Synopsis: The story follows the learnings and reflections of 15 year old Jun’ichi ‘Copper’ Honda presented through his observations and conversations with people, especially his Uncle, with whom he exchanges letters.
Genres: Children’s Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Ethics
Dear Reader,
Yesterday I finished reading How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino as translated by Bruno Navasky. I have been in a reading slump for a couple months now, but reading this novel re-invigorated my interest for reading and learning. It would not be an understatement if I said that I read this with the eagerness of a child listening to a bedtime story. This is more of a reflection on me as a reader than the book itself, though. I like immersing myself completely in whatever I read. It should not then be surprising that I intend to share my reflections here in the same manner the young protagonist shares his own thoughts in the book.
The novel was published in the original Japanese way back in 1937, and Navasky’s 2021 translation is supposedly based on this original. Why is this important? Given the very complicated time period this book was published in—with its mix of culturalism, imperialism, and militarism—it is important to note that changes have been made to the novel over many decades to suit the very dynamic socio-cultural and political landscape of post-war Japan. I definitely took note of a couple themes which may have been censored or rewritten at some point by central authorities, such as the conversations on class and privilege, capitalism and consumerism, philosophical notions such as good and evil, and ideas about society and culture that are very rooted in modern day sociology and political theory to name a few. The author clearly takes a very liberal arts approach to children’s literature, but this becomes unsurprising when one realizes that the novel was actually part of an ethics series meant to introduce more progressive ideas, especially the importance of the humanities, to younger children.
Coming to the novel itself, I must admit, when I first started reading it, more specifically when I was a chapter or two into the novel, I was not very impressed. Hindsight tells me that I was not really in the space for reading, and that made me unnecessarily harsh with my comments. But taking my time to read it over many weeks and days and nights has helped me read much more closely; once I abandoned the need to zoom through a book and get the most out of it in as quickly as possible, I found myself actually enjoying the introspection, wonder, and interest that arose in me naturally. Now what does this mean, to read a book and enjoy it? I have thoughts about this obviously, and I intend to share in a post aptly titled “How Do You Read?” Sometimes I crack myself up.
As with almost any piece of writing, the novel clearly takes a stand. Here the book seems to take a moral position on how a ‘heroic’ or extraordinary human being should behave, and how we as human beings should emulate these extraordinary people as closely as we can. Of course, a couple years ago, I would have totally glossed over this thought—most of us have been conditioned emulate excellence as early as kindergarten. But I’m not so sure how I feel about these things right now. Is there any such static idea of goodness or excellence that we can teach a whole generation? Is the idea of finding balance between consumption and providing value timeless advice? What even is excellence? I mean to ask if it is contextual, or cultural? What is good? Is it relative? And what makes a good life anyway? Of course, all of these are very basic questions of philosophy, and questions that require much more learning, definitely on my part, to even begin to answer, at that. To that end, the book did make me think about interesting questions like these when I engaged with it with interest. And of course, the underlying message seems to be about building one’s thinking and reflecting skills, to keep asking questions, and of course, to keep learning so that we may all grow as human beings.
It was very interesting for me to peer into some of the most basic questions of the various liberal arts disciplines through a Japanese cultural lens. There is a strictness with which various moral notions are put across that is distinctly very different in tone from the individualism of the West. Perhaps this is an error on my part, but I could not think of any of the more plainly stated advice, such as those that concerned discipline, will, hardwork, humility, and respect, as anything more than cultural markers that were put across without much scrutiny. I don’t mean these qualities don’t have merits; I just think they were not explored enough for me to be compelled to follow them. I feel like these qualities came across more as “a cultural thing”; this might be a reflection on me as a reader, but I would have appreciated some deeper exploration of the various ideas put forth.
There is a strong emphasis on the idea of “humanity” and the importance of contributing to the advancement and progress of civilisation. The novel recognizes how each person is but a single drop in the confluence of civilization and culture, all the while encouraging people to be useful, or rather provide more in value than what they consume. You can tell there is a strong appreciation for community, connection, and collaboration, and it is beautifully explained in tandem with the concept of globalization and the historical exchange of ideas and things associated with it. All of this and the many other interesting thoughts put across in the book are very in line, you might notice, with the various liberal arts disciplines, not limited to political theory, economics, sociology, and even basic psychology.
On the whole, I do feel this is an easy introduction to a very liberal arts-y way of thinking. It is cleverly written in a way, in spite of how old it is, that is neither cliche nor repetitive. Anyone with a curious mind, and not just young adults, might find some of the basic questions of ethics and philosophy posed here to be an interesting thing to explore. And I must mention how simply this is written. No frills, no ornamentation. This is just a novel that captures a small part of one Copper’s life and his learnings. For those of you who appreciate this kind of honesty in writing, the author and the translator have done a wonderful job.
Bottom line: if you’re interested in reinvigorating your moral and philosophical side, this might be a good read. This is a slow-paced children’s novel that might help you get out of a learning or reading slump. It certainly did that for me.
Let me know if you end up reading it! You can message me your thoughts here: @zenreads
Until we meet again,
Happy reading, and take care!
Love, Zen.