Japan, crimes and mysteries. The series on newsstands with Corriere- Corriere.it

More magical: imagine talking sheep in Simenon. Pi Splatter: Seven killers on a high-speed train. More bizarre, erotic, irrational, surreal, sociological (four frustrated women complicit in a murder). as if in Japan the black novel, but also the classic detective investigation, the mystery, the hard-boiled were emphasized in their distinctive features. They amaze. They make the western canon and explore it with oriental instruments: manga culture, the introspection of masters like Yasunari Kawabata and Mishima Yukio, a certain frequentation of the (literary) slums where yakuza criminals, prostitutes, tattoo artists, bookmakers roam. This is why the Corriere della Sera has decided to reunite – from Tuesday 18 October – twelve examples of the best Japanese dark fiction: the founders (Edogawa Ranpo), the masters who enjoyed playing with the genre (Murakami Haruki, Banana Yoshimoto, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro), the confirmations (Natsuo Kirino, Murakami Ryu), the new recruits (Isaka Kotaro). Very different styles of writers united by a single great passion, whether it be murdered deaths or an unfinished manuscript, thrillers from the beginning of the millennium or milestones of the twentieth century: suspense.

Unexpected encounters. Admittedly noir authors and others who have done so
quick (and sensational) forays into a genre with a declinable intensity that makes us understand a lot about Japan, perhaps even more than the pills of daily happiness to which some very fortunate and consoling Japanese narrative has accustomed us. Here then you can discover the remote and icy regions of Hokkaido, where Murakami Haruki takes us on one of the most amazing adventures of him, In the sign of the sheep, in which the author introduces many themes dear to him, developed in subsequent novels (the sense of helplessness, the loneliness of the male, the rejection of politics), but which here, in an almost debut dated 1982, release a disruptive energy which takes the form of a wild hunt for a mysterious sheep. Or you can sink into sadomasochistic perversion in a very black Tokyo of the late twentieth century with the other Murakami: Ryu. he is the true master of the psychological thriller and the confirmation comes by reading Piercingsixth issue of the series: disturbing and breathtaking, to lose sleep (and for this reason a film was also made from the novel).

Waiting week after week for a new title in the series, you can go back to 1937, the year in which it is set Detective Kindaichi by Yokomizo Seishi (1902-1981): among the founding novels of the Japanese mystery, a classic recognized all over the world, it can count on a young, scruffy, presumptuous protagonist and adored by readers. And if at that point you want to explore the origins, here is the tribute to the forefather of the Japanese crime writers: Edogawa Ranpo (say it again, just think of the sound: doesn’t it remind you of Edgar Allan Poe?), whose real name was Taro Hirai (1894-1965). His Black lizardwhich will be available in late November, is one of Detective Akechi Kogoro’s most famous (and successful) investigations.

Even another sacred monster of Japanese literature, the great Tanizaki Jun’ichiro (1886 – 1965), wanted to deepen the genre in Black on white, where the protagonist, Mizuno, author of a novel centered on a man’s obsession with the perfect murder, in the story forgets to leave out some clues concerning him. Noir about the power of literature, Black on white takes us straight to NP by Banana Yoshimoto, where the writer Sarai Takase commits suicide leaving two twin children and the manuscript of an unfinished book … The enigma is there, the tension that keeps you glued to the pages as well. Like a vague hint of death that hovers over all the characters.

And if in the pillars of (world) noir there is The mystery of the tattooed woman by Takagi Akimitsu (1920- 1995), another amazing example of pure mystery, released for the first time in 1948, very dark and set in a Tokyo still on its knees after the tragedy of the Second World War, contemporary classics of the genre also appear in the series on newsstands, those that are marking the new course of Japanese literature. How The four housewives of Tokyoan editorial case released at home in 1997, in which Natsuo Kirino, the author, combines a perfectly constructed and narrated crime with a ruthless description of the condition of the woman, condemned to unrewarding jobs, if not to stay at home and take care of the family , to a dramatic routine (even in the award-winning Suspect X by Higashino Keigo a murderous wife returns).

A series of unfortunate events. Dramatic, violent. And a lot of fun too. In this series that embraces all versions of noir, the bestseller of summer 2021 could not be missing, which became a film with Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock: The seven killers of the Shinkansen by Isaka Kotaro, an amazing adventure aboard a bullet train that combines the imaginary manga with that splatter of a certain Quentin Tarantino cinematography: gunshots, gutted bodies, surreal dialogues as you approach (on the run) the epilogue. Rhythm, blood, punches. The thriller has never been so surprising.

The volume

By pure chance, a friend of mine learned from the newspaper that she was dead, and he called to tell me. He slowly read the short article from the morning edition over the phone. Nothing exceptional, as an article. It must have been written by a novice reporter, a newly graduated one who wanted to get some hands on it. It starts like this In the sign of the sheep by Murakami Haruki, a novel that opens the series today, edited by Annachiara Sacchi, Japan, crimes and mysteries. These are classic thrillers and others completely out of the box (Western), noir, twentieth-century investigations, pulp adventures, insights into Japanese society, enigmatic family stories, adventures that go beyond the boundaries of magic (like this one by Murakami, released in Japan in 1982, cult book for fans of the author): in twelve titles the series – each volume on sale at € 8.90 plus the cost of the newspaper – tries to provide readers with all the Japanese variations of the crime novel. The covers, created by XxY studio with new illustrations for Corriere della Sera, show the opening of the novel.