The essentials

[kinkladze]

Not knowing too much about Japanese literature but wishing to learn, which recent Japanese novels do other forum members consider the most important? Essentially what I am saying is which novels would you recommend to someone wishing to learn about present-day Japanese society?

cheers,

kinkladze. :confused:

[thomas]

Far from being an expert on Japanese literature, I'd recommend to start with the following authors: Junichiro Tanizaki, Kenzaburo Oe, Haruki Murakami (one of my favorites), Shusako Endo (another favorite of mine, a lot of his novels cover Japanese Christian history), Yasunari Kawabata (the grand old man of J-literature, "Snow Country"), Abe Kobo (also famous outside Japan), Yukio Mishima etc. While they're probably not reflecting present-day (21st century) Japan, they were/are the pillars of contemporary Japanese literature. Another author dealing with issues related to modern Japanese society is Banana Yoshimoto.

[moyashi]

kinkladze, welcome and yoroshiku