Run Over by "Nested Water Run Over by the Moon"
For their autumn reading review project on note, Hayakawa Publishing has added a little twist.
They claim that since the hurdle is lower for fan letters than for reviews, they will treat all submissions as fan letters and deliver them all to the authors.
No, no, no. I've never written a fan letter in my life, and that actually raises the hurdle for me.
* * *
In my line of work, I am involved in writing documents that determine the amount of disability pension payments, and I have had the experience many times of turning away families who bring me money in an attempt to secure favors to ensure they receive money from the government at any cost.
When reading your work, "Nested Water Run Over by the Moon," I can see such "deviations caused by the tenacity to survive" throughout. To begin with, the very existence of the water-based shops that serve as the setting is against the law, isn't it?
(This is entirely your own creation, isn't it, Sensei? I'm impressed you could come up with such a tall tale. Intellectuals are likely to be the most easily deceived.)
To survive, one deviates, and because of that, something becomes distorted. For example, someone ends up taking the hit. The protagonist, Shun, is the prime example of this. His mother even steals his name and identity through pension fraud.
People who say they have fallen into misanthropy after seeing the dark side of humanity up close... might actually be more fortunate than those who possess that dark side. They might be fortunate enough to be envied.
When I was young, I was rigid, felt nauseated by families trying to sponge off the pension system (the word "sponge" already carries a value judgment, doesn't it?), and felt no hesitation in expressing those thoughts, so I earned quite a bit of resentment. While spouting such naive things, I would groan at the bitter aftertaste. Somehow, I have managed to get by until now without being pushed into a river.
Now, I can show understanding for such actions—while they remain wrong in terms of right and wrong—as that is what it means to live tenaciously. Above all, I am keenly aware that, realistically, it is not easy to make people give up vested interests. There may be things that are truly worth getting angry about, and things that deserve our energy more than that.
I don't know when I might find myself forced to live on a landlord's property without permission. Or perhaps I am already calmly breaking small taboos. Or perhaps, if a family member were to do so, I might turn a blind eye.
(My child has reached an age where they can no longer drink from the drink bar at family restaurants for free. Just the other day, I somehow managed to resist the temptation to let them have some on the sly.)
You have packed this work with so many deviations that people from all walks of history, including those in the black markets, have used to survive, haven't you, Sensei?
Thanks to that, I was also able to savor the human actions that shine within it.
Both the living and the dead, the deviants are either shining elsewhere or they are being mourned. It is a relief that there is a mother who thinks of Shun. I also like the bird episode.
The light shining in the darkness of the drainage ditch is brilliant.
Sensei, you poured your soul into this work, didn't you? I truly felt that tenacity.
#AutumnReading2020
#NestedWaterRunOverByTheMoon
