Ravine and Other Stories (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature)

By Yoshikichi Furui

An astonishing artistic re-creation of roiling metnal landscapes. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880656299
• ISBN13: 9781880656297
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.4" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Troubling Tales of Mystery and Imagination

In this collection of four key short stories by Furui Yoshikichi, we are treated to a strange alchemical mix of the real and the surreal, the everyday and the uncanny in prose so vibrant and deep it is almost poetry--poetry with an eerie and disturbing edge. The title story, "Ravine" is on one level just the story of a mountain hike by two guys in memory of their dead friend, but it is filled with allusions and hallucinations and memories of an ambiguously haunting nature. Likewise "Grief Field" tells of a man on the brink of mental collapse spending time with his mistress after learning he has lung cancer, but Furui's evocative and disjointed narrative takes such a straightforward story and distorts it so that you almost experience the man's state of mind firsthand. "The Bellwether" is a twisted contemplation of crowd dynamics and urban life, with imaginings of the most riotous and chaotic overlapping with the humdrum order of the daily train commute. Finally, "On Nakayama Hill" is perhaps the least strange of the batch but is still an unusual tale of a brief, unlikely friendship between two strangers, a young lady stunned by a troubling experience and an old dying man living it up at the horse races. All of these stories combine a richness and eccentricity of style with an invocation of the uncanny and weird at the border of everyday life (and death) in a compelling manner. In this way it is almost as if Furui is the missing link between Izumi Kyoka and Murakami Haruki, though not as stubbornly premodern as the former nor as deadpan postmodern as the latter. That said, his work here stands alone on its own merit without the help of such a contextual scheme, certainly, and he has a vision and an approach all his own. Still, if you have a penchant for fiction that's down to earth and yet imaginative at the same time, with one foot on the sidewalk and the other in the twilight zone, lyrical but not mushy and creepy but not horrific, you just might want to check out "Ravine" here.

One of the finest examples of modern Japanese Literature

After having read this book for a U of A Japanese Literature course, I can see why it would be a necessary book for any fan of modern japanese literature. "Ravine" is a collection of four stories by Yoshikichi Furui that are somewhat autobiographical in nature. What sets Furui apart from his contemporaries is the almost poetic prose that he adopts - a poignant stream of consciousness that draws in the reader and commands the imagination. Although for the most part very somber, these stories liberate the mind to wander over the plains of the subconscious that Furui masterfully constructs, sometimes even with a dash of humor. Most important to any student of Japanese literature however, are his perceptions of the internal workings of Japanese society, and the personal level on which the Japanese operate with one another. I would agree with the foreword of the book that suggests an expository style to the writing, reminiscient at times of an essay. And although these stories may move a little too slowly for some, people wanting a taste of what a master of modern Japanese literature can provide should find a home in "Ravine".Those interested in Furui's works may also want to check out Haruki Murakami, Shusaku Endo, and Kobo Abe.