Tensei Kono Explained

was a prominent Japanese mystery and science fiction writer who won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and was a two-time finalist for the Naoki Prize. His short fiction including his often-reprinted story "Triceratops" has been translated into English in anthologies such as Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories and The World Treasury of Science Fiction.[1] [2] In total, he published more than 30 novels and short story collections.[3]

Life

Kono was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture and studied French literature at Keio University.[4] While at the university he began writing poems, plays, and fantasy novels, publishing his play The Fallen Hawk in the school's literary magazine.[5] [6]

He died at the age of 77 on January 29, 2012 due to aspiration pneumonia.[4]

Writing career

In 1958, Kono dropped out of Keio University and began working in television. The following year he submitted Going My Way to a call for original novels for the Nippon Television program Night Prism, where his work received an honorable mention. He also began publishing hard-boiled mystery stories in publications such as the Japanese edition of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. In 1960 he published the collection of short stories Young Men Die in the Sun and the following year the collection On the Asphalt. In 1964 he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Satsui to iu Na no Kachiku (殺意という名の家畜 A Livestock Named Murderous). As a result of his success in mystery writing he was named one of the "three hard-boiled crows" alongside fellow authors Takashi Takajo and Haruhiko Ōyabu, all of whom were born in 1935.

Kono's 1969 mystery novel Others' Castle was a finalist for the prestigious Naoki Prize, as was his 1974 book Group of Painting Knives.[4]

In addition to writing mysteries, Kono also began writing science fiction and fantasy stories after meeting Masami Fukushima, the editor of SF Magazine. He became a prominent science fiction writer[7] [8] known for stories that mixed mysterious imagery from both nature and civilization. Among such works are his two collections of "city naturalist" short stories set in a surrealistic suburban landscape.[7] [3] [9]

Kono's 1974 city naturalist story "Triceratops" ("トリケラトプス") is his work most frequently translated into English. The story was first published in English in the August 1982 issue of OMNI.[3] The story is about a "normal, middle-class Japanese father and son who live in a subdivision normal in every way but one: the fabric of time is torn just enough to allow them to see dinosaurs in the streets."[10] The story has since been reprinted in The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories, The Fifth Omni Book of Science Fiction, and The World Treasury of Science Fiction.[7] [9] [11]

His story "Hikari," originally published in 1976 in Shukan Shosetsu, was translated and printed in the 2007 anthology Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy. The story focuses on a narrator riding a train at night who seeing a distant city of shining light and then learns about the people who live there. In a review in Strange Horizons, "Hikari" was described by Niall Harrison as "an odd but haunting story, deeply sceptical of transcendence."[12]

Kono's city naturalist series has been described as "delicately evocative" and "among the best of any Japanese SF writer," with the stories in the series compared to the works of Ray Bradbury.[9] Kono's writings have also been compared to both Jorge Luis Borges and the early works of J. G. Ballard.[13]

Awards

Works

Notes and References

  1. Book: Brown. Charles N.. Contento. William G.. Science fiction, fantasy & horror. 5 January 2011. 1987-01-01. Locus Press. 978-0-9616629-4-3.
  2. Out of This World: Speculative Fiction in Translation from the Cold War to the New Millennium edited by Rachel S. Cordasco, University of Illinois Press, 2021, page 140.
  3. "OMNIbus," OMNI, August 1982, page 8.
  4. "Kono Tensei," All of Naoki Prize 35, World of Literary Prizes, 4/28/2016, accessed 9/16/2023.
  5. "Afterword," Young People Die in the Sunlight by Tensei Kono, Kadokawa Bunko, 1973.
  6. Midday Improvisation by Tensei Kono, Ushio Publishing, 1975, page 178.
  7. The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories edited by John L. Apostolou and Martin H. Greenberg, Dembner Books, 1989, page 16.
  8. "Japanese Science Fiction in English Translation" by John L. Apostolou, Extrapolation, volume 25, number 1, spring 1984, page 84.
  9. "Kono, Tensei," Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction edited by Neil Barron, R. R. Bowker Company, 1987, page 492.
  10. Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual 1988 edited by Robert A. Collins and Robert Latham, Meckler Corporation, 1988, page 147.
  11. The Fifth Omni Book of Science Fiction edited by Ellen Datlow, Zebra Books, Kennsington Publishing, 1987, page 85.
  12. "Review: Speculative Japan, edited by Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis" by Niall Harrison, Strange Horizons, August 18, 2008.
  13. The World Treasury of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell, Little Brown and Company, 1989, page 92.
  14. Web site: Black Sun (1964) - IMDb. .

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