Fuminori Nakamura 'The Line' / Interview 'Desire in an Intolerant Age' Fuminori Nakamura, Interviewer = Shohei Nakajo / Mimi Hachikai 'What on Earth is That Line For?'
☆mediopos3291 2023.11.21
Fuminori Nakamura's novel 'The Line', which was published in the July 2023 issue of 'Gunzo', has been released as a book,
and to commemorate its publication,
interviews, book reviews, and more are featured in the November issue.
The 'I' in the story, a researcher of animals,
finds himself standing in a 'line' before he knows it.
I don't know why I'm standing in it.
I don't know when I started standing in it.
I don't know what I'm standing in it for.
It is a straight line where neither the front nor the end can be seen...
The people standing in the line
suspect each other, and at times, despise or envy one another.
'Lines are simply overflowing everywhere.
If you step away from one kind of competition or comparison,
then a competition or comparison of leisure or peace of mind
begins instead.
That is how we constantly torment each other,' it says.
At one point, it is said that everyone standing in the line
has a different 'numbered ticket',
and 'my' ticket says 'to stand in line',
which leaves me confused as I don't understand its meaning.
It is a story of absurdity that brings to mind Kafka or Beckett.
It does not have the 'dialectical development of drama'
where Dostoevskian concepts of good and evil, crime and punishment
clash dynamically, as Nakamura has depicted in the past.
What leaves an impression is
the words 'Be happy' written on the ground.
No one knows who wrote them,
and even if they are stepped on and erased,
they are remembered and repeated forever.
In an interview with Shohei Nakajo
conducted to commemorate the publication of 'The Line',
it is suggested that 'Be happy'
connects to 'Rejoice!', which Kenzaburo Oe quoted from Yeats's poetry,
words that appear in the original texts of primitive Buddhism,
and Nietzsche's 'The Gay Science'.
Continuing to just stand in a 'line'
without knowing why
is truly the very definition of 'absurdity'.
'Humans cannot escape from those entanglements.
And individuals cannot escape from the lines
they face in their daily lives and in life itself.' (Mimi Hachikai)
However, this story,
by the appearance of the words 'Be happy',
'while writing about a certain kind of deadlock called a line,
ultimately heads toward an ending where something positive resonates'
(Shohei Nakajo).
The 'line'
is nothing other than the situation we all find ourselves in,
just as we live without knowing where we came from, where we are heading,
or what we are living for.
But within that,
what does it mean to 'be happy',
and what does it mean to be asked to 'be happy'?
By asking these questions,
might what was thought to be absurd
suddenly begin to show us
a different aspect?
■ ['The Line' Publication Commemoration]
・Interview 'Desire in an Intolerant Age' Fuminori Nakamura, Interviewer = Shohei Nakajo
・Book Review 'What on Earth is That Line For?' Mimi Hachikai
(Gunzo November 2023 Issue)
■ Fuminori Nakamura 'The Line' (Kodansha 2023/10)
(From Fuminori Nakamura's 'The Line' - 'Part One' - 'The Gray Bird')
'The line was long and never moved.
I couldn't see the front, and I couldn't see the end. It was strangely straight, as if showing a kind of integrity toward something.'
'On the ground nearby, though I didn't know whose doing it was, the words "Be happy" were written.'
(From Fuminori Nakamura's 'The Line' - 'Part Three' - 'Numbered Ticket')
'"It's a rumor from behind, but it seems we all have numbered tickets."
"Huh?"
"It seems they are in our pockets. Someone behind found one and realized other people had them too. The tickets seem to be different for everyone. In other words,"
The man with the palm-reading lines wavered as he spoke.
"We can know what we are standing in line for. It's written on them."
"I don't want to know."
I said that reflexively. My heartbeat began to speed up slightly.
"Yes, me too."
"I hate it. I'll end up knowing myself."
Various voices could be heard from behind.'
"It was in my right pocket with the zipper. Nowhere else. I only have one. It was not even worth looking at. My wish is my thesis. My life was nothing but that. As my field of vision narrowed, I looked at the numbered ticket. It said, 'Join the line.' 'So that means,' the man with the palm reading said, peering at my ticket. I was confused. I didn't understand what he meant. 'Your purpose is to join the line.' 'Huh?' 'More than any wish, joining the line has already become your purpose. ...This is the worst. It's practically an addiction.' 'No.' 'But that's what it says. In other words, you actually...' The palm reader's voice was tinged with sympathy. A sympathy I did not want. 'You want to keep complaining and suffering forever by comparing yourself to others.'
(From Fuminori Nakamura's 'The Line' - 'Part Three' - 'The Repairman')
"My dizziness is getting worse. Worse than I have ever experienced before. My vision is swaying. I had the sensation that my consciousness had been cut off. I open my eyes. The line was long and never moved. I couldn't see the front, and I couldn't see the end. It was strangely straight, as if showing some kind of diligence toward something. On the ground nearby, it was written, 'Be happy.'"
(From the interview 'Desire in an Intolerant Age' Fuminori Nakamura, Interviewer = Shohei Nakajo)
"Nakajo / Until now, Dostoevsky has been a prototype for comparison in your novels, Mr. Nakamura. Dostoevsky's novels are characterized by the dynamic clash of opposing concepts such as good and evil, crime and punishment. In contrast, 'The Line' does not have opposing concepts and a dialectical development of drama; rather, it is written about how humans act in a labyrinthine or blocked situation where nothing happens. To use a term that appears in the work, isn't this work a 'circle' rather than a 'line'? If so, it becomes a process that never ends, and I am reminded of 'The Castle' after all. I think there has been a major shift in Nakamura's literature this time, moving away from the dramaturgy directly linked to Dostoevsky that has been written in previous works, and depicting the labyrinthine sense of blockage of Kafka."
"Nakamura / It was something I realized later, but the phrase 'Be happy' that appears in the work might have been Mr. Oe's 'Rejoice!' for me. I was also greatly influenced by 'Rejoice!' where Mr. Oe quoted Yeats's poem, and although 'Be happy' is a common phrase, it is also a phrase that appears in the original texts of primitive Buddhism. In the end, where does life lead? That's why I wanted Mr. Oe to read 'The Line.' He passed away while I was writing it, so it didn't happen."
Nakajo / "Your thoughts on 'Be happy!' are wonderful. The collection of essays translated as Nietzsche's 'The Gay Science' would be 'Happy Science' in simple terms. In French, it is translated as 'gai' (cheerful, happy), but the reason Nietzsche advocated for happy, cheerful science is that the Western tradition of science was a boring, cold, and unhappy science. I think 'Be happy' connects to Mr. Oe's 'Rejoice!', to primitive Buddhism, and to the Nietzschean anti-Christian tradition."
"Nakajo / While 'The Line' writes about a certain kind of blocked situation called a line, it ultimately heads toward a conclusion where something positive resonates. While writing about a situation that cannot be helped by individual will, the fact that a certain kind of positivity is embedded in several scenes is the moving part of this novel. One of them is the words written on the ground, 'Be happy,' which we mentioned earlier. Even if the people in line step on them and erase them, by remembering them, it becomes a form that is repeated forever."
"Nakamura / At the end of 'Kingdom,' Yurika's values are reversed through Kizaki, and the same act begins to have the opposite meaning. Being abandoned becomes being free, and the words 'because it's not poison' are also reversed and change to a positive meaning. In the case of 'The Line,' 'Be happy' appears as irony at first. When everyone is fighting in line, 'Be happy' is at their feet. But the impression changes. I think there was definitely a resonance with the ending of 'Kingdom' here. Even in a tough situation like standing in line, there is hope."
(From Mimi Hachikai 'What on Earth is That Line For?')
"The word 'absurd' seems too complete, and I even feel hesitant to use it. However, in the sense that it has charm, let me write that 'The Line' has a Kafkaesque and Beckettian absurd project. In the world of the work, time certainly progresses, developments are brought about, and the characters move, but there is that feeling where the essential purpose regarding the situation surrounding the characters is hollowed out, or references to the central axis are deliberately kept out. The very act of continuing to drag things out without revealing what they are is where the important elements of the work are structured. That said, 'The Line' is not a work that is settled on an abstract level while being content with the method of placing the absurd at the bottom."
" 'But, I thought. Be happy. Even in such circumstances, be happy. Why did I want to say that?' This self-questioning by 'I' is a question directed at the reader. The line of history that living things have followed so far. Humans cannot escape from those entanglements. And individuals cannot escape from the lines they face in their daily lives and in life. This novel has that perspective as a premise. That is precisely why it is 'Be happy.' Because being happy is a modest resistance to the emptiness and harshness of the line. One of the answers the author has shown regarding the perspective of the absurd, which attracted attention in the 20th century and strongly gripped humans, is likely this 'Be happy' for the time being. This ending, which tries to prepare a passage similar to an escape or salvation rather than just ending with an attitude of continuing to stare into the bottomless swamp of the absurd, has a perspective on how to explore the way of the novel now. The image of the line that this novel has discovered goes beyond words and relentlessly exposes humans."