A quick post here. I recently read this short novel The Great Passage by Shion Miura. I think I read about it in the NY Times or somewhere and thought it looked interesting. It's all about the writing of a dictionary and the characters involved, the central one being Majime who is a brilliant, but disorganised and disheveled young man.
Majime is found in the sales department of the publishing company he works for by the soon to be retiring lexicographer, Araki, who needs a replacement. Majime is not much of a sales person, but turns out to be well suited to lexicography.
It's a strange book in the way Japanese books can be to western readers, but this makes it all the more charming. There's love and loss and you get to learn a little about the Japanese language. It was the perfect antidote to Karl Ove Knaussgard.
While digging about on the internet for an image of this book I discovered it had been made into a film in 2013 as well as an anime TV series. The trailer for the film is below and it looks like a lot of fun. Not sure about the anime series and that's not really my thing. I'm going to see if I can find a copy of the film.
Recommended for people who love words.
Until next time, peace and love.
