1
Chrysanthemum and the Knife
Douban score: 8.0
Introduction:
Toward the end of World War II, the United States had two questions before it: Would Japan surrender? Can we use the German approach to Japan?
In order to make the final decision, the U.S. government mobilized experts from various fields to study Japan and provide information and opinions, including the book's author, anthropologist Benedict.
Some of the incomprehensible behaviors of Americans and more Westerners are precisely the models that Benedict used to analyze the nature of Japanese culture. The "kiku" in the title of the book is the emblem of the Japanese imperial family, and the "sword" is a symbol of samurai culture. The combination of "chrysanthemum and knife" symbolizes the contradictory character of the Japanese people (such as beauty and martial arts, polite and aggressive, new and stubborn, obedient and untamed, etc.).
Benedict wrote Chrysanthemum and the Knife after world war II. "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" consists of 13 chapters: starting from the view of the war, talking about the Meiji Restoration, and then dividing the Japanese customs and habits, moral concepts, and all the way to how to "self-training" (self-cultivation) and how children are educated. The whole book is sandwiched between discussions, leaving aside the sensational descriptions of cherry blossoms, tea ceremony, Bushido, etc., and more of a white-painted comparison of family relations and spiritual beliefs, such as the different concepts of Health, Materialism, War Propaganda, and Family Relations in Americans and Japanese.
"Chrysanthemum and the Knife" directly influenced the United States policy toward Japan, and the success of the United States' post-war policy toward Japan also proved the success of the study of the Japanese in "Chrysanthemum and the Knife". Since then, the western research boom in Japanese culture has also begun.
About the Author:
【About the Author】
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict
1887.6.5－1948.9.17
Born in New York, USA
Renowned cultural anthropologist
Professor at Columbia University
He was president of the American Anthropological Society
His masterpiece "Chrysanthemum and The Sword" is known as the "originator of modern Nihonology" and was praised by Yukio Mishima as "focusing on the duality of traditional Japanese culture, and has the deepest influence among Westerners who are deeply curious about Japanese culture."
【Translator】
He Qing
Born in Suzhou after the 80s
Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Published works:
《1294》
"A Good Shell for Her"
"I WalkEd Slowly, But I Never Stopped"
2
"Decryption"
Douban score: 8.2
The protagonist of "Decryption" is a special profession engaged in cracking codes, he has a highly talented IQ, a lonely and indifferent personality, and an unpredictable fantasy fate. However, due to the interests of the country and the needs of the cause, their stories are often hidden in corners where the secular sun cannot shine... Legendary life, the secret history of the family, the wisdom of genius, the strange imagination, the unpredictable fate and the absurd reality are intertwined in the novel, giving people a strong artistic shock and ideological shock. The novel has both the tension of the fate of the characters and the plot itself, as well as the tension of thought and intelligence, and the strangeness of the writer's conception, the loftiness of the imagination and the cleanliness of the language are rare in contemporary Chinese novels. They have no names, only code names; they have no voices, only actions; they have no tears, only sorrows; they have no routine, only extraordinary; they eavesdrop on the sounds of the heavens; they break through the wordless books; they walk on the tip of the sword.
Mai Jia, writer, screenwriter. Born in 1964 in Fuyang, Zhejiang. He has been in the military for 17 years, graduated from the Radio Department of the PLA Engineering and Technology College in 1983, graduated from the Literature Department of the PLA Academy of Arts in 1991, transferred to the TV Drama Department of Chengdu Television Station as a screenwriter in 1997, and transferred to the Hangzhou Literary Association as a professional writer in 2008.
He began writing in 1986. His major works include the novel "Decryption", "Dark Calculation", "The Sound of the Wind", the essay collection "The Wind Catcher Says", the TV series "Dark Calculation", "Underground Sky" (screenwriter) and so on. His works have won many awards: "Decryption" won the first place in the Chinese Novel Society's 2002 China Novel List, the 6th National Book Award and the 6th Mao Dun Literature Award nomination; "Dark Calculation" won the 7th Mao Dun Literature Award; "The Sound of the Wind" won the "People's Literature" 2007 Best Novella Award; "Let the Masked Man Speak" won the "Novel Selection" Best Novella Award 2003-2006; "Two Fuyang Girls" won the first place in the Chinese Short Story List in 2004 by the Chinese Novel Society.
The writer himself has been named the 2003 Chinese Literary Figure and The Most Progressive Writer; the 3rd Fashion China List 2007 Fashion Writer of the Year; the 6th Chinese Literature and Media Awards 2007 Novelist of the Year; the 13th Shanghai International Television Festival Best Screenwriter; the 3rd TV Drama Festival Best Screenwriter, etc. The TV series "Dark Calculation", adapted and written based on his novel of the same name, set a precedent for Chinese special love film and television dramas and was deeply loved by the audience.