‘The Innocent’ by Saneatsu Musanokōji (Review)

I mentioned a while back how a reread of Anri Yasuda’s excellent Beauty Matters, a work on literature and aesthetics in early nineteenth-century Japan, inspired me to acquire a book from each of the four main authors mentioned therein, and I’ve already got around to trying some rare cuts from Natsume Sōseki and a collection of assorted odds and ends by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Today, though, sees me moving away from such undisputed J-Lit giants and checking out a book by a slightly less familiar writer, a brief work with, according to its translator, a rather unique claim to fame. Let’s go for a walk, then, in the company of a rather desperate young man, one hoping that, one day, a certain someone will look his way… ***** Saneatsu Mushanokōji’s The Innocent (translated by Michael Guest) is a novel(la) narrated by an unnamed young man in his mid-twenties, and from the very first page, when his attention is taken by two women in the street, we learn that our friend has one thing on his…

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