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Must read modern Japanese fictions

FinancialWar

Sempai
19 May 2006
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I really need to expand my vocabulary, can you recommend some modern Japanese fictions, by modern I mean after WW2 and famous.

Thanks.
 
I like the works of 東野圭吾。 His most famous is probably 秘密 (was made into a film as well). A lot of what he writes are mysteries, but he writes other things. I have a couple of short story collections, 黒笑小説 and 毒笑小説, which as you might guess from the names are generally dark humour.

Here's a clip out of 黒笑小説 so you can see the style. On the day the results of a book prize are to be announced, 鶴橋, an editor, is annoyed at having been sent by his boss to wait with 寒川, an elderly author who nobody thinks will win, rather than to the more popular 乃木阪. Everything in brackets is internal monologue. There is a lot of internal monologue in this story, since "心の中にある不満を隠し" is the permanent state of pretty much every character present.

(ちぇっ、ついてないな。どうして俺がこっちにいなきゃならないんだ)心の中にある不満を隠し、鶴橋はビールを飲んだ。(本来なら、俺だって乃木阪さんと一緒に発表を待つはずだったんだ。何しろ俺はずっと乃木阪さんの担当なんだからな。そりゃあ寒川さんの担当でもあるけど、まだ替わったばかりじゃないか。俺自身は寒川さんから、一枚原稿だってもらっちゃいない。一番付き合いが長いのは編集長はずだ。それなのに、あのヒゲおやじは)

Maybe look at winners of the 芥川龍之介賞・直木三十五賞 (famous/prestigious literary awards), or if you like a particular genre, at awards given for that genre.

As for getting hold of things, these days I prefer to ebay random books that look interesting, given the cost of ordering stuff in from overseas, but since you're in Sydney, maybe try these folks? I remember finding a book store with a bunch of cheap secondhand Japanese books in Melbourne a few years back - happy, happy day.
 
遠藤周作, I've read a couple of his books.

If you like formulaic, semi-predictable, yet well-written detective stories, 内田康夫. I've read I think 14 of his novels. Pretty good stuff, in different settings around Japan so they're also sort of an educational travelogue. They're also widely available and dirt cheap in used book stores.
 
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