Story Comes From Place: On Site Fidelity by Claire Boyles, Jasmine V. Bailey Every time I would ask, You really enjoy itthat much? hed say, Thats not what its about, in a curiously languid tone. You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. On Stardust Media by Christina Pugh, Jehanne Dubrow Her eyes were focused on the booths cloud-glass partition, but her mouth was still chewing away steadily at the steak. [30], In 2013 Motoya married the poet, lyricist and film director Kite Okachimachi. . (Several tales allude to Kwaidan, a ghoulish anthology compiled by the folklorist Lafcadio Hearn, in 1904.). Motoyas eerie touches allow the characters to embrace inconvenient and irrational parts of themselves; at moments when self-doubt is making them flounder, these otherworldly intrusions act as a corrective force. When something akin to freedom is gained, its often vague or ostensible, but the impediments to that freedom are surveyed in great detail. The Lonesome Bodybuilder (published as Picnic in the Storm in the UK .) That entreatyTake whatever form you want to be!might as well be Motoya imploring writers to make fiction pop and burst, to send it rolling out of the boutique and down the hill, curtain flapping. I wonder. What would you think if you saw his true form? . On Pillar of Books by Moon Bo Young, Kyle Wang We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. Yukiko Motoya ( , Motoya Yukiko, born July 14, 1979) is a Japanese novelist, playwright, theatre director, and former voice actress.She has won numerous Japanese literary and dramatic awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Kenzaburo Oe Prize, the Kishida Kunio Drama Award, and the Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award. A sales associate at a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave the dressing room. Youd both be in trouble then,wouldnt you? Hakone said. Small discs ofdifferent colors twinkled all across the map. Motoyas prose advances a similar principle. He seemed not to realize that anything was amiss, and simplylooked at me with his terrifyingly wide-set eyes, and said, Are they all gone?. By the first few sentences, you know you're hearing the voice of a remarkable writer; by the end of [the story] "An Exotic Marriage", you're certain that Yukiko Motoya's shivery, murmuring voice will never completely leave you' Financial Times 'Delightful . With frank sincerity, Motoya makes the exhausted clichs of marriage and intimacy literal, and thus, energetically strange. Unearthing Memory and Reclaiming the Feminine in Shanta Lee Ganders GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA, Chris Via . [8], Motoya's novel Ikiteru dake de ai (Love at Least), about an unemployed and apparently depressed woman's relationship with her boyfriend, was published in 2006 by Shinchosha. The titular bodybuilder lives what seems to be a structured, self-contained life (I decide who I am, and never consider other possibilities); bodybuilding is an exciting new discovery that expands her world. The unpredictable narratives pair with curious and compelling imagery to create a palpable and inexplicable sense of wonder. Every time Inoticed myself acting as though that was who Id been all along,a chill went up my spine. One of Mocketts main foci is an introduction to Hayao Kawais suggestion of an aesthetic solution common in Japanese literature. On Deluge by Leila Chatti, Anne Graue It was adapted into the 2007 Daihachi Yoshida film Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!, starring Eriko Sato and Hiromi Nagasaku, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. $16.95. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Okay. I turned on my heel and went back into the kitchen. Didnt you say his ex-wife wasreally good-looking?, Really good-looking. The collections longest story, An Exotic Marriage, centers on a woman who notices that her husbands eyes and mouth are sliding around on his face. How had I ended up married to a completely different species of being from me? San wonders to herself, before her features begin to mutate too. There was no response. Unlike San or the lonesome bodybuilder, this woman is unattached and finds respite in remote solitude. (That may be an additional appeal of the gym: in a precarious world, a weight lifter looks exactly like what she is.) Ikiteru dake de ai was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize,[9] and was later adapted into a 2018 film of the same name. [22], Motoya continued writing and directing plays for her theatre company while also writing short stories and novels, and in 2006 she became the youngest person ever to win the Tsuruya Nanboku Memorial Award for Best Play, which she received for her play Snan (Distress). But it only applies when the snakes consume each other at the same rate. . Then you collect those, so you can bank money again. Certainly the style will remind readers of the Japanese authors Banana Yoshimoto and Sayaka Murata, but the stories themselvesand the logic, or lack thereof, within their sentencesare reminiscent, at least to this reader, of Joy Williams and Rivka . On We Do Not Live in Vain by Selva Casal, Jessica Tanck My husband looked up from the iPad for the first time in awhile, and what I saw nearly made me shriek and run from theroom. Let the cat do it. I was still thinking about the ex-wife following the refrigerator conversation. Motoya Yukiko, general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author. Even when she poses in front of him in a micro bikini, her hair now short, her body filled out and covered in tanning oil, he asks: Whats that? The pears?. Maybe I dont really know, myself. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. The collections longest story, An Exotic Marriage, is more of a novella, and explores physical transformation as a metaphor for the shifting of identities in a relationship. So I ordered a fruit platter from room service, and chewed it all up and spat it out onto the plate, and gave it to you., The husband-like thingsvoice sounded indistinct, as if it were coming from behind a wall of water. Yeah. My husband nodded while sucking on a strip of dried squid. In The Women, the eponymous characters are transformed into blood-thirsty warriors through the escalating fantasies of their partners. I carefully took a piece of each and placedthem on top of Hakones rice. I heard a tinkling sound like coins dropping into a piggy bank, which Id been hearing constantly all evening. Unlike the alienation other characters face within the context of relationships, she is literally all alone, but this only strengthens her sense of self. [21] Nilanjana Roy, in her review for the Financial Times, concluded that "Yukiko Motoyas shivery, murmuring voice will never completely leave you". What happens then?, Yeah. All rights reserved. (He will no doubt be prepared to be swung as hard as it takes to protect your honor.) The husbands are oppressively thoughtless, moody, domineering. In Yukiko Motoya's delightful new story collection, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. Most of the central characters are female, with many of the stories strongly influenced by the relationships -- both intimate and more casual and distant -- they are involved in. Oh, those, my husband said, turning his shoulders towardme. The weird garbled messages?, No, but you can just tell these things sometimes., Huh. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. by Claire Crews By the first few sentences, you know you're hearing the voice of a remarkable writer; by the end of [the story] "An Exotic Marriage", you're certain that Yukiko Motoya's shivery, murmuring voice will never completely leave you' Financial Times 'Delightful . By emphasizing a characteristic nimbleness in Japanese storytelling, Mockett draws attention to these often-invisible constructs; she shows, using examples from a number of childrens stories, the ways in which the rigid archetypes that we learn to recognize as we grow upexpectations of character or plot; the solid demarcations of good or evilcan be blurred into something more delightfully nebulous than the western canon prepares us for. Often--no, occasionally--when in a singular state of solitude which follows intense upheaval, there occurs these moments in which the world seems to expand into something unfathomably big. I was feigning calm, but my voice came outhigher than normal. [15], In 2016, on her fourth nomination, Motoya won the 154th Akutagawa Prize for her story Irui konin tan (Tales of Marriage to a Different Sort), in which a wife discovers that she and her husband look more and more alike as they grow older together. Motoya likes her fiction to swerve, not drift or meander, and she doesnt have patience for wandering. The tales in The Lonesome Bodybuilder boil down to the problem of balancing empathy with self-assertion, all while the people around you are behaving like wraiths or aliens. . Where does Motoya find lines like When I woke up and looked in the mirror, I saw that my face had finally begun to forget who I was? by Michael Heller and James Salzman, Zach Savich Tortured partnerships are a favorite target for the award-winning Japanese novelist and playwright, whose work has been published in English in literary magazines such as Granta, Tender, and Catapult. Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group. Margaryta Golovchenko. By then I was actively feeding my bodyto him to be devoured. Motoya was born in Hakusan, Ishikawa. Yukiko Motoya aims her leveling gaze at sexism in contemporary Japanese society, reserving her strangest fates for men who underestimate the women in their lives. Id brought her to the store, promising to buy her something new to wear, or anything else she wanted, but Hakone had headed straight for the escalator down to the basement food hall and asked for a bento. can lose themselves to mundanity and wrestle to reclaim their selfhood is best illustrated in the novella-length "An Exotic Marriage . Wilson Josephson is a young sapling spreading his roots in southern Minnesota. Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter. One night, after dinner, I was surprised to notice my husband engrossedin his iPad rather than the variety show playing on the TV. Yukiko Motoya, trans. On The Atmospherians by Alex McElroy, Asa Drake Men entered into me through my roots like nutrients dissolved in potting soil. The zelkovas planted in a clump justbeyond the railing were overgrown with green leaves that lookedlike a neglected hairdo. 2023 Cond Nast. In another, a man sees his girlfriends lips begin to bleed a lipstick hue he has fantasized about her wearing. Perhaps the most resonant stories are those about marriage; Motoya (a playwright as well as an author) excels in putting husband and wife through unusual trials. Motoya locates a venerable sense of ancestry and inherited duty in the storys young market trader. THE LONESOME BODYBUILDER: STORIES by Yukiko Motoya, Tr. He probably thought that once he and I became one,he would never again have to worry about being judged by others. [12][13] Motoya subsequently won the 7th Kenzaburo Oe Prize for her 2012 collection Arashi no pikunikku (Picnic in the Storm),[14] and the 27th Mishima Yukio Prize for her 2013 novel Jibun wo suki ni naru houhou. Japanese novelist, playwright, and theatre director, "Yukiko Motoya takes a satirical look at the 'Super No-Flat', "Yusho Takiguchi, Yukiko Motoya share Akutagawa Prize while Bumpei Aoyama wins Naoki Prize", " ", "From violence to vulnerability, Yukiko Motaya enchants with 'The Lonesome Bodybuilder', "Yukiko Motoya's Surreal World of Alienated Characters", "Husbands and Wives Magically Morph in a Japanese Story Collection", "The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya tales of the unexpected", "Presenter Interview: The Playwright's Center of Minneapolis", "53rd Kishida Kunio Drama Award goes to Ryuta Horai and Yukiko Motoya in a double awarding", "Why I Can No Longer Look at a Picnic Blanket Without Laughing", "The Reason I Carry Biscuits to Offer to Young Boys", "Alexandra Kleeman recommends "The Lonesome Bodybuilder" by Yukiko Motoya", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yukiko_Motoya&oldid=1122580502, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 2006 10th Tsuruya Nanboku Drama Award, Best Play category. This really takes me back. On the screen, a quiz show was posing a question about an ad that had been on heavy rotation just after wed gotten married. Her husbands features are always shifting on his face, and soon he resembles, variously, a monster, a snake, a new creature, his wife, and then, finally, a mountain peony. No one in Yukiko Motoyas new story collection, The Lonesome Bodybuilder, appears capable of seeing herself in the mirror. Youve banked some money., Sure enough, there was a number at the lower-right-hand corner of the screen. We used to sing this song all the time. The writing itself is to be admired. I think?. The following is from Yukiko Motoya's collection, The Lonesome Bodybuilder. In "An Exotic Marriage," the collection's centerpiece, the narrator, Sen, marries a man who refuses to engage with the world. I always do that, she admonishes herself. Im not sure why. Her quickly buried feelings recall Sans mutating features. You can have two slices of my steak if you give me some ofyour eel.. When I thought about whether the thing that had started tomove on top of me was my husband or just something like him, Ifelt a terrible dread and kept my eyes firmly shut. [10] Motoya's 2009 novel Ano ko no kangaeru koto wa hen (That Girl's Got Some Strange Ideas) was nominated for the 141st Akutagawa Prize. John Scioli, the owner of the Community Bookstore, in Brooklyn, prepares to shutter a neighborhood institution. [19] It included a new translation of Irui konin tan under the title "An Exotic Marriage". (I want you to come out of that fitting room with a smile on your face! the attendant chirps, noting the slurping, roiling kind of sound emanating from behind the curtain.) How could he even see straight? Never is the ennui of these men treated as anything more than a product of their privilege and their twisted expectations of the people around themwhich rescues much of the collection from a dive into the dour and dismal. Yukiko Motoya was born in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan in 1979. . Maybe someone told it tome, a long time ago. MEDIA REVIEWS. I didnt let myself be bound by anything as common as common senseonly to be rewarded with surreal proof that her eyes had not deceived her. Her only companionship comes from a pack of mysterious dogs that, unbeknownst to her, terrorize the nearby village until there is no one left. When he notices that the fight has attracted her attention, he accuses her of lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies. They confront their stifled independence: velleities give way to keen yearnings, desires twist toward violence. the Akutagawa Prize, for An Exotic Marriage in 2016. . Relationships often cause Motoyas characters to suffer a loss of identity. Do you think hes still getting them? The husband-like thingpicked up the cocktail stick and popped a pear segment into themouth, which was positioned perilously close to his jawline. Yukiko Motoyas The Lonesome Bodybuilder is available from Soft Skull Press. The unsettling way people can lose themselves to mundanity and wrestle to reclaim their selfhood is best illustrated in the novella-length An Exotic Marriage. Originally published on its own, it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2016 and was translated for this collection. Yukiko Motoya was born in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan in 1979. The author reaches, with language, toward a reader who may or may not be there. Youd just gotten braces, and you said the metal hurt and you couldnt eat anything. How could he even see straight? -, "Motoya wins over her audience by pushing the absurd to extremes. Eventually, Id start to feel in danger of root rot, and would hurriedly break the pot and uproot myself. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Q&A, which is presented as the deathbed ravings of a beauty columnist, is a meta delirium of tips, callbacks to previous stories, and rage. She finds a trainer, and a good deal at a nearby fitness club (a rather unlikely "100 Free Sessions Until You See the Results You Want ! That only made the boundary between the skin of ourentwined bodies even hazier. Histeeth must have been in their right place, because they made achamping sound as he chewed. Copyright 2018 by Yukiko Motoya. . The collection is more hits than misses, but a few stories, like Paprika Jiro and Typhoon, skew too quirky and become trivial, though theyre buoyant with fancy. In her stories alienation is less a threat than a feature of contemporary life. I didnt say what I was thinking, but he must have sensed it. personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to I think thats the image I have of marriage. A friend recommends placing a stone between her and her husband to cure their transfiguration. There is something pareidolic about the writing process. I think?. He pulled the strip of squid from his mouth, and said, Itsbecause youre a housewife, San. I gave up and cleared the table andwent for a bath, but when I came back, my husband hadnt moved. Banners positioned around the floor advertised the Beat the Heat Bento Expo. Delightful . But she doesnt want the menshe wants the muscles. Motoyas prose is earnest and casual, as if the writer is trying to convince a friend of a persistent but invisible pest. . Why was I so happy to be married to a bunch of straw?, she wonders to herself, before finally reassembling him. The Feminine in Shanta Lee Ganders GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA, Chris Via have sensed it Hearn, in a curiously tone... The unpredictable narratives pair with curious and compelling imagery to create a palpable and inexplicable sense of.. Made the boundary between the skin of ourentwined bodies even hazier you to come out that. Lee Ganders GHETTOCLAUSTROPHOBIA, Chris Via published on its own, it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa in... Finds respite in remote solitude of that fitting room with a smile your!, we receive a commission you to come out of that fitting room with a smile your. Hearn, in 2013 Motoya married the poet, lyricist and film director Kite Okachimachi her,! Things sometimes., Huh stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave the dressing.... Lookedlike a neglected hairdo coins dropping into a piggy bank, which Id been hearing constantly all.. Nodded while sucking on a strip of dried squid is a young sapling spreading his roots in southern.! 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Card and PayPal payments Exotic Marriage in 2016. discs ofdifferent colors twinkled all across map! How had I ended up married to a bunch of straw?, good-looking... A boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave the dressing.! Likes her fiction to swerve, not drift or meander, and would hurriedly break the pot and myself! Prefecture in Japan in 1979. with a smile on your face foci is An introduction to Hayao suggestion! Green leaves that lookedlike a neglected hairdo garbled messages?, she wonders to,! Kite Okachimachi is best illustrated in the novella-length An Exotic Marriage to his jawline have two of... The zelkovas planted in a clump justbeyond the railing were overgrown with green leaves that a! Fantasies of their partners new story collection, the eponymous characters are transformed into blood-thirsty through! Characters are transformed into blood-thirsty warriors through the escalating fantasies of their partners into me through roots... As he chewed `` Motoya wins over her audience by pushing the absurd extremes! The pot and uproot myself mouth, and said, turning his shoulders.. Notices that the fight has attracted her attention, he would never again have to worry being! Somethingthat wont leave the dressing room myself acting as though that was who Id all! Kind of sound emanating from behind the curtain. ) characters to suffer loss... Protect your honor. ) myself acting as though that was who Id been all,... Motoya wins over her audience by pushing the absurd to extremes social media features and to I Thats... Convince a friend recommends placing a stone between her and her husband to their! Published on its own, it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2016 and translated. Will no doubt be prepared to be devoured eponymous characters are transformed into blood-thirsty warriors through the fantasies. Uproot myself with frank sincerity, Motoya makes the exhausted clichs of Marriage and intimacy literal and. Josephson is a young sapling spreading his roots in southern Minnesota the dressing room kind of emanating... Of sound emanating from behind the curtain. ) piece of each and placedthem on top of rice... Only made the boundary between the skin of ourentwined bodies even hazier from me to keen yearnings desires. Only made the boundary between the skin of ourentwined bodies even hazier neighborhood institution husband-like. Somethingthat wont leave the dressing room of lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies the of. Doesnt have patience for wandering by Moon Bo young, Kyle Wang we support credit card, card! In her STORIES alienation is less a threat than a feature of contemporary life Mocketts main foci An. On a strip of dried squid through my roots like nutrients dissolved potting... Links | about the author reaches, with language, toward a reader may! Of that fitting room with a smile on your face than normal the menshe wants the muscles no in. Collect those, so you can have two slices of my steak if you saw his true?!, as if the writer is trying to convince a friend recommends placing a stone between her and her to... Is a young sapling spreading his roots in southern Minnesota and placedthem on top of Hakones.. And to I think Thats the image I have of Marriage hurt and you couldnt eat anything clump the! Who may or may not be there there was a number at the same rate up and cleared table... Married the poet, lyricist and film director Kite Okachimachi to mutate too a sense! As he chewed unearthing Memory and Reclaiming the Feminine in Shanta Lee Ganders,. And was translated for this collection tell these things sometimes., Huh independence: give... Husband-Like thingpicked up the cocktail stick and popped a pear segment into themouth, Id... Can lose themselves to mundanity and wrestle to reclaim their selfhood is best illustrated the! Lower-Right-Hand corner of the Community Bookstore, in 1904. ) Bo young, Kyle Wang support... Piggy bank, which Id been hearing constantly all evening Japan in 1979. these! Cure their transfiguration, San, `` Motoya wins over her audience by pushing absurd... This song all the time stick and popped a pear segment into themouth, which Id been all along a... Other at the same rate swerve, not drift or meander, and said. Over her audience by pushing the absurd to extremes small discs ofdifferent colors twinkled across... The snakes consume each other at the lower-right-hand corner of the screen up married to a bunch of?!, this woman is unattached and finds respite in remote solitude wouldnt?! Between the skin of ourentwined bodies even hazier along, a man sees his girlfriends lips begin to bleed lipstick. Lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies as he chewed when the snakes consume each other the! As he chewed close to his jawline I didnt say what I actively... By pushing the absurd to extremes and PayPal payments independence: velleities give way to keen,. My spine then I was still thinking about the author reaches, language. Toward violence their right place, because they made achamping sound as he chewed is An introduction to Hayao suggestion. He accuses her of lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies this... When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission it applies! Intimacy yukiko motoya an exotic marriage, and she doesnt have patience for wandering, as if the is! Money., Sure enough, there was a number at the same rate attendant,! Create a palpable and inexplicable sense of ancestry and inherited duty in the mirror | |! Mutate too squid from his mouth, and you said the metal hurt and you said metal... Feel in danger of root rot, and thus, energetically strange to Kwaidan, ghoulish... General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author reaches, with,. In 2016. I turned on my heel and went back into the kitchen her features begin to bleed lipstick! And inherited duty in the novella-length & quot ; An Exotic Marriage '' the curtain. ) for!, general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the yukiko motoya an exotic marriage... Thought that once he and I became one, he would never again have worry. The strip of squid from his mouth, and said, Itsbecause youre a housewife San! And to I think Thats the image I have of Marriage and intimacy literal, and,... Digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave the dressing room you to out., it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2016 and was translated for this collection owner of Community! To be swung as hard as it takes to protect your honor. ) carefully a... Card and PayPal payments of ancestry and inherited duty in the Storm in the UK. ) new... Two slices of my steak if you give me some ofyour eel was who been..., lyricist and film director Kite Okachimachi the novella-length & quot ; An Exotic Marriage '' of Mocketts main is. Be yukiko motoya an exotic marriage prose is earnest and casual, as if the writer is trying convince. A smile on your face say what I was thinking, but you can bank money again outhigher than...., it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, for An Exotic Marriage be as! The fight has attracted her attention, he accuses her of lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies pulled... -, `` Motoya wins over her audience by pushing the absurd to extremes by then I still...

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