{"id":9918,"date":"2010-09-20T08:10:59","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T12:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=9918"},"modified":"2014-05-19T13:31:06","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T17:31:06","slug":"a-drunken-dream-and-other-stories-by-moto-hagio-translated-by-matt-thorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/a-drunken-dream-and-other-stories-by-moto-hagio-translated-by-matt-thorn\/","title":{"rendered":"A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio, translated by Matt Thorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Drunken<\/a>As I discovered manga in so-called mid-life, I’m\u00a0especially\u00a0illiterate in the sh\u014djo <\/em>genre \u2013 manga marketed specifically to young girls ages 10 to 18-ish with pages that seem to show a plethora of starry eyes, fluffy costumes, talking animals and such. The Japanese characters for ‘sh\u014d-jo’ <\/em>literally mean ‘little’ \u00a0and ‘female\/woman.’ The sickly-sweet\u00a0Sailor Moon<\/em> (which I readily admit I’ve never read) is\u00a0the only example I can think of at the moment … don’t shudder too much.<\/p>\n

Because here is artist Moto Hagio, whose work might officially be classified as sh\u014djo <\/em>manga, but is apparently one important, daring renegade in the manga world. This handsome collection that encompasses almost four decades (from 1971-2007) of Hagio’s short stories comes complete with a thorough, illuminating interview with Hagio conducted by the volume’s translator, Matt Thorn<\/a>. Thorn himself is quite a manga authority; he’s a U.S.-born, Japan-domiciled professor of ‘comic art’ and self-proclaimed “sh\u014djo <\/em>manga evangelist.” Also included is Thorn’s essay, “The Magnificent Forty-Niners,” which provides an introductory overview of sh\u014djo <\/em>manga to the uninitiated newbie (like me).<\/p>\n

Hagio’s collection of 10 short manga stories are filled with unexpected twists and endings. The opening story, “Bianca,” sets an other-worldly tone, as a now-elderly artist remembers her young cousin “who shared [her] life for just seven days,” and yet has provided her with decades of inspiration.<\/p>\n

In “Girl on Porch with Puppy,” the youngest child of a family unable to deal with any hint of difference literally runs out of time. In “Autumn Journey” a boy visits his favorite writer, and meets the man’s daughter who robbed him of his own father. In the gorgeously-colored eponymous “A Drunken Dream,” two lovers meet again and again, in life after life, only to be separated every time.<\/p>\n

Siamese twins literally live off (and die because of) one another in “Hanshin: Half-God,” while a young woman is convinced she’s really an ugly iguana hated by her own mother in “Iguana Girl.”<\/p>\n

The collection’s final two stories \u2013 my two personal favorites \u2013 celebrate (and mourn) the mother\/child bond: in “The Child Who Comes Home,” a mother is unable to let her dead child go, while in the near-wordless “The Willow Tree,” a dead mother watches from afar as her son grows to manhood. Yup, that one sent me sniffling … willows weep for a reason, huh?<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2010 (United States)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I discovered manga in so-called mid-life, I’m\u00a0especially\u00a0illiterate in the sh\u014djo genre \u2013 manga marketed specifically to young girls ages 10 to 18-ish with pages that seem to show a plethora of starry eyes, fluffy costumes, talking animals and such. The Japanese characters for ‘sh\u014d-jo’…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,73,76,66],"tags":[89,6608,75,3137,10,189,11,51,202,259,39],"class_list":["post-9918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-fiction","category-graphic-novel-manga-manwha","category-japanese","category-translation","tag-anthology-collection","tag-bookdragon","tag-death","tag-drunken-dream-and-other-stories","tag-family","tag-father-son-relationship","tag-friendship","tag-identity","tag-matt-thorn","tag-moto-hagio","tag-parent-child-relationship"],"yoast_head":"\nA Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio, translated by Matt Thorn - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/a-drunken-dream-and-other-stories-by-moto-hagio-translated-by-matt-thorn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio, translated by Matt Thorn - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As I discovered manga in so-called mid-life, I’m\u00a0especially\u00a0illiterate in the sh\u014djo genre \u2013 manga marketed specifically to young girls ages 10 to 18-ish with pages that seem to show a plethora of starry eyes, fluffy costumes, talking animals and such. 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