bsd-bibliophile

[bsd-bibliophile]

Humanity? Don’t be silly. I know. It is knocking down your fellow-men for the sake of your own happiness.

Dazai Osamu, The Setting Sun

#dazai osamu #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

The dead don’t have any regrets. It’s the people left behind, the people still living, who have regrets. … The dead don’t want to think about anything. They’re just dead. It’s the living who mope around, brooding about all the regrets the mother must be filled with, having died just as she was about to bring new life into the world. You have to admit that, generally speaking, it’s the living who see ghosts, not the dead. In other words, the ones who determine the form in which a particular ghost appears are the living - the ones who see the ghosts.

Kyōgoku Natsuhiko, The Summer of the Ubume

#kyōgoku natsuhiko #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

In spite of my anxiety and not knowing how long it may last, I had managed to survive it without telling anyone, without even letting it be noticed. And now, although I have had no trouble since, I am still haunted by the fear that at any moment I may have another attack - the fear that this one may last, not for half an hour, but for a day, a year, perhaps for the rest of my life.

Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, The Key

#tanizaki jun'ichirō #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

I think your piece is very interesting. It is assured, and it is serious, not merely frivolous. I think its particular merit is that the absurdity is not forced, but is perfectly natural, and is allowed to emerge of itself. …The style is concise and controlled. I admired it. You could carve your own special niche in the world of letters.

Natsume Sōseki in a letter* to Akutagawa Ryūnosuke found in the introduction to Kappa

*Natsume-sensei wrote this letter after reading “The Nose”

#natsume sōseki #akutagawa ryūnosuke #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

Happy Birthday Higuchi Ichiyō-sensei!

To celebrate Higuchi Ichiyō’s birthday here are her top three quotes from my blog:

Quote #3:

"There have been times when I’ve known happiness. What are they, though, compared to all the sadness? This world, I tell you, it’s a gathering of the damned."

- Higuchi Ichiyō, “Encounters on a Dark Night” from In the Shade of Spring Leaves

Quote #2:

"When she felt so awkward and unhappy, flattery only sounded like an insult."

- Higuchi Ichiyō, “Child’s Play” (or “Growing Up”) from In the Shade of Spring Leaves

Quote #1:

"She kept her problems to herself. Others considered her strong and independent. They did not perceive that she was as vulnerable as a spider’s web. Touch it, and it disintegrates."

- Higuchi Ichiyō, “Troubled Waters” from In the Shade of Spring Leaves

#higuchi ichiyō #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #happy birthday #2024

[bsd-bibliophile]

Vote for your favorite Yokomizo Seishi quote(s)!

After reading The Honjin Murders, Death on Gokumon Island, The Village of Eight Graves, The Inugami Curse, and The Devil's Flute Murders, a lot of quotes stood out to me. I'm curious which of these quotes resonates with other bibliophiles, fans of Bungo Stray Dogs, and fans of Japanese literature.

The poll will close on May 15, and the top 5 quotes will be posted on May 24 for Yokomizo Seishi's birthday!

#yokomizo seishi #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

BSD-Bibliophile Online Library:

Recently Published Translations

Novels, Short Stories and Poems

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List of Books in English

Quotes and Facts Collection

Fun Facts

Author Connections

Photos and Handwriting Samples Library

Video Library

Bungou Stray Dogs Resources:

Official Websites and Twitter Accounts

Manga, Light Novels, BSD Wan! and more!

Translators and Translation Projects:

Maplopo

Sign up for their Reading Circle here.

Interested in learning Japanese from the translator? Join Maplopo Schoolhouse here.

Buy their translations on Amazon.

Japan Reads (Shelley Marshall)

Buy their translations on Amazon.

M Skeels

List of published translations

Free practice translations

. 

Anne’s Side Blog:

My side blog where I post anything and everything that is not included on my main blog. The Ask Box is currently open.

Bungou Stray Dogs Discord

Join us, be a part of over a thousand members in one of the most active and friendly communities here on Discord!

#bsd-bibliophile #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.

Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

#jules verne #french literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

"You can't go around judging people on first impressions. That's how mistakes get made." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Honjin Murders

"The police investigate footprints and look for fingerprints. I take the results of these investigations and by piecing together all the available information logically, I am able to reach a conclusion. Those are my methods of deduction." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Honjin Murders

"The Killer had submitted the problem of a locked room murder and dared us to solve it. It was going to be a battle of wits. Perfect. Challenge accepted! If it was brains and logic and wit that were required, I was ready to do battle." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Honjin Murders

"In our world there are some things so dreadful, so terrifying that you would scarcely believe they existed. They are things that common sense and accepted practice would dictate are impossible, but they do exist. Out of reason... that's right. It's a mad state of affairs." - Yokomizo Seishi, Death on Gokumon Island

"Yet, while his unchanging gratitude and devotion to the priest's family were certainly commendable, Sahei failed to realize that everything - even gratitude - has a limit that should not be exceeded, and that his excessive gratitude toward the Nonomiya family would embroil his own kin in a series of bloody murders after his death." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Inugami Curse

"Thirty years can weave strange patterns in the tapestry of life." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Inugami Curse

"With the blind spot that had been hindering his thought process finally removed, everything had fallen into place for him with great speed. All day yesterday, he had been stacking building blocks of deductive reasoning in his mind, with the result that now he had reproduced the entire complex structure of the mystery." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Inugami Curse

"Were it not for the events that I am about to relate, doubtless my life would have continued in that impoverished, humdrum vein. But one day a spot of red was suddenly split on the grey of my life: I embarked on an adventure of dazzling mystery and stepped into a world of blood-chilling terror." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Village of Eight Graves

"Nothing is more frightening in this world than ignorance and stupidity." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Village of Eight Graves

"The events I am about to describe are filled with such darkness and sadness, are so cursed and hate-filled, that not a word I write can possibly offer the faintest glimmer of hope or relief. Even as the author, I cannot predict what the final sentence will be, but I fear that the relentless dread and darkness that precede it may end up overcoming the readers and crush their very spirits in its grasp." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Devil's Flute Murders

"Everyone here is a bit twisted somehow. All they feel for each other is suspicion, resentment and fear. I couldn't tell you why that is. It's as if they're all just waiting for their chance to stick the knife in. As if they think that if they don't, then they'll be on the other end of the blade." - Yokomizo Seishi, The Devil's Flute Murders

Yokomizo Seishi has also been added to the BSD-Bibliophile Online Library!

You can find more information about Yokomizo-sensei on the following pages: List of Books in English Quotes and Facts Collection Fun Facts Author Connections

#yokomizo seishi #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #from my side blog

[bsd-bibliophile]

With the clear morning sun shining into the train, the feeling that I alone exuded filth, impurity, and corruption was almost too much to bear. Thousands of times I have experienced this kind of self-loathing…

Dazai Osamu, Tsugaru

#dazai osamu #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

The various theories built around our life span are so confused and contradictory that it is hard to put any credence in any of them.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Kappa

#akutagawa ryūnosuke #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

Happy Birthday Nakahara Chūya-sensei!

To celebrate Nakahara Chūya’s birthday here are his top three quotes from my blog:

Quote #3:

Searching for memories that aren’t there, this heart of mine Closes itself up, languishes like an old moldy box of trinkets And then there are these sunken cheeks, these cracked lips- Bitterness bred in cruelty comes rushing out in silence…

I’ve grown accustomed to it all, and have leaned to bear it But sometimes any degree of loneliness can bring you down And while I cannot know for sure, sometimes it seems as if These tears are no longer tears for having loved someone…

- Nakahara Chūya, “Poem of the Sheep” from Poems of the Goat

Quote #2:

Soiled Sorrow: today too snow falls on it; soiled sorrow: today too wind blows on it.

Soiled sorrow is like, say, a fox’s fur; soiled sorrow in its torpor dreams of death.

Soiled sorrow frightens me piteously; soiled sorrow can’t be remedied, and the sun sets…

- Nakahara Chūya, “Soiled Sorrow” from The Poems of Nakahara Chūya

Quote #1:

Now in this world full of sadness, Don’t let your heart harden. For the sake of whatever intimacy we could have, Don’t let your heart harden.

Hardened, the heart is oblivious to the world, And words fall silent on the soul. Nurturing serenity, man returns to that dreaminess Known at the beginning, and can make sense of it all.

- Nakahara Chūya, “Untitled” from Poems of the Goat

#nakahara chūya #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #happy birthday #2024

[bsd-bibliophile]

Each and every living being is well-intentioned, and deserves compassion. It is wrong for anyone to hate him.

Miyazawa Kenji, “The Thirty Frogs” from Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa

#miyazawa kenji #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

Day in and day out, the people of this world Occupy their time and efforts trying to resolve

Concerns like how to come out ahead And how to keep from losing face

And I can certainly relate to how they feel After having tried to go with the flow myself

Nakahara Chūya, “Exhaustion” from Poems of the Goat

#nakahara chūya #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

#herman melville #american literature #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

But to hesitate before a difficult task is not the way of a courageous person…

Fukuzawa Yukichi, “Keio Inaugural Pronouncement” from Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education

#fukuzawa yukichi #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd

[bsd-bibliophile]

What makes me sick is that both applause and complaints are based on misunderstanding.

Nakajima Atsushi, Light, Wind, and Dreams

#nakajima atsushi #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd