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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1993)
Wednesday, April 28,1993 ^Entertainment t Book cooks up tales of women’s losses “Kitchen” By Banana Yoshimoto Grove Press “Those women lived their lives happi ly. They had been taught, probably by caring parents, not to exceed the boundaries of their happiness regardless of what they were doing. But there fore they could never know real joy.”— Yoshimoto, “Kitchen” This book is really two books, two short works, which were both phenomenally suc cessful in Japan, a country whose people are not known for buying large numbers of books. In gathering large numbers of I itcrary awards and selling millions of copies of “Kitchen,” Yoshimoto stormed Japan in a wave of “Bananamania,” which through the grace of Grove Press carried her at last to the shores of the United States. Yoshimoto brings us a view of a Japan that continues to struggle with the competing ten sions of tradition and modernity. It may be that Japanese women, long bound in subservient roles by tradition, feel such tensions more keenly than men, and their sto ries seem more lively for it. Both the works in “Kitchen” (“Moonlight Shadow” and the title piece) arc talcs of women dealing wilhJoss in their lives. The title piece tells the story of Mikagc Sakurai, a young woman orphaned as a girl and raised by her grandparents until they died. The final death, that of her grandmother, leaves Mikagc stranded in a daze from which she does not emerge until a chance meeting with Yuichi Tanabc. This childhood acquain tance takers Mikagc home to live with him and his transsexual mother/fathcr, Eriko. “Moonlight Shadow” is Yoshimolo’s first story and is much shorter than its companion piece in this volume. The plot, however, re mains much the same. The tragic death of her lover Hitoshi leaves Courtesy of Grove Press / a woman (Satsuki) in paralysis, drifting through life but not really living. N But her vitality is restored after a chance encounter with the mysterious woman Urara, who guides Satsuki to a unification with her , past. Also helping Satsuki is Hiiragi, the young brother of Hitoshi who is going through his own reconciliation with loss: Hiiragi’s girlfriend Yumiko was killed in the same auto accident , that killed Hitoshi. Hiiragi wears the school uniform of his girlfriend to preserve her memory and to deal with the loss. But he and Satsuki both find their pwn forms of reconciliation. k But unlike the similarly first-person pro tagonist of “Kitchen,” Satsuki reaches recon ciliation on her own terms, by herself, and thus * seems to presage a triumph of modernity over tradition for herself and for Japanese women in general. “We’ve been very lonely, but we had iteasy. Because death is so heavy — we, too young to know about it, couldn’t handle it.” — Bryan Peterson French collection UNL professor edits critic’s work The Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut by Wheeler Winston Dixon Indiana University Press “The Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut” brings for the first time into En glish translation more than 50 articles writ ten by Truffaut, chiefly for “Cahiers du Cinema” in the mid-1950s. This landmark publication would be enough in itself without the bonus of a rigorous critical commentary by the book’s author/editor, UNL Professor Wheeler Dixon. This volume is really two books in one: Dixon’s text, illustrated by the Truffaut pieces, weave a telling history of Truffaut’s critical life. Between the articles and the commentary there emerges a fascinating study of how Truffaut, an outspoken revolutionary in his youth, became more complacent with age, less desirous to rock the boat and more inclined to repent what he perceived to be past sins of callousness and arrogance. Truffaul was ihe first to advocate the auteur theory, which acknowledges the di rector as the dominant creative force in telling a story on film. Truffaiil also laid the foundation for the French New Wave, which prized location shooting, non-scriptcd dialogue, and films made quickly and cheaply, intentionally similar to Hollywood B pictures of the ’40s and ’50s. Referred to by some defensive fellow critics as the “gravedigger” of French cin ema, Truffaul fought what he perceived to be the real death of cinema: Big-budget, star-stuffed movies “which announce their importance so aggressively, so ponderously in every frame.” At the same time, Truffaut didn’t con demn filmmakers for seeking profit and he acknowledged that audiences often went to see films because of their stars, not their directors. Such double-edged altitudes fore shadow Truffaut’s eventual backing away . Courtesy of Indiana University Press from earlier criticisms of directors and the • film-going public. Dixon also examines Truffaut’s sexist tendencies, another contradiction equally apparent in Truffaut’s films and writings. When he reviewed films starring Brigitte Bardoland Marilyn Monroe, his focus moved from the films themselves to the stars’ bod ies and acting abilities. Dixon’s book, indispensable for film stu dents and admirers of Truffaut and French cinema, is important reading in an age where, commercially speaking, style is valued over substance, and style itself is in danger of becoming subsumed by total shallowness. Dixon’s arrangement of Truffaut’s writ ings offers an intimate view of how and why someone’s views on these issues can change over time. — Calvin Clinchand ■ Beatnik’s bible The Portable Beat Reader by Ann Charters Viking Portable Library If you’re looking for a happening sum mertime read and some substance with your style, pick up a copy of “The Portable Beat Reader.” It’s just the right si/c to carry around in your hand, lies open nicely so you can sip cappuccino while you read, and has a cool cover with a snapshot of Bill Burroughs talking to Jack Kerouac on the front. At first I avoided buying this book be cause I’d rather own works in their entirety than a collection of excerpts, but a second look revealed the incredible range of beat sensibility crammed into one volume. Editor Ann Charters worked with Jack Kerouac in compiling a complete bibliogra phy of his writings and, after his death in 1969, wrote his first biography. ncrc, i^naricrs proviacs oiograpmcs lor every notable figure in the beat movement, wi th m ul lipie bios for the progressi vc phases of durable greats like Kerouac, Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gary Snyder. The excerpts from longer works, like Kcrouac’s “On the Road” and Burrough’s “Naked Lunch,”arc annoying or tantalizing in their brevity, depending on your point of view, but should serve as representative introductions for newcomers to the style. The book’s merits outweigh its unavoid able compactness: Here you’ll find Ginsberg’s “Howl,” “Kaddish” and “America,” complete, as well as the poem that immortalized Lincoln’s own ‘'Zero Street,” plus over a dozen m inor beat figures whose writings are out of print. Chartcrsalso includes writers on the fringe of the movement I ike Ken Kcscy and Charles Bukowski.and in the back adds a healthy list . ■ .w yf-' David Badders/DN of further reading about the beat writers, beyond the title lists lined up with individual authors. v. W- - -• v* ‘ 1“ r ' - ■ — Calvin Clinchard What she thinks j Anthology covers many topics “Thinking Out Loud” Anna Quindlen Random House Opinions — we all have them. Some shout their opinions from the rooftops. Others prefer to keep their opinions a pri vate matter. Anna Quindlcn is one of those few people who actually gets paid to make her private thoughts Liblic via the printed word. “Thinking Out Loud” is Quindlcn’s latest compila tion of opinion articles. The articles collected in this book were taken from the op-ed column “Public & Private,” which she writes for The New York Times. Quindlcn isa writer, mother, feminist, abor tion rights advocate... the list could go on and on. And in “Public & Private,” Quindlen shares her personal thoughts and opinions on virtually everything. If there is a national crisis happening, her readers can expect to find outher opinion on the matter. If her daughter is having a birthday, her readers can expect an opinion on motherhood, or perhaps even women and the future. “Thinking Out Loud” is a hodgepodge of articles written between 1990 and 1992. The subject matter ranges from the Persian Gulf War to abortion and women’s rights to racial and gay issues —• she tackles everything. “Thinking Out Loud” is not Quindlen’s first book of opinions. A book entitled “Living Out Loud” was compiled from her columns of the 1980s. In addition to her two opinion books, she also has written a novel, “Object Lessons” and Courtesy of Random House a children’s book, ‘‘The Tree That Came to Stay.” In 1992 she added the Pulitzer Prize for commentary to her list of accomplishments. ‘‘Thinking Out Loud” is very interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking. Even those who don’t agree with Quindlen will be forced to evaluate some of their own opinions and thoughts. This book is definitely worth the time. . — Elaine Clair ^ ■ ;