قصة الكتاب :
Kōdansha, 1996. Out of print.
Chūōkōron Shinsha (Chūkō Bunko), 1999. 384 pp. ¥743. ISBN
978-4-12-203497-6.
Hosaka Kazushi
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1956 and raised in Kamakura.
Made his debut with Purēnsongu [trans. Plainsong] in 1990. Received
the Noma Prize for New Writers for Kusa no ue no chōshoku [Breakfast
on the Grass] in 1993, the Akutagawa Prize for Kono hito no iki
[The Area of the Person] in 1995, and both the Hirabayashi Taiko
Award and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō Prize for Kisetsu no kioku in 1997.
His other works include Ikiru yorokobi [The Joy of Living] and
Akegata no neko [A Cat at Dawn].

The release of this novel caused something of a stir in the 1990s literary world.
The novel itself, however, features no incidents or dramatic episodes. Against the
background of the four seasons in the former capital of Kamakura, the divorced
narrator, who lives with his five-year-old son Kui, simply reports on his unchanging
everyday life with intermittent philosophical speculations.
Distancing himself from his employer and the world, the narrator has plenty
of time on his hands. He takes walks by the sea or on the ridge of the mountain,
in the evenings enjoying meals and drinks with his congenial neighbors, seeking
philosophical and scientific truth through discussion and going over the same
ground again and again together. These argumentative exchanges garnered great
acclaim from such novelists as Maruya Saiichi, who described the work as “a
modern version of Natsume Sōseki’s Wagahai wa neko de aru [trans. I Am a Cat],”
and Hino Keizō, who praised the depiction of “human relationships that have
opened up, going beyond the excessive closeness of blood ties.”
“Daddy, do they have ants in the ants’ world too?” The question from Kui, who
is still too young to read, is a priceless quotidian moment in which abstract concepts
and poetic sensibility intersect. This in itself may be a noteworthy incident of sorts.
Hosaka’s efforts to establish a new frontline for the contemporary novel began in
earnest with this work. (OM)