百年の散歩（新潮文庫）

by Yōko Tawada, 多和田葉子

豆のスープをかき混ぜてもの思いに遊ぶ黒い〈奇異茶店〉。サングラスの表面が湖の碧さで世界を映す眼鏡屋。看板文字の「白薔薇」が導くレジスタンス劇。カント、マルクス、マヤコフスキー。ベルリンを幾筋も走る、偉人の名をもつ通りを、あの人に会うため異邦人のわたしは歩く。多言語の不思議な響きと、歴史の暗がりから届く声に耳を澄ましながら。うつろう景色に夢想を重ね、街を漂う物語。（解説・松永美穂）

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Yōko Tawada (多和田葉子 Tawada Yōko, born March 23, 1960) is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German.

Tawada was born in Tokyo, received her undergraduate education at Waseda University in 1982 with a major in Russian literature, then studied at Hamburg University where she received a master's degree in contemporary German literature. She received her doctorate in German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1987 she published Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts—Anata no iru tokoro dake nani mo nai (A Void Only Where You Are), a collection of poems in a German and Japanese bilingual edition.

Tawada's Missing Heels received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991, and The Bridegroom Was a Dog received the Akutagawa Prize in 1993. In 1999 she became writer-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four months. Her Suspect on the Night Train won the Tanizaki Prize and Ito Sei Literary Prize in 2003.

Tawada received the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1996, a German award to foreign writers in recognition of their contribution to German culture, and the Goethe Medal in 2005.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Erika]

I really wanted to like the book. But it had no storyline whatsoever and reading it was like watching someone else's meaningless and chaotic dream.
But I'm not saying it wasn't pretty. It was. But I want stories and not endless musing.
This is my 3rd Yoko Tawada book, and 2nd to DNF it.
All of her writings have a dreamlike feature in them.

The one thing I love about her books is her wordplays. As a person who grew up in 2 completely different cultures, I can understand how the "concept" of the word and not the word itself can get jumbled up inside the head. I like how she put those confusing "melting-pot" like content of my head in words.
However, I don't think this is a book I could devour in one go.
I got bored and distracted.

天気の良い秋の昼間に、あまり馴染みのない街を散歩していて、その時に頭の中で繰り広げられる連想ゲームと言葉遊びが詰まったような本。
(真夏だと「暑くて死ぬ、溶けてアスファルトにこびりついてそのまま焦げ付きそう」としか考えられないだろうし、真冬だったら「くそ、風吹くなよ寒いだろ、凍った手足の末端をどこかのカフェで解凍したい」としか考えられないだろう。春なら、私の場合は「花粉が見える…くそ」だろうし)

この本には、ストーリーらしいストーリーはない。
なので、１作品ごとにゆっくり読むには良いかもしれないけれど、10作品いっぺんに読むのは正直しんどいし、「どうでも良いや」と思ってしまう。
けれど。嫌いではない。少しずつ読む分には、言葉の連想ゲームが楽しい。

私も幼少期から度々外国で育ってきた。
なので、22才からドイツに住んでいる作者の、言語を超えた概念上での空想や連想ゲームは、私にも共感できるところがあるし、多言語でカオスな頭の中を、わかりやすく言葉にしてくれていることへの心地よさも感じる。
解説にもあるように、「多和田葉子特有の言葉遊びが炸裂し、つんのめるような感じで言葉が踊っている」のも楽しい。

けれど、なんどもいうが、ストーリーがないので、ぶっ通しで読むものではない。
というわけで、いつか続きを読もうかな、と思いつつDNF。
しんどい。