#atsushi quoting his namesake | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bsd-bibliophile · 6 years

Note

First, thank you for your blog, it's one that I actively check almost daily. So good. I'm asking your opinion on which book to start with concerning the real-life authors to the BSD namesakes'... I hope this makes sense? The author's are familiar, and some of the title's I've come across, but I'm a little overwhelmed!

I’m flattered that you read my blog that much! Thank you! Your kindness and support mean so much to me! I’ll make a list of some of the authors and a good book to start with, so I hope this helps:

Agency Authors:

Nakajima Atsushi: The Moon Over the Mountain and Other Short Stories - you can buy it here or read the first story “The Moon Over the Mountain” online here.

Dazai Osamu: No Longer Human is a very powerful book - you can buy it here or read it online here.

Kunikida Doppo: There is a PDF with five of Kunikida’s short stories available online here. Or you can read River Mist and Other Stories online here.

Edogawa Ranpo: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination is my favorite collection (it gives you a great taste of what Ranpo’s writing is like) - you can buy it here or read it online here.

Fukuzawa Yukichi: It depends on what you’re interested in with Fukuzawa. An Encouragement of Learning is a great read - you can read it online here. Or An Outline of a Theory of Civilization is great as well - you can read it online here.

Junichirou Tanizaki: Naomi is probably the first one I’d start with - you can buy it here or read it online here.

Mafia Authors:

Akutagawa Ryunosuke: “Rashomon” is a fascinating story - you can read it online here. And my favorite collection of Akutagawa’s stories is Rashomon and 17 Other Stories - you can buy it here or download the EPUB file here.

Mori Ogai: The short story “The Dancing Girl” is good - you can read it online here. And Vita Sexualis is another interesting read - you can buy it here or download the EPUB here.

Nakahara Chuuya: My favorite collection of poems is The Poems of Nakahara Chuya - you can buy that here or read the quotes from my blog here.

Motojiro Kajii: “Lemon” is amazing - you can read it here.

Other:

Natsume Souseki: I would definitely start with Kokoro - you can buy it here or read the online text here.

Sakaguchi Ango: He was most famous for his essays, so it’s good to start with “A Discorse on Decadence” - you can read it here. He also wrote the famous short story “In the Forest, Under the Cherries in Full Bloom” - you can read that here.

Oda Sakunosuke: My favorite Oda story is “The State of the Times” - you can read it here. Only four of his stories have been translated, and they are all available in the book Stories of Osaka Life - you can buy that here. (Sorry that this book is pretty expensive).

There are a lot of authors, and it is pretty overwhelming to know where to start. Just pick the character you like best and start with something by them. I started by reading No Longer Human, “The Moon Over the Mountain,” and Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination. If you want a good sense of modern Japanese literature then starting with Kokoro by Natsume Souseki would be a good one.

And if you want to look into other works by the authors and where to find them then you can use the BSD Reading List or my Quotes by Book page.

#japanese literature #resources #links #book recs #book recomendations #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

317 notes · View notes

ouranswer · 4 years

Text

“The mind may err, but never the blood.”

It was a cold winter morning. Yukie had been dedicating herself to writing, by herself, on the music room of Hope’s Peak Academy. This early in the morning, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone besides herself—hearing those words, she turned her head slightly, allowing herself to associate the face with the voice. Her guess was right; the one that had given her such a quote was, standing in the doorway, none other than Ryuunosuke Kinoto.

Saying that he was frail was beyond an understatement. His pale skin could be likened to that of someone who was fighting to even breathe another breath, his horribly sickly face only darkened by deep eyebags below his eyes. He wore a black kimono, so unlike the figure of a teenager you would have during this century, and he always sported the same blood-red scarf around his neck. He looked at everyone with the same silently judgemental expression over his glasses, like it was a sore to his deep purple eyes to even see his classmates.

How did she know that much? Well, she observed, and from that she took her conclusions. He was standoffish, and had been shown to avoid and disregard attempts at social interactions at all costs. So it was a surprise that the otherwise aloof Ryuunosuke had spoken to her.

With grace, she closed the notebook she had in hands, before turning her body towards him; stay calm, she repeated over and over. It’s a fellow classmate, not a seven-headed monster. “Nakajima Atsushi, was it?”

“Mhm-hm,” Ryuunosuke nodded, before entering the room. He stood, rather awkwardly, instead of taking a seat near her or on the available chairs. “Not a favorite of mine, like my namesake, Akutagawa… but he had good stories nevertheless, and this is my favorite of his quotes. And it applies to Kisarijo-san.”

“It does?” Surprised by that, she gave him a slight smile, though it could be seen she was more condescending than she wanted to come off as. Yukie was quick to catch on to that, before smoothing her uniform skirt and sitting again, regaining her posture. “If you would mind to tell me what you mean by that, I would be very happy to hear.”

The boy, wordlessly, offered his hand to her. Yukie… didn’t understand the intent. What did he want? A handshake? To hold her hand? Did he want her to hand him something? All she had was her notebook and her pen. Blinking, the perplexed detective looked from one side to the other, trying to figure out what he could possibly want—

“The notebook,” He finally said. For someone as unexpressive as himself, his voice was… unexpectedly soft.

“The notebook,” She repeated, hurrying to grab the small object and hand it over to her classmate. While she didn’t want that… he did seem like he wanted to see it, and it wasn’t just a small amount of curiosity.

Flipping through the pages, Ryuunosuke didn’t slow down until the most recent entries. They were, admittedly, not on his field of expertise; Yukie had read his work before, and it was far removed from the detective stories she wrote on her free time. His writing was, to say the least, beautiful. It paid close attention to the formatting of each sentence, so it had a rhythmical, almost poetic flavor to it. The structure of the stories were involving, and it was one of the first types of short stories that captivated her without appealing to interests she already held. Of course, that didn’t mean he neglected the plot: though they were for a niche audience, considering how heavy and usually grotesque his tales were, they brought interesting characters and settings hard to not get attached to. Having someone of such high caliber judging her stories… was it really okay to let that happen? A small knot of self-consciousness began to grow inside of her stomach, as she watched the skilled writer read her work.

He closed the book, delicately, before looking back at Yukie. Somehow, his eyes seemed far more intimidating now. “Just as I thought. It’s absolute, unfiltered garbage.”

The detective didn’t know what she expected, but the frustration and anger in Kinoto’s words were, most certainly, not what she was waiting for. She averted her eyes, unsure of what to say when confronted by the great literary genius. Instead, her eyes focused on his hand, that flicked the cover of her notebook.

“A writer such as Doyle-san, who specializes in mystery, would be most suited for this—but what bothers me isn’t the tricks or the mystery of the individual story, but the way you write. Doyle-san would undoubtedly say it’s because it lacks ‘realism’, on her definition, real life experience. To me, it’s simply garbage,”

Yukie prepared herself for more harsh words, only to receive… well, that.

“Because you limit yourself.”

“…Huh?” Yukie looked up at him. Ryuunosuke had an expression difficult to read, but it was far from the anger he had shown. Perhaps resignation? Regardless, he seemed fairly calm in comparison to his previous sentences, as he opened the notebook once again.

“You… overthink it,” He explained, as he pointed at the pages vaguely. “You try to make it perfect on the first try, though that’s impossible. You try to rationalize your writing to the point it loses flavor, it loses substance. You attempt to make a perfect ‘story’, but there is no such a thing, and you sacrifice the feeling you put into it instead. That is why, you should trust yourself more. You have potential—your writing is impeccable, it’s engrossing, and you have a good sense of how to handle the foreshadowing you think of. But you waste that potential into trying to make the dialogue serve the plot at all moments, keeping ‘unnecessary’ character-building scenes out of the way, and describing things as shortly as possible. If I wasn’t able to look past those things, which most won’t do, I would put this notebook down and never glance at it again.”

Yukie… didn’t quite know how to feel about it. On one hand, it was harsh criticism, the type that stuck deep within her and hurt more than disinterest. On the other hand… he acknowledged her potential and what she did well, also telling her on what she could improve. She understood what he had meant. However, there was something that didn’t sit right with her.

“…But you said it relates to me,” The Kisarijo eventually said, glancing at Ryuunosuke with the corner of her eyes. “Are you saying I have this problem as a person, as well?”

The ravenette went silent. It was another long pause, as if he needed to gather his thoughts before speaking. Yukie could relate to that; he didn’t seem to be avoiding the topic, but rather trying to find the best way to relay his message to the other. With both hands on his lap, where the notebook rested, he took a deep breath, and opened his mouth again.

“There was… this boy, who was the son of a friend of my father’s,” He began, in a meeker tone than before. It was impressive, how emotionally filled was his speech, contrary to his expressions. “He was completely serious. All the time, he would act like a rock, without any emotions. I could tell that he, like myself, was trying to be something he wasn’t. And I taught him that he didn’t have to do it, despite how much his parents forced him into a box, as long as he created another ‘self’. I believe you, too, would benefit from that.”

“Another… self?” She raised an eyebrow, listening closely to what he told her. “But I am ‘me’. Such trivialities as emotions or relationships, they are beyond a detective—”

“Then don’t be a detective.”

The Ultimate Consulting Detective, hearing that, frowned deeply. She was about to explode with him, having taken that much more personally than expected, but she was interrupted by the author’s speech.

“I’m not telling you to quit your passion,” He reassured, before continuing, “I am telling you to keep your detective life, as Yukie Kisarijo… separate from the side of you that feels and bleeds like everyone else. Separate yourself from the cold and calculating side of your occupation, so you can keep… some semblance of the humanity you wish to hide. You needn’t flaunt that other side as soon as you are away from your job, but you needn’t hide yourself from your own heart.”

“How can I be anyone other than myself, though? I’m Yukie Kisarijo, the Ultimate Consulting Detective,” She stubbornly replied, like it was the most important fact. Meanwhile, Ryuunosuke opened the notebook, before scribbling down her name.

Yukie. The kanji for ‘snow’ and the kanji for ‘picture’. It wasn’t an uncommon name, but it wasn’t so popular either. She didn’t understand what that would accomplish; he was just writing her name down. And then—

“Ah—!”

He scribbled out the ‘e’, leaving only the word for snow.

“…a blank slate, where you can pour any emotion you wish, pure and simple like snow,” He muttered, before showing the page for her. For the first time since they met, he had… a smile, just as pure as what he was describing. A way to keep yourself happy, even when you have to be someone that hurts you… “Just like I am ‘Ryuu’, you can perhaps be that snow (Yuki).”

That odd boy became a close friend of hers after that day. The weirdly sentimental and kind Ryuu, that presented himself to those he had grown fond of, and the Ryuunosuke that had a hard time expressing himself and easily snapped at others when provoked, despite never losing his noble and serious attitude. Both of those were, in their own way, endearing. Both of those were, for their own reasons, her friend and classmate.

What an odd memory, of an odd boy, that tried to teach her on his own odd way that she could try and become whoever she wanted, without fear.

#yukie kisarijo — ultimate consulting detective #ryuunosuke kinoto — ultimate short story writer #long transmission! — long post

0 notes