User Profile

Bien qu’il ne le mentionne pas explicitement, Graziani explique comment une civilisation peut atteindre un niveau avancé d’organisation et de coordination sociale sans faire appel à la transcendance. Ce n’est pas ainsi que nous, occidentaux, percevons l’Orient, mais nous constatons que les nombres et la quantification ont joué un rôle extrêmement important dans la civilisation chinoise. Graziani réalise un travail remarquable en détaillant ce long processus, expliquant comment les récoltes étaient quantifiées et les communautés réparties en unités de cinq ou de dix.

Both works written in a crumbling Austrian Empire, both showing us the absurd results of bureaucratization.
Just to give you an idea, these are the first lines: "Through the premises of the police headquarters was wafted the spirit of authority which had been ascertaining how far the people's enthusiasm for the war actually went. With the exception of a few persons who did not disavow the fact that they were sons of the nation which was destined to bleed on behalf of interests entirely alien to it, the police headquarters harboured a magnificent collection of bureaucratic beasts of prey, the scope of whose minds did not extend beyond the jail and the gallows with which they could protect the existence of the warped laws."
Well written, entertaining although a bit long.

This work could have given us a very informative and interesting look into a world we're not familiar to in the West.: how do the homeless cope in the East. But the author, while giving us glimpses of a life that, from birth, had no other alternatives, chose to side track to the emperor and traditions so often that we're left waiting for more.

The central character, after the disappearance of his wife begins meeting all kinds of strange people that are not decidedly located in reality or another world. The plot travels from an unidentified Japanese town to Manchuria to Malta to a deep waterless well near a haunted house.
Despite this strange plot, Murakami succeeds in writing a novel that makes you ponder about your own life and the nature of reality.

No comments

Having never written a line, coming out of prison after a few nonos, the hero is taught by an old, crooked finger woman how to listen to the beans he using to make the filling for the pancakes he is selling every day.

Interesting plunge into the world of those who still have leprosy (a disease now considered cured but which nevertheless still projects and aura of fear) in Japan.

As expected, much more difficult to read than his best known work. This is goes into alternative realities, not science fiction, and explores the various facets of what we consider to be reality. As I'm not sure my basic reading abilities in Chinese are quite up to this level, I will refrain from saying more than this for fear of doing this work injustice.

The author has managed something rare. Using simple everyday words all along he succeeds very well in giving us a poignant story of simple people during difficult times. I've spoken Mandarin for a long time but was, up to 3 months ago, illiterate (Chinese has 86 000 characters, the average person knowing around 4000). My reading level is now upper mid-level and I could read the whole book and understand it all.

Roman parabolique (dans le sens de parabole), ou tragédie antique écrite dans un style journalistique acidulé qui nous donne à voir comment la vie de tout le monde, moi, vous, tous, fonctionne pour que, sans que nous en soyons nécessairement conscients, nos actions servent les buts et intérêts d'autres que nous, mieux placés que nous pour planifier et faire fructifier nos actions.

This book can intimidate many because there are extensive quotations of the Victorian poet AR Ash. Ash is not really my cup of tea either, but if you quickly pass over those you find a book that is very well written by an author who knows what she was doing. The love letters between Ash and a (finctional?) lover alone are worth the read reminding me of those between Eloise and Abelard.

Nothing earth-shattering but very well written and constructed, lively style which keeps you interested. Well done!