| Author: | Yuko Tsushima |
| Isbn: | 978-4061962415 |
| Pub Date: | 1979 (Japan) February 12, 2019 (English) |
| Territory of Light | |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Country: | Japan |
| Genre: | Literary fiction |
| Publisher: | Kodansha (Japanese) Farrar, Straus and Giroux (English) |
| Preceded By: | 氷原 (Ice Field) |
| Followed By: | 最後の狩猟 (Last Hunt) |
| Translator: | Geraldine Harcourt |
| Pages: | 229 (Japanese) 192 (English) |
| Awards: | Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize |
is a novel by Yūko Tsushima, originally serialized in twelve parts in Gunzo from 1978 to 1979 and subsequently published by Kodansha in 1979.[1] [2] In Japan, it went on to win many prizes including the inaugural Noma Literary New Face Prize.[3] In 2019, three years after Tsushima's death, an English translation by Geraldine Harcourt was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.[4] It won the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize.[5]
The novel follows a woman after her husband has left her. Together, she and her two-year-old daughter move into an apartment in Tokyo. In twelve chapters originally serialized in Gunzo, the novel follows their lives over the length of a year.
In addition to winning the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize, Harcourt's English translation was a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award and the Kirkus Prize.[6] [7] It was recommended in several publications including Vulture and LitHub.[8] [9]
In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it a "lovely, melancholy novel" and wrote that "Each chapter is as elegant and self-contained as a pearl or a perfectly articulated drop of water."[10]
In The Atlantic, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan noted Tsushima's careful mastery and subsequent exceeding of how autofiction, or specifically the I-novel form in Japan, is typically written and read.[11]
Zyzzyva called the novel "a tender and relatable story, highlighting both the obstacles and highlights of a transitional stage in life." The Spectator Australia remarked on the strength of Tsushima's voice, especially in its approach to hardships stemming from her own life.[12] LitHub wrote that "Tsushima explores in the lives of women without sentimentality or self-pity, and with a honesty that is eeriely modern. It is a quiet and powerful book." Financial Times said that "Yuko Tsushima’s writing creates a studied, private world, as certain as the closure of a bedroom door" and compared the novel to The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.[13] Star Tribune wrote: "Deceptively simple and remarkably timely, her story of a marginalized woman trying to cope with the trials of life is certain to entrance a whole new readership and pave the way for further translations of her strangely mesmerizing work."[14] The Guardian noted that "In this short, powerful novel lurk the joy and guilt of single parents everywhere."[15]