Wonder Woman (dir. Patty Jenkins) was screened on TV the day after I happened to be reading the first part of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, her finely honed analysis of the cultural perception of womanhood. I knew there existed ample literature on the cultural and feminist […]
Stooped as loving memory some old gravestones stoop. In that old graveyard. Names gone and when to when. Once hooked, always will be, on these writings of Samuel Beckett. On. Sometimes referred to as “novels,” Beckett’s three later works, Company (1980), Ill Seen Ill Said (1981) and Worstward […]
“You see, Japan does not actually rest atop an infinite pile of turtles, but on the back of a giant carp . . .”
In his mid-thirties, Australian freelance writer and PhD graduate Michael Guest headed for Japan on a whim, worked as Professor in a national university, and stayed fifteen years. Memoir and cultural reflection, his captivating story is one of growth, adaptation and an ever-deepening appreciation of an enchanting, at times perplexing, society. The author is an expert on modern literature and humanities, with many academic and media articles to his credit, alongside international academic conference lectures.
“Rarely is a reader granted such enlightened insights into the people and culture of Japan. Guest takes us into the Japanese psyche, exploring social mores, the underlying meanings of simple actions, and the historical and religious fabric that knits the people together. . . .”—Brian Armour, author of Future Crime
“He draws his tight literary portraits from his experiences living and tertiary teaching in Japan. I was enchanted to learn the micro-details of a culture of micro-details.”—Gloria Lee McMillan, editor of Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars.
“The book permeates your psyche . . . . his calm, poetic, detailed writing style, always with a touch of light irony, full immersion. The book is, indeed, very Zen.”—Virginia Arthur, author of Treed and Phat(’s) Chance for Buddha in Houston
