BGM: BONNIE PINK "犬と月"
A day off. It was raining but I went to Aeon as my morning habit, and read Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City". I believed that this novel must have a powerful and sensitive voice (not violent). This seems just a sophisticated youth story in a 'big city', but this is an orthodox one about how to live over the death of his mother I guess. How to go over the loss and sadness, and try to rebirth. Therefore this exactly knocks my heart. And Genichiro Takahashi's translation is also great. I thought this is a masterpiece.
Jay McInerney's this debut novel has gotten the reaction of being called as 'J.D.Salinger in the 80s' I heard. But to tell the truth, I don't know Salinger well. Although I have read his "Nine Stories" as one of my beloved books, I should read his masterpiece "Catcher In The Rye" more. So I went to the library and borrowed that one (translated by Haruki Murakami!). About the books I should read, I am the person who hasn't known the masterpiece "The Great Gatsby", even if I have watched the movie by Baz Luhrmann. I'm just a human being so I have such holes in my knowledge.
I attended the 'danshu' meeting and talked about my recent days as usual. How foolish I was once. I couldn't get any job after graduating the university, so I believed my life had ended and spent my youth days with a lot of alcohol (at that time, our society didn't find NEETs and hikikomori as an important 'visible' problem). There, I learned about attachment disorder. That disorder comes from the lack of attachment by parents usually. I have never been abused by them, but I had to live with being bullied by classmates. Therefore once I had a strong doubt about other people. I can say that I once suffered from the trauma the school days added me.
I have read a blog article about Jay McInerney. About the truth McInerney was told by his mentor of literature, Raymond Carver. It was very simple. "Keep on writing every day". But it is difficult... Me, I am keeping on writing this journal every morning, but I had thought that "bothersome!" before this became my habit. TBH even now I think that "Ah, morning has come...". But when I keep on writing, one day I find that I can write wonderful things, but another day I find my writing becomes banal. That kind of cycle might produce a kind of 'masterpiece'.
