Nathan's book offers a delightful wander through Japan's literary wealth, with witty digressions and anecdotes that reveal new facets even to seasoned readers. Published on By Richard Nathan is the brains behind the Red Circle imprint, which has published short fiction by Japanese authors of the caliber of Kazufumi Shiraishi, Soji Shimada, and Kanji Hanawa. What makes his offerings unique is that the stories have never been previously published in English or Japanese.
That tells you a) he is well plugged into the world of Japanese writers and publishers, and b) he is very persuasive. Now, Nathan has turned from poacher to gamekeeper, or should it be from gamekeeper to poacher, by writing a book of his own. As you would expect from a man who comes up with such section headings as "Booze, Books, and Bonking" and "Cats, Tatts, and Christians," it is no dry-as-dust academic tome.
Rather, he takes us on a highly personal wander through the highways and byways of Japan's literary culture, from eleventh-century to the contemporary self-help book . Wandering Pen Following the tradition of "zuihitsu" ("wandering pen," meaning loosely connected ideas), Nathan digresses with delight. Not content to make a lengthy comparison of the feline narrator of Natsume Soseki's famous novel with the totally hypothetical moggy used in Schrodinger's quantum mechanics thought experiment, he also shoe-horns David Bowie's "cat from Japan" into the mix.
It's that kind of book. Full disclosure: Nathan men.
