Hitomi Kanehara Explained

Hitomi Kanehara
Native Name:金原 ひとみ
Native Name Lang:ja
Birth Date:8 August 1983
Occupation:Novelist
Language:Japanese
Genre:Fiction, short story
Notableworks:
  • Hebi ni piasu (蛇にピアス)
  • Torippu torappu (トリップトラップ)
  • Mazãzu (マザーズ)
Awards:

is a Japanese novelist. Her novel Hebi ni piasu (Snakes and Earrings) won the Shōsetsu Subaru Literary Prize and the Akutagawa Prize, and sold over a million copies in Japan. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide.

Early life

Kanehara was born in Tokyo, Japan. During elementary school she spent a year in San Francisco with her father.[1] At age 11, she dropped out of school, and at age 15 she left home.[2] [3] After leaving home, Kanehara pursued her passion for writing. Her father, Mizuhito Kanehara, a literary professor and translator of children's literature, continued to support her.

Career

Kanehara wrote her first novel, Hebi ni piasu (Snakes and Earrings), at the age of 21. The novel won the Shōsetsu Subaru Literary Prize and the Akutagawa Prize (judged by novelist Ryū Murakami), and became a Japanese bestseller, going on to sell more than one million copies.[4] Kanehara and fellow 2003 Akutagawa Prize honoree Risa Wataya remain the youngest people ever to receive the Akutagawa Prize.[5] In the same year that she won the Akutagawa Prize, Kanehara got married.[6]

Kanehara's novel Autofiction, with a story that unfolds in reverse chronological order, was published in Japan in 2006. In 2007 an English version of Autofiction, translated by David James Karashima, was published by Vintage Books under the same name,[7] and her novel Haidora (Hydra) appeared in print in Japan. A film adaptation of Hebi ni piasu, directed by Yukio Ninagawa and starring Yuriko Yoshitaka in the lead role, premiered in 2008. Kanehara's novel Torippu torappu (TRIP TRAP) was published in 2009, and won the 2010 Sakunosuke Oda Prize.[8]

When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred in 2011, Kanehara left Tokyo for Okayama out of concerns about the effects of radiation on her children. In 2012 she moved to France, and her book Mazāzu (Mothers) won the Bunkamura Deux Magots Literary Prize.[9] While living in France with her husband and two daughters,[10] Kanehara wrote several books, including Keihaku (Flirty) in 2016 and Kuraudo gāru (Cloud Girl) in 2017. After living in France for six years, in 2018 she and her family returned to Japan, where her essay collection Pari no Sabaku, Tōkyō no Shinkirō (Paris Desert, Tokyo Mirage), was published in 2020.[11]

Writing style

Kanehara's early work is known for its graphic depictions of sexual activity, violence, body modification, pedophilia, anorexia, bulimia, and self-harm.[12] [13] [14] Kanehara has claimed that her own experiences with self-harm have inspired her fictional settings and characters, and reviews of Hebi ni piasu and Autofiction regularly focused on her own appearance and behavior.[15] [16] A common theme in her work is personal choice, with characters often making choices that place them outside societal norms in order to take control of their own actions and consequences.[17] As Kanehara has explored this theme in her later work in the context of motherhood and family rather than youth and sex, media attention to her work has declined.

Recognition

Films and other adaptations

Bibliography

Books in Japanese

Selected work in English

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Just 20, She Captures Altered Japan in a Debut Novel. The New York Times. Onishi. Norimitsu. March 27, 2004. June 15, 2018.
  2. Web site: Hitomi Kanehara. Penguin UK. June 15, 2018.
  3. News: An Aging Island Embraces Japan's Young Dropouts. June 6, 2004. The New York Times. January 6, 2010 . Norimitsu . Onishi.
  4. Thorne, Matt, Autofiction, By Hitomi Kanehara, trans David James Karashima, The Independent, 29 February 2008, Accessed 7 May 2008
  5. News: New Akutagawa winners offer hope. The Japan Times. Ashby. Janet. March 4, 2004. June 15, 2018.
  6. News: 芥川賞W受賞から13年　綿矢りさ×金原ひとみ対談. ja. AERAdot (Asahi Shimbun. February 7, 2017. June 22, 2018.
  7. Web site: Autofiction by Hitomi Kanehara (review). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Flynn. Chris. December 3, 2009. June 22, 2018.
  8. Web site: これまでの織田作之助賞受賞作一覧 1984～2013 年. ja. 大阪文学振興会 (Osaka Literature Promotion Institute). June 22, 2018.
  9. Web site: 第22回 Bunkamuraドゥマゴ 文学賞 受賞作品. ja. Bunkamura. November 21, 2012. June 15, 2018.
  10. 金原ひとみインタビュー「初めてハッピーエンドを書いたという気持ち」. ja. Numero. Sato. Kuriko. May 30, 2016. June 22, 2018.
  11. Web site: 金原ひとみさん「パリの砂漠、東京の蜃気楼」インタビュー　乖離の中に存在する自分. Asahi Books. ja. June 25, 2020. September 26, 2022.
  12. Book: Aoyama, Tomoko. Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature. University of Hawaii Press. 9780824832858. 2008. 207.
  13. Book: Otomo, Rio. Girl Reading Girl in Japan. Routledge. 9780415547420. 2009. Aoyama. Tomoko. Hartley. Barbara. Chapter 9: A girl with her writing machine. 130–142.
  14. Book: Hartley, Barbara. Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature. Routledge. 9781317647720. 2016. Hutchinson. Rachael. Morton. Leith Douglas. Chapter 6: Feminism and Japanese Literature. 82–94.
  15. Book: Hansen, Gitte Marianne. Femininity, Self-harm and Eating Disorders in Japan: Navigating contradiction in narrative and visual culture. Routledge. 9781317444398. 2015. 143.
  16. Book: Holloway, David. Diva Nation: Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History. Miller. Laura. Copeland. Rebecca. University of California Press. Kanehara Hitomi's Comfortable Anonymity. June 8, 2018. 9780520969971.
  17. News: With a rebel yell. The Guardian. Neustatter. Angela. May 29, 2005. June 15, 2018.
  18. Web site: すばる文学賞. ja. Shueisha. June 21, 2018. July 31, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180731103735/http://subaru.shueisha.co.jp/bungakusho/history/index.html. dead.
  19. Web site: Hitomi Kanehara. Books from Japan. June 15, 2018.
  20. Web site: 2020-04-04 . 金原ひとみ『アタラクシア』、渡辺淳一文学賞を受賞 . 2023-11-09 . Real Sound｜リアルサウンド ブック . ja.
  21. Web site: 2021-08-23 . 谷崎潤一郎賞に金原ひとみさん「アンソーシャル ディスタンス」…「コロナ禍に真正面から向き合っている」 . 2023-11-09 . 読売新聞オンライン . ja.
  22. Web site: 蛇にピアス. ja. 映画.com. September 9, 2008. June 15, 2018.
  23. Book: Kanehara, Hitomi. The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction. Comma Press. Emmerich. Michael. Hinks. Jim. Matsuie. Masashi. Mambo. June 12, 2015. 9781905583577.
  24. Web site: Delira. Granta. Kanehara. Hitomi. Bradley. Dan. October 10, 2015. June 15, 2018.
  25. Web site: Paris Desert, Tokyo Mirage. Granta. Kanehara. Hitomi. Giles. Morgan. November 11, 2020. January 20, 2021.

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