“The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.” Chapter 1: The Day He […]
Japanese literature
Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age!
“To be born into this world is to be wounded. But to live is to heal.” The novel follows K, a writer and father, as he grapples with […]
Japanese literature
A Personal Matter
“I must escape. I must escape from this infantile self of mine.” Chapter 1: The Birth of a Monstrous Child The novel opens with Bird, a young man […]
Japanese literature
The Silent Cry
“We were like two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a sunken ship, each of us silently screaming in the dark.” Chapter 1: Return to the Village The […]
Japanese literature
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
“Human life is as fragile as the morning dew, yet the Golden Pavilion stands eternal.” Chapter 1: Introduction to Mizoguchi The novel opens with Mizoguchi, a young stutterer, […]
Japanese literature
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
“A man’s happiness lies in conformity with the purpose of the universe.” Chapter 1: The Sailor’s Return Noboru, a 13-year-old boy, watches from his bedroom window as his […]
Japanese literature
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
“When the wind-up bird comes, the earth creaks, the wind blows, and time turns over.” Part 1: The Thieving Magpie The novel opens with Toru Okada, an unemployed […]
German literature
The Clown
“I am a clown, and I collect moments.” Chapter 1: The Fall Hans Schnier, a disillusioned clown, lies injured in his Bonn apartment after a drunken fall. As […]
German literature
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
“For the sake of a single verse, one must see many cities, people, and things… One must be able to think back to roads in unknown regions… to […]
German literature
On the Edge
“The abyss is always closer than you think.” Chapter 1: The Unraveling The novel opens with the protagonist, a middle-aged man named Thomas Clarin, standing on the edge […]