In English, one of my favorite types of literature is the dystopian novel, specifically the ones in the tradition of Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We". That is, novels like "1984" and "Brave New World", or short stories like "Harrison Bergeron". Generally, not silly Ayn-Rand style libertarian stuff, nor too over-the-top science fiction stuff (okay, maybe Brave New World commits this crime just a bit).

Anyway, I recently went through Brave New World again. It's not a particularly subtle book, so the values considered important to the author are pretty obvious. It's also very obvious that those values are very western, so that a Japanese person reading the book might come away with a very different impression (in fact, I'd like to hear a Japanese person's opinion on the book, haha).

Which got me thinking--are there any similar books or stories written in Japanese? I know that books like Battle Royale use a dystopia as a background, but I am talking about books which concentrate on the social and politcal aspects of the dystopia.

I think it'd be interesting to read, since on the whole Japan doesn't seem to mind authority in the way America does.

Isn't every other Japanese work about a dystopia? Seems like it to me.

This has an overview of a lot of stuff: http://books.google.com/books?id=afdN8Mp...on&f=false

Two descriptions that struck me were of Akutagawa's Kappa and Ishikawa Jun's The Hawk (石川淳 - 鷹).

This, which is definitely not, I repeat, not at all, the complete chapter, might be easier to read: http://sn.im/b3lp94t ← That's not a tinyurl.com URL.

Wow, thanks, that's a pretty great source for finding some interesting ones. Abe's 友達 also sounds really interesting, as does some of Oe Kenzaburo's stuff (actually, I read an English translation of his 個人的な体験, A Personal Matter, a few years ago).

I promised a Japanese friend I would read 博士の愛した数式 after I finish ノルウェイの森, but maybe I should put it off and check out one of these, haha.

Abe's ‘Box Man’ is good, but I'm not sure how to categorize those types of works (Dazai's ‘No Longer Human’, Mishima's ‘Confessions of a Mask’, etc.) beyond 私小説 (which is mentioned in that chapter and translated as “I”-novel [see also: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi...67/I-novel ]). You can think of them as related works.

バトル・ロワイアル (Battle Royale).
A novel by Koushun Takami that was later made manga and movie. It takes place in a parallel society where Japan has won the WWII and become a totalitarian state. As a part of the training program of Japanese young fellows, they are sent to an island to kill each other. A classic.

It doesn't concentrate on the sociopolitical aspects, but All You Need Is Kill was really good. I read it in English, but I haven't read it in the original Japanese yet.

Kino no Tabi: It's a series, but it is really good, and it does focus on the sociopolitical aspects (more on social). I think that anyone who likes dystopian novels would like it.

Bokusenou Wrote:Kino no Tabi: It's a series, but it is really good, and it does focus on the sociopolitical aspects (more on social). I think that anyone who likes dystopian novels would like it.

I haven't read the novels, but the anime was -amazing-. I totally agree that this fits the criteria!

Tzadeck Wrote:I know that books like Battle Royale use a dystopia as a background, but I am talking about books which concentrate on the social and politcal aspects of the dystopia.

gesserit Wrote:バトル・ロワイアル (Battle Royale).
A novel by Koushun Takami that was later made manga and movie. It takes place in a parallel society where Japan has won the WWII and become a totalitarian state. As a part of the training program of Japanese young fellows, they are sent to an island to kill each other. A classic.

It isn't a novel, but the later chapters of Death Note are in a dystopian setting, with less totalitarianism and more supernatural powers. The social and political aspects could have been fleshed out better (perhaps if the tyrant didn't also happen to be the protagonist), but they do play a significant role.

nest0r Wrote:

Tzadeck Wrote:I know that books like Battle Royale

gesserit Wrote:バトル・ロワイアル (Battle Royale).

He was just being over-zealous in his helpfulness.

Bokusenou Wrote:Kino no Tabi: It's a series, but it is really good, and it does focus on the sociopolitical aspects (more on social). I think that anyone who likes dystopian novels would like it.

you should have put the "really" also in bold ans underline @bokusenou i am amazed by sigsawa and otsuichi

Another vote for キノの旅。 I've read the first 3 volumes and have the rest lined up. Each book is a set of short stories -- the story quality varies a little, but the worst ones are interesting and the best ones are mindblowing.

Here's one about censorship:

Toshokan Sensou: In 2019, the freedom of speech and writing is severly suppressed by the "Media Improvement Law" and its executive "Media Improvement Committee". As the sole organization that can resist their censorship, libraries take arms to protect their books.

Shangri-La http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La

hereticalrants Wrote:Shangri-La http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La

Edit:
Haha. At first I didn't understand this post. But now I realize that there's a Japanese novel called Shangri-La, you just linked to the wrong Wikipedia page.

Thanks also for the light novel suggestions! I've definitely heard of キノの旅 around this forum before. That or 図書館戦争 could be useful if I ever want to just do a much easier read than regular literature.

Kobo Abe`s "The Woman In Dunes" (砂の女). Dystopian and kafkaesque novel.

Tzadeck Wrote:

hereticalrants Wrote:Shangri-La http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La

Edit:
Haha. At first I didn't understand this post. But now I realize that there's a Japanese novel called Shangri-La, you just linked to the wrong Wikipedia page.

Daaaang, ooops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_%28novel%29

LazyNomad Wrote:Kobo Abe`s "The Woman In Dunes" (砂の女). Dystopian and kafkaesque novel.

+1

Furthermore, the film version of the novel is spectacular.