MARCH BOOK CIRCLE MEETING

WHEN: Tuesday April 18, 2006, 6:00-8:00pm

WHAT: Book Circle aims to create an informal forum for discussion of books by contemporary Japanese authors. The interests and experiences of the club's members shape the direction of the club. Members choose which books will be discussed at subsequent meetings.

Join the JETAANC Book Circle in April as we discuss Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s "Kappa."

WHERE: Sports Club/LA's Sidewalk Café (adjacent to the Four Seasons, on the 2nd floor) 747 Market Street, San Francisco (There is a door to the east side of the Four Season's main entrance which is marked 747 Market. Go in that door, take the elevator to the Sports Club LA lobby level (possible the 4th floor). After exiting the elevators, tables for the Café are on the right).

Look for Heidi Smith, or a JETAANC sign.

SIGN UP : rsvp by sending an email to books@jetaanc.org

BOOK DETAILS:
From the author of Rashomon comes a Swiftian satire of Japanese society thinly disguised as the fictitious Kappaland. Peopled with creatures from Japanese folklore, Kappaland serves as a vehicle for the humorous examination of the moral foibles of Japanese society in the early 20th century.

Written shortly before Akutagawa’s suicide, as be became increasingly obsessed with his own unhappiness as well as the hallucinations and delusions that assailed him, Kappa takes place somewhere between dream and reality. Kappa is told in the first person from the perspective of an institutionalized madman, identified only as Patient No. 23. Ghost stories and the super natural often provided inspiration for Akutagawa’s writing, and Kappa draws its name from a creature in Japanese folklore known for dragging unwary children to their deaths in rivers. Kappa is a striking work from the disturbed though brilliant mind of one of Meiji-era Japan’s most prominent intellectuals.

“Kappa was born out of my disgust with many things – especially with myself” – Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Unfortunately, the only copies of KAPPA currently in print are $20 at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. So it could take a little more searching to find a good priced copy. Definitely try the libraries. You can order it through Amazon vendors – however, shipping time can be lengthy. Hopefully some of us the group will get our copies soon and read quickly and perhaps we can pass them around. Email us at books@jetaanc.org to find out if there are spare copies floating around to borrow.

Search forKappa by Ryunosuke Akutagawa at the San Francisco Public Library

OR

Support your local bookseller!

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=book+stores&find_loc=San+Francisco%2C+CA+94105&x=0&y=0

Kinokuniya – (415) 567-7625, 1581 Webster Street, San Francisco
Stacey's - (415) 777-5017, 581 Market Street , San Francisco
Borders @ Stonestown Galleria - (415) 731-0665, 233 Winston Drive , San Francisco

OR

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080483251X/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-2038031-7598401?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&no=283155&st=books&n=283155

or $20 version:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0720612004/qid=1143152708/sr=12-1/002-2038031-7598401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

BarnesandNoble.com

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0720612004&itm=1

 Excerpt:

The whole thing began on an ordinary summer’s day three years ago. With a rucksack on my back, I had set out from a hot-spring inn at Kamikochi to clime Mount Hodaka. As you know well enough, the only way to get on to Mount Hodaka is by following a route along the valley of the River Azusa. I had been on Mount Hodaka before – and Mount Yarigatake too, for that matter – so, even with a thick mist coming down in the Azusa valley, I hadn’t bothered to get myself a guide.

The mist wasn’t showing any signs of lifting – in fact, if anything, it was growing thicker. I kept up on the Azusa valley for about an hour, the mist billowing round me as I walked. At one point, I did think of turning back and retracing my steps to the hot-spring in where I’d stayed at Kamikochi; this would still have meant the same wait for the fog to clear before I could set off downwards.

As if to mock my indecision, the mist grew thicker and thicker every minute. …