Read New English Translations of Four Notable Novels
February 2020
Notable novels by four Japanese authors reach the US in English translations this year; these works include mystery novels by Seishi Yokomizo, feminist retellings of Japanese ghost stories, a cult hit novel about manzai comedians, and a new book from the author of Covenience Store Women.
Seishi Yokomizo was one of Japan’s foremost mystery writers; he published more than 70 novels, many of which first appeared in serialized form. Yokomizo's best-known character was private detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who presides over the action in The Honjin Murders (translated by Louise Heal Kawai) and The Inugami Curse (translated by Yumiko Yamazaki). These entertaining whodunits (newly available in the US this year) offer notable insights about the customs and social expectations of post-feudal Japan.
Where The Wild Ladies Are is one of four Japanese novels newly available in English translation.
Classic tales are also revived in Where the Wild Ladies Are, Aoko Matsuda's feminist retelling of traditional Japanese ghost stories (translated into English by Polly Barton). Matsuda uses contemporary settings to adapt these tales within the gender climate of modern-day Japan. Her works have been nominated for the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary Prize and a Shirley Jackson Award.
Naoki Matayoshi’s 2015 novel Spark quickly attained cult status; it won the coveted Akutagawa Prize and has been adapted into a series by Netflix. The novel (newly translated into English by Alison Watts) explores the collaboration between an aspiring comedian and his seasoned mentor, who perform in the manzai circuit (manzai is a Japanese comedic form that involves two performers, who trade puns and jokes at high speed).
Meanwhile, the newest novel by Sayaka Murata (the bestselling author of Convenience Store Woman) arrives in the US later this year, via a translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Earthlings follows the fanciful childhood adventures and complex adulthood of two cousins. Murata has received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize.
Learn more about all of these novels via The Japan Times, Metropolis Magazine, and Books and Bao.