Masahiko Shimada

Masahiko Shimada (島田 雅彦, Shimada Masahiko, born 1961) is a Japanese writer. He has won the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature, the Itō Sei Literature Prize, and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award. His work has been translated into English.

Masahiko Shimada
Masahiko Shimada in 2007
Native name
島田雅彦
Born1961 (age 59–60)
OccupationWriter
LanguageJapanese
Alma materTokyo University of Foreign Studies
GenreFiction
Notable awards

Biography

While studying Russian at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Shimada published a story called Yasashii sayoku no tame no Kiyuukyoku (The Cassation for the Soft Left-wingers) that was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize.[1] The next year he won the 6th Noma Literary New Face Prize for his novel Muyū ōkoku no tame no ongaku (夢遊王国のための音楽, Music for the Kingdom of Somnambulism).[2]

Yumetsukai (夢使い, Dream Messenger) was published in Japan in 1989, with an English translation by Philip Gabriel following in 1992. In her review for The New York Times, Julia Just praised Dream Messenger as "proof that the Japanese novel is taking some fantastic turns in the hands of a new generation of writers."[3] A 2017 retrospective review by Stephen Mansfield of The Japan Times described Dream Messenger as "existential novel that manages to remain firmly grounded within the parameters of a compelling narrative."[4] The same year that Dream Messenger was published in English, Shimada won the 20th Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature for Higan Sensei (彼岸先生), a parody of Natsume Sōseki's novel Kokoro.[5][6]

Shimada wrote the libretto for Shigeaki Saegusa's opera Chūshingura, which Werner Herzog directed in its 1997 Tokyo debut.[7]

Shimada directed and performed in his own play Yurariumu (Ulalium) in 1990. His Japanese translation of Steve Erickson's Rubicon Beach appeared in 1991.[8]

In 2016 Shimada won the 70th Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for his novel Kyojin no hoshi (虚人の星).[9]

Recognition

Bibliography

Books in Japanese
  • 夢遊王国のための音楽 (Muyū ōkoku no tame no ongaku), Kodansha, 1984
  • Dream Messenger (夢使い, Yumetsukai), Kodansha, 1989, ISBN 9784062045643
  • Armadillo, Shinchosha, 1991, ISBN 4101187037
  • Higan Sensei (彼岸先生), Fukutake Shoten, 1992, ISBN 9784828824215
  • Kyojin no hoshi (虛人の星), Kodansha, 2015, ISBN 9784062197434

Books in English
  • Music for a Sonambulant Kingdom, trans. Philip Gabriel, Kondasha, 1984
  • Dream Messenger, trans. Philip Gabriel, Kodansha, 1992, ISBN 9784770015358
  • Death by Choice, trans. Meredith McKinney, Thames River Press, 2013, ISBN 9780857282477

References
  1. "Author: Masahiko Shimada". Japanese Literature Promotion Project. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  2. "野間文芸新人賞 過去受賞作" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  3. Just, Julia (27 December 1992). "In Short: Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  4. Mansfield, Stephen (29 July 2017). "'Dream Messenger': A woman searches for her son in Tokyo and New York". The Japan Times. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  5. "泉鏡花文学賞" [Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature] (in Japanese). City of Kanazawa. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. "Masahiko Shimada". Books from Japan. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. Rimer, J. Thomas (2008). "One Legacy of Madame Butterfly: Chūshingura as a Contemporary Opera". In Wetmore, K. (ed.). Revenge Drama in European Renaissance and Japanese Theatre: From Hamlet to Madame Butterfly. Springer. pp. 217–236. ISBN 9780230611283.
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20051201054643/http://www.centerforbookculture.org:80/review/02_2_inter/interview_shimada.html
  9. "毎日出版文化賞の人々／１　島田雅彦さん" [People of the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award 1: Masahiko Shimada]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). 7 November 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  10. "伊藤整文学賞". 伊藤整文学賞の会 (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 September 2018.
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