Scattered All Over the Earth
By Yoko Tawada
Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as "the land of sushi." Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): "homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language."
As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends. Her troupe travels to France, encountering an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra-nationalist named Breivik; unrequited love; Kakuzo robots; red herrings; uranium; an Andalusian matador. Episodic and mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, and soon they're all next off to Stockholm.
With its intrepid band of companions, Scattered All Over the Earth (the first novel of a trilogy) may bring to mind Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or a surreal Wind in the Willows, but really is just another sui generis Yoko Tawada masterwork.
Loved by our collective!
A whimsical, fun novel set in a world slightly discordant to ours - e.g. Japan (whose name is never mentioned) has disappeared - with intriguing, lovable characters and unexpected events. But the story is sprinkled with conversations that kindle thoughts about our real world: what life is like to be (im)migrating from home, speaking a new language, losing a language, being perceived with a certain "identity," etc. The narrator changes with each chapter, offering different perspectives: someone whose home country suddenly disappeared, another who disguises to be from that lost country, someone in the middle of "moving to another sex," someone who does not age... The writing never really screams "immigration injustice" or delves into serious analysis of issues - it just lays little thoughts in front of us to mull over, while we enjoy being in a unique world of storytelling. (If you liked it, a sequel is here!)
Product Details
- Paperback
- 219 pages
- ISBN
- 9780811229289
- Publisher
- New Directions (3/1/22)
- Dimensions
- 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
- Subjects
Subjects
- FICTION / World Literature / Japan
- Tags
Tags
japan, works in translation
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