Betrayal
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Adult readers interested in middle-aged marriage and emotional predicaments
- Readers who like WATANABE Junichi's delicate psychological style
- Those who want to see the undercurrents and irony of everyday relationships in fiction
- Light to moderate fiction readers who need to read in segments on the commute or before bed
Not a good fit for
- Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced narrative may find it slow
- Readers who are uncomfortable with or wish to avoid the subject of extramarital affairs
- Readers expecting clear moral judgment or a happy ending
Reading tips
- Read in segments by chapter, and note how Kazeno's psychological wording shifts each time he moves between the two women.
- Jot down the differences in the wife's and Kozue's dialogue as you read, and observe how the author uses language to construct the opposition.
- After finishing, compare it with WATANABE Junichi's other works on love and emotion to see how he handles the midlife crisis differently.
About the publisher
Founded in 1987, Qingdao Publishing House has long focused on education, science and technology, children's books, and lifestyle titles, while steadily publishing classical and foreign literature. Its 827 titles in the catalog reflect a balance between making classics widely accessible and serving young readers. They include the four great classics of Chinese literature—Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West—as well as foreign literary translations such as Sei Shōnagon's The Pillow Book, works associated with Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. The press also offers a color-illustrated series of recommended classics for primary and secondary school Chinese curriculum reading, using pictures and text to support student readers. Its common categories cover classical literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, folk literature, and foreign literature, with authors including Luo Guanzhong, Shi Nai'an, Cao Xueqin, Gao E, Wu Cheng'en, Sei Shōnagon, Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo. Public information is limited, so this profile emphasizes the publishing directions shown by the catalog.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 上卷
- 因果
- 摩罗
- 奈落
- 渴爱
- 下卷
- 婆娑
- 会苦
- 修罗
- 轮回
- 除夕
- 译后记
FAQ
Do I need to read other works by WATANABE Junichi first?
Is the story slow-paced? What kind of reading approach suits it?
Whose behavior does the title "Betrayal" refer to?
Comments
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About the author
Junichi Watanabe (1933–2014) was a contemporary Japanese novelist. Born in Hokkaido and holding a medical doctorate from Sapporo Medical University, he worked as an orthopedic surgeon before turning to writing. In 1970 he won the Naoki Prize for The Shadow of Light. His work spans social fiction, essays and inspirational writing, and the library holds 61 of his titles, including Lost Paradise, Shadowless Lamp, The Lover, Pain Begins When Love Begins, Aging Gracefully, Paradise of Desire, Winter Fireworks and Love Letter. Trained in medicine, he observed love, marriage and aging with a cool, precise eye, writing candidly about desire and human predicament; he is regarded as a master of modern Japanese romantic literature, while his later essays reflect plainly and warmly on life experience and old age.
Shi Weiguo, a native of Weifang, Shandong, is a literary translator and scholar of language and culture. He earned a Doctor of Literature from Tokyo Metropolitan University and a doctorate in language and culture from Daito Bunka University, has lived in Japan for more than thirty years, and formerly taught at Aichi University of Education, a national university in Japan. He has long been engaged in translating Japanese literature, with renderings of Masaki Tarihara's Remaining Snow and Blood and Sand and Junichi Watanabe's Betrayal, among others. In 2017 he received a special translation award from the Japan Translators Association, the first Chinese translator to be so honored. His seven works in the library include Pain Begins When We Love, Rumors, Snow Falls on Tokyo, The Reason for Breaking Up, the Fengyun series When Cherry Blossoms Bloom, and Lipstick and Eraser, mostly classified as foreign literature and prose, dealing with emotion, urban life, and human entanglement, with translations that strive to preserve the original tone and detail.
