Tall and tan and lovely The girl from Ipanema goes walking When she walks, it’s like a samba That swings so cool and sways so gently, How can I tell her I love her? Yes, I would give my heart gladly. But each day when she walks to the sea, Shed looks straight ahead, notContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema (Haruki Murakami)”
Tag Archives: RKS literature
RKS Japanese Literature: The Monk with a Lute (Doppo Kunikida )
“But I watched the monk and listened to his playing. The narrow yet busy street with its ramshackle dwellings had little in common with the monk and the lute, but somewhere, I felt there was a deep understanding between them. The lute’s sobbing tones drifted between the rows of houses on either side, mingling withContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Monk with a Lute (Doppo Kunikida )”
RKS Literature: The Russian Duke Military Scam (George Orwell)
“In general, the Russian refugees in Paris are hard working people, and have put up with their bad luck far better than one can imagine Englishmen of the same class doing. There are exceptions of course. Boris told me of an exiled Russian duke whom he had once met, who frequented expensive restaurants. The dukeContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Russian Duke Military Scam (George Orwell)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Unforgettable People (Kunikida Doppo)
“We can’t simply call parents and children or friends or teachers and others to whom we are obligated “unforgettable people”. These are people whom we dare not forget. But there are others-complete strangers-to whom we are bound by neither love nor duty. Forgetting them would imply neither neglect of duty nor want of compassion. YetContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Unforgettable People (Kunikida Doppo)”
RKS Japanese Literature: All Men Long to be Pimps (Minako Ohba)
“Strangely enough, the man tended to feel pleasure in his exclusive possession of a woman who was constantly being pursued by other men. Far from merely tolerating her pretended flirtations with other men, he tended to encourage them. Deep down, it seems, all men long to join the species we call ‘pimps’. Minako Ohba, “TheContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: All Men Long to be Pimps (Minako Ohba)”
RKS Literature: Worsening Hunger (George Orwell)
“On the second day I thought of pawning my overcoat, but it seemed too far to walk to the pawnshop, and I spent the day in bed, reading the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was all that I felt equal to, without food. Hunger reduces one to an utterly spineless, brainless condition, more like theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Worsening Hunger (George Orwell)”
RKS Japanese Literature: The Last Stages of Ritual Suicide (seppuku) of Lieutenant Takeyama Shinji (Yukio Mishima)
“Was this seppuku? He was thinking. It was a sensation of utter chaos, as if the sky had fallen on his head and the world was reeling drunkenly. His will power and courage, which had seemed so robust before he made the incision, had now dwindled to something like a singe hair-like thread of steelContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Last Stages of Ritual Suicide (seppuku) of Lieutenant Takeyama Shinji (Yukio Mishima)”
RKS Literature: The Almost Pleasure of Being Down and Out (George Orwell)
“And there is another feeling that is a great consolation in poverty. I believe everyone who has been hard up has experienced it. It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, as knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs-and well here are theContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Almost Pleasure of Being Down and Out (George Orwell)”
RKS Japanese Literature: A Soldiery Lecture by Lieutenant Takeyama Shinji to His Wife Reiko (Yukio Mishima)
“They refrained from taking a honeymoon trip, these being times of national emergency. The couple spent their wedding night at this house. Before going to bed Shinji knelt formally on the matted floor with his sword laid at his knees and bestowed on his wife a soldierly lecture. A woman who had become the wifeContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: A Soldiery Lecture by Lieutenant Takeyama Shinji to His Wife Reiko (Yukio Mishima)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Used Bathwater from the Prison (Nagai Kafū)
“And on sultry summer evenings, peering through sparse reed blinds, I have had a clear view of the secrets of these people’s households. How well I recall passing by here on afternoons where the prisoner’s used bathwater would gush down the drainage ditches below the tenement’s windows, raising clouds of foul-smelling steam. It must beContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Used Bathwater from the Prison (Nagai Kafū)”
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