Wind Chime

山本周五郎Qingdao Publishing House2022

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Chapters
18
ISBN
9787573600844

Tags

Literature Foreign Literature Worldly WisdomWomen's PsychologyStory CollectionShort Story CollectionJapanese WritersJapanese LiteratureEdo PeriodFemale Perspective

Summary

Wind Chime is a collection of short stories by the Japanese writer Yamamoto Shūgorō, translated into Chinese by Xia Jingjing and Wei Dahai and published by Qingdao Publishing House in 2022. It contains sixteen stories, most selected from his representative work Nihon Fuji-ki (Records of Japanese Womanly Ways). The author focuses on women's lives and inner worlds, writing about their circumstances within family, marriage, and kinship: one woman, on a much-patched garment, suddenly understands an unknown side of the wife who came before or has passed away; another, to carry on her mistress's regret, embarks on twenty-three years of living without speech; another, when her husband's fate is unknown and others speak ill of him, makes waiting for the truth her only hope. These women keep the household thriftily, carry heavy burdens forward, or endure and persevere, hiding their feelings in the crevices of daily life and shining in unnoticed, subtle places. The book also includes stories such as "Matsu Flower," "Arrow Bamboo," "Plum Fragrance," "Bamboo Grove," "Spinning Wheel," "Obukawa," "Momoi," and "Sumi Maru," with characters ranging from aristocratic women to poor orphan girls, mostly set in Japan's Edo period; through laughter and scolding they are full of human feeling and worldly ways, carrying Yamamoto Shūgorō's characteristic plainness and warmth.

Editor's review

山本周五郎是日本文学里相当特别的一位作家：他从当铺学徒起家，一生写市井与武士世界的悲欢，是迄今唯一拒绝直木奖的作家，以他命名的“山本周五郎奖”至今仍是日本文坛的重要奖项。这个中文译本从《日本妇道记》及同系短篇中择取十六篇，把镜头对准女性，却不做煽情的控诉，只是让她们在补丁、纺车、旧宅与长年的沉默里，一点点显出内心的重量。译者夏晶晶、魏大海的文字克制，保留原作清淡而有余味的气质。适合在安静的夜晚一篇一篇慢慢读，读完之后，再回头看家中那些被忽略的细节——母亲的旧衣、长辈的沉默、邻人的客套，可能会多一层理解。这不是轻快的书，却是能让人久久记住的书。

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Reading tips

  1. 按书前目录顺序通读，先读《风铃》一篇，体会作者处理女性心事的笔法。
  2. 每读完一篇停顿片刻，写下自己对人物选择的看法，比连读更容易体会余味。
  3. 可与《日本妇道记》其他中译篇目对读，理解山本周五郎对女性题材的持续关注。
  4. 读时留意作者如何用器物、衣物、天气等细节暗示人物心理，而不直接交代。

About the publisher

Qingdao Publishing House China · Founded in 1987

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

  1. General Preface
  2. Matsu Flower
  3. Arrow Bamboo
  4. Plum Fragrance
  5. Beet
  6. Bamboo Grove
  7. Spinning Wheel
  8. Wind Chime
  9. Obukawa
  10. Momoi
  11. Sumi Maru
  12. Twenty-Three Years
  13. Spring Three Times
  14. Kogai Moat
  15. Lingering Face
  16. Shinobu Thread
  17. Little Finger
  18. Xuan Bamboo Hat

FAQ

这本书是谁写的？ 作者是日本作家山本周五郎（1903—1967），本名清水三十六，代表作有《须磨寺附近》《日本妇道记》《红胡子诊疗谭》等，是日本迄今唯一拒绝直木奖的作家。
中文版由谁翻译、哪家出版社出版？ 中文版由夏晶晶、魏大海翻译，青岛出版社出版，ISBN 为 9787573600844，平装，约 289 页。
这本书一共收录多少篇？ 收录十六篇短篇小说，包括《松花》《箭竹》《梅香》《甜菜》《竹林》《纺车》《风铃》《尾花川》《桃井》《墨丸》《二十三年》《春三度》等。
书名和曹文芳的《风铃》是同一本书吗？ 不是。曹文芳的《风铃》是北京少年儿童出版社出版的儿童文学小说集，本书则是山本周五郎的女性题材短篇小说集，作者、内容与读者对象都不同。
阅读前需要了解日本江户时代背景吗？ 不必事先做足功课，每篇都可独立阅读。不过稍知江户时代的武士、町人与家制度，能更好理解书中人物的身份约束与选择困境。

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About the author

山本周五郎 Author

Yamamoto Shūgorō was a Japanese novelist. Public information about him is limited, and details such as his dates of birth and death and his education are not recorded in our database. The site holds twelve of his works, including The Red Beard Clinic, The Rain Has Stopped, New Tide Chronicle, The Tale of Merry Peace, Wind Chime, Saburō, The Tale of Yanagibashi, and Record of Fallen Plum Blossoms, commonly classified under foreign literature. Judging from these works, he was skilled at depicting townspeople and everyday urban life in a plain, delicate style, often portraying ordinary people's emotions, moral sense, and struggles for survival through small daily events, with steady narration and a strong human touch. His works have been repeatedly adapted for film and television in Japan, which speaks to their readability and the vitality of their characters. This introduction is based on in-house facts and limited public knowledge, without specific biographical details.