue Savant and the Nonsense User)’ was the debut novel of the Japanese mystery and young-adult fiction author Ishin Nishio. It is a novel that has something to say, and is successful in saying it, while still being a viscerally satisfying work of fiction.

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Posted in Book reviews Literature

Laughing at Lolita

Is it worth reading even the corrupt and pathological descent of a pervert and madman? Nabokov has proven for the ages that the answer is absolutely a forceful yes.

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