Life Ceremony
 | |
| Author | Sayaka Murata |
|---|---|
| Original title | 生命式 (Seimeishiki) |
| Publisher | Kawade Shobo Shinsha (Japanese) Grove Atlantic, Granta Books (English) |
Publication date | October 16, 2019 (Japan) July 5, 2022 (United States, Canada) May 4, 2023 (United Kingdom) |
| Publication place | Japan |
| Pages | 272 (Japanese) 256 (English, United States & Canada) 272 (English, United Kingdom) |
| ISBN | 978-4309028309 |
| Preceded by | Earthlings (地球星人, Chikyūseijin) |
| Followed by | Changeability (変半身, Henhanshin) |
Life Ceremony (Japanese: 生命式, Hepburn: Seimeishiki, lit. 'Life Ceremony') is a 2019 short story collection by Japanese writer Sayaka Murata, published by Kawade Shobō Shinsha. Its twelve included stories have been described as strange, surreal, humorous, and grotesque.[1][2] In 2022, an English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori was published by Grove Atlantic in the United States and Canada. Granta Books published Takemori's translation in the United Kingdom in 2023.[3][4]
Stories
[edit]| Title | Original publication, if any (Japanese) | Original publication, if any (English) |
|---|---|---|
| 素敵な素材 ("A First-Rate Material") | 早稲田文学 (Waseda Bungaku) | Freeman's: The Future of New Writing, tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori |
| 素晴らしい食卓 ("A Magnificent Spread") | モンキー (MONKEY) | |
| 夏の夜の口付け ("A Summer Night's Kiss") | Astra Magazine, tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori | |
| 二人家族 ("Two's Family") | 花椿 (Hanatsubaki Magazine) | |
| 大きな星の時間 ("The Time of the Large Star") | おやすみ王子 (Goodnight Prince) | |
| ポチ ("Poochie") | ||
| 生命式 ("Life Ceremony") | 新潮 (Shinchō) | |
| 魔法のからだ ("Body Magic") | メイビー! (Maybe!) | |
| かぜのこいびと ("Lover on the Breeze") | 早稲田文学 記録増刊 震災とフィクションの“距離” (Waseda Bungaku, Special Issue: The Distance Between Earthquake and Fiction) | |
| パズル ("Puzzle") | 早稲田文学 (Waseda Bungaku) | |
| 街を食べる ("Eating the City") | 新潮 (Shinchō) | |
| 孵化 ("Hatchling") | 小説トリッパー (Shosetsu Tripper) |
Critical reception
[edit]In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book "Beautiful, disturbing, and thought-provoking".[5]
Dwight Garner, writing for The New York Times, called Murata's prose "deadpan, as clear as cellophane, and has the tidiness of a bento box" and lauded Takemori's translation as "so cool you could chill a bottle of wine with it."[6] The Asian Review of Books pointed out how Murata's short stories excelled in defamiliarizing cultural norms that "don't make as much sense as people would like to think they do."[7] The Financial Times wrote that "Murata’s skill is in turning round the world so that the abnormal, uncivil or even savage paths appear — if momentarily — to make sense" while also lauding Takemori's translation for its "spare and dreamlike" rendering of Murata's prose.[8] Kathleen Rooney, in LIBER: A Feminist Review, said "the stories’ haunting premises linger in the mind."[9] Cha: An Asian Literary Journal called it "disturbing and provocative".[10]
The Big Issue, calling the book a "mixed bag", noted that Murata's writing worked best in longer pieces, such as longer short stories like "A First-Rate Material" or even her novellas, while sometimes falling flat in shorter, more conceit-driven pieces.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Leow, Florentyna (10 July 2022). "'Life Ceremony': Sayaka Murata dishes out the grotesque with humor". The Japan Times. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Sim, Walter (13 August 2022). "Book review: Sayaka Murata's Life Ceremony is a subversive take on normality". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Murata, Sayaka (5 July 2022). Life Ceremony: Stories. Translated by Takemori, Ginny Tapley. Grove Atlantic. ISBN 978-0802159588.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Murata, Sayaka (4 May 2023). LIfe Ceremony: Stories. Translated by Takemori, Ginny Tapley. Granta Books. ISBN 978-1783787388.
- ^ "Life Ceremony". Kirkus Reviews. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Garner, Dwight (27 June 2022). "In This Story Collection, the Dead Are Served Up Hot-Pot Style". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Fincher, Alison (15 July 2022). ""Life Ceremony" by Sayaka Murata". Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Lucas, Louise (9 September 2022). "Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata — spare and dreamlike Tokyo stories". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Rooney, Kathleen (25 August 2023). "'Life Ceremony: Stories' by Sayaka Murata". LIBER Review. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Najmulski, Grace (6 April 2024). "When The Translations Hit, They Really Hit: Sayaka Murata's Life Ceremony". Cha. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Pierce, Barry (1 September 2022). "Sayaka Murata's Life Ceremony: A fairly mixed bag of strange and grotesque tales". Big Issue. Retrieved 29 October 2024.