"Realm of the Dead" by Uchida Hyakken [Reviewed by Meredith Smith]

Title: The Realm of The Dead
Author: Uchida Hyakken
Published: 2006
Number of pages: 229
Genre: Japanese short stories

With a series of disconnected dreams and images that fade into one another without logic, these stories describe the worlds of both the living and the dead.

Realm of the Dead is set in a dark and mysterious world where logic and reality are subject to constant change and where ideas about identity and self are continually questioned. In one short story, the narrator watches footage from the Russo-Japanese War, but then moving across the screen, finds himself fighting in the war. In another, the narrator goes to a freak show with a woman, only to find the woman herself has become a freak.

Considered one of the foremost innovators of Japanese modernism, Hyakken incorporates a distinctly non-Western set of myths and folklore to create dreamscapes that open doors into another world.

I found this book in July, wandering through the Collector's Room at a book sale for the American Association of University Women. It was a first edition, which of itself is worthy of picking up. But, more importantly than that, I knew it would fit two significant categories in which I read come Autumn. One of the categories is for my very own Japanese Literature Challenge, the other is for Carl's RIP Challenge. And so, I put it in my basket to bring home.

Here is a synopsis for one of the stories in the collection called "The Pier":

We find a man who has become friendly with another man at the spa. His wife was friendly with the man, too, until her husband became nervous and decided they should leave the spa.

His wife easily walked the plank that would take them to the ship they needed in order to cross the lake. But, when he took one step on the plank, he was overcome with a terrible panic and found himself unable to cross. When he looked up, he saw his wife's face in the porthole. It was quickly replaced by the face of the man from the spa. It doesn't occur to him until later that's odd he would look for her in the porthole, instead of on deck.

Like a dream you are having, when you must cross somewhere, or find someone, but inexplicably are prevented from doing so at every turn, this man begins to follow the ship by running along the shore. His very panic induced the same panic in me, as though I, too, must find her in time.

Eventually, he comes to a dark train station where he walks among the crowd looking for his wife. Strangely, the crowd lifts a leg, and stamps their foot down in unison. They continue to do this bizarre dance, with his wife joining in...

The dance did not speed up or slow down, and the legs of the dancers kept crashing down in the same way. I couldn't move forward. I eventually got tired. Along with the desire to rush over to my wife came feelings of disinterest. I looked vacantly over in her direction and saw that the man was looking back with his impossible beautiful face. I came to and retreated. So that's what people meant when they talked about adultery.

Such a poignant reality was conveyed in such a nightmare of surrealism. I love the chilling nightmare quality, I love the simplicity, I love the connection to our lives that they eerie stories represent. You, too, might like this perfect autumnal read.

Excerpt:

"The dance did not speed up or slow down, and the legs of the dancers kept crashing down in the same way. I couldn't move forward. I eventually got tired. Along with the desire to rush over to my wife came feelings of disinterest. I looked vacantly over in her direction and saw that the man was looking back with his impossible beautiful face. I came to and retreated. So that's what people meant when they talked about adultery."

Afterword: Because Monday surprised me delightfully with several people, who I have not seen in ages, I was unable to post this guest review from my amazing friend and astonishingly well read and cultured blogger Meredith Smith otherwise known as Bellezza from her blog "Dolce Bellezza". This is her read for both the Japanese Reading Challenge she hosts and Carls' RIP IV Challenge.