Two more books I received as gifts from friends; I can't thank them enough.
33. 渡辺利雄『講義・アメリカ文学史 第１巻』（研究社）
34. 吉増剛造『わが悪魔祓い』（青土社）
The latter is one of the best books of poetry by the maître Gozo first published in 1974. The book itself is so GOrGeOus! Splendidly designed by Mitsuo Kano, it is emanating PRESENCE, at the present tense, after all these years. The beauty of Japanese books should be known to the world and I have often wondered if there are some serious collectors out there even if they can't read a word of Japanese. I, personally, wouldn't mind seeing this book auctioned at Christie's.
The title, Waga akuma barai (My own exorcism), is obviously inspired by Le Clézio's Häi, translated in Japanese as exorcism. Gozo somewhere avowed that he considered Le Clézio as his contemporary "rival" , by which I think he meant he shared a certain goal to be reached in their vision quest of the world.
This book is so nice to read, too. It reads, to me, like an extraordinary cartoon, where a rapidly alternating landscapes and visions appear one after the other. Hallucinating succession. Or, "illuminations" in the rimbardien sense?
