At last, I read Yoko Kudo's "Kenzaburo Oe and 'late work'" completely. Exactly, I have not been mature for reading this book so I want to re-read it after reading Oe more. But this author re-reads Oe's difficult and complicated texts with her soft and strong intelligence. Her style attracts us well so I could read although the argument was too difficult. Her free act of reading Oe with other authors like Edward Said and T.S.Eliot tells us that reading itself can be a more aggressive and creative act than I imagine, not just a passive act. All I can say is this.
After that, I had time so I read Hideo Furukawa's "Mandarage X". TBH this is the first time I have read this author's book. I can remember from this book the catastrophe of modern society as J.G.Ballard writes. Or I can also remember the intensity of writing by Chuck Palahniuk about this world or the delusion which is mixed with false history and reality Steve Erickson writes (and the root of those things can be lead to Faulkner, the writer who appears as a special writer in this novel). It's quite an interesting, vivid one.
But this "Mandarage X" tells me a stronger impression that can't be limited to the cluster of influence by those works. Furukawa cuts and pastes his imagination and the Aum incidents like great DJs mix various sources of music. The work has been done freely and perfectly. The source of his imagination is an obsession with trying to shoulder our age's darkness like Oe and Steve Erickson? Or the sincere passion for trying to tell a great story in our era like an ancient storyteller of "The Heike Story"? I want to read his works more.
I had an interest in Faulkner through the journal of reading by Takashi Akutsu which I had read before. I will read Faulkner's "The Light in August". Although about 50 years old, and from English literature, I don't know Jane Austen and Faulkner. People may laugh at me for such ignorance. But I needed to be at this age to taste this kind of art. I can remember that I tried to watch Godard's movies and couldn't when I was 20. It was quite a waste of time. People have their step-up stages to progress themselves. About the books which I have never read, I have to say that Junichiro Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters" and Souseki Natsume's "Light and Darkness". I can add the books to this list more and more.
