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19/11/05 23:00The Gratuitously Depressing Awards.
I can't nominate the entire corpus of Japanese literature, so I'd have to go with Kokoro, by Soseki, and Mori Ogai's "Maihime."
Once upon a time, I was in a modern Japanese literature class (see above--I wouldn't have forced my way through them otherwise). When I took the final exam, one of the questions was, "Answer the question from class." I did not know the question from class. I had been to class, but it's entirely plausible that I didn't recognize the question when it was posed, because, you know, foreign language and all.
The prof went easy on me and said that I would pass the class if I wrote an essay on a Japanese novel.
I was incredibly depressed (I get anxious about my grades), so I went to Kinokuniya, bought the English translation of Norwegian Wood (of which I'd read about 2/3 in Japanese, in high school; I gave up on it because it was depressing. The main character reminded me way too much of life circumstances), raced through the ending, and began one of the worse essays I have ever written.
It started out, "Man, this was a really depressing book," and then segued to "And that is why it is a good book. Life really is this depressing. On the other hand, we don't need to be reminded of it like that!"
Zetsuai/Bronze was also nominated. I haven't seen the anime, but I just found the manga funny. And that reminds me that I have just pulled out of the parental attic a few volumes of Zankokuna Kami Ga Shihai Suru, which certainly qualifies as gratuitously depressing. I can't remember if I ever did finish it...
I can't nominate the entire corpus of Japanese literature, so I'd have to go with Kokoro, by Soseki, and Mori Ogai's "Maihime."
Once upon a time, I was in a modern Japanese literature class (see above--I wouldn't have forced my way through them otherwise). When I took the final exam, one of the questions was, "Answer the question from class." I did not know the question from class. I had been to class, but it's entirely plausible that I didn't recognize the question when it was posed, because, you know, foreign language and all.
The prof went easy on me and said that I would pass the class if I wrote an essay on a Japanese novel.
I was incredibly depressed (I get anxious about my grades), so I went to Kinokuniya, bought the English translation of Norwegian Wood (of which I'd read about 2/3 in Japanese, in high school; I gave up on it because it was depressing. The main character reminded me way too much of life circumstances), raced through the ending, and began one of the worse essays I have ever written.
It started out, "Man, this was a really depressing book," and then segued to "And that is why it is a good book. Life really is this depressing. On the other hand, we don't need to be reminded of it like that!"
Zetsuai/Bronze was also nominated. I haven't seen the anime, but I just found the manga funny. And that reminds me that I have just pulled out of the parental attic a few volumes of Zankokuna Kami Ga Shihai Suru, which certainly qualifies as gratuitously depressing. I can't remember if I ever did finish it...
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