A lot of the Japanese/Japanese diaspora fiction I’ve read (in English translation/originally in English) has what I’d describe as a straightforward, direct, minimalistic, bare bones prose–more “tell” than “show”–mixed with very creative premises, plot points, and characters.
Of course every author has their own style, and I’m not trying to generalize or stereotype and entire culture. But in my very limited experience, there is a broad pattern among the books that happen to be on my radar. For example:
Kobo Abe, Sayaka Murata, Hiroko Oyamada, Mieko Kawakami, Yoko Tawada, Yoko Ogawa
I think it’s an interesting combination of simple style, strange story, and I really love some of these authors, but I’d also love to check out something with a different prose style–could be maximalist; lyrical; but not Murakami, Ozeki, Ishiguro–even if it means the plot is less out there. Do you any recommendations? Thanks!
by Best_Ruin6156
3 Comments
A lot of this is actually just bad translations. A lot of novels have descriptive or pretty tone-heavy narration that translators then turn into the dryest possible tone.
Also Ishiguro is British lol.
For a suggestion, though, you could try Hideyuki Kikuchi for very flowery language.
Mishima is who you’re looking for.
Check out Mary Yukari Waters. She has one novel, *The Favorites*, and one short story collection, *The Laws of Evening*.