In terms of Japanese literature, who were the greats, and what

read the sticky

>>8877444
I have, friend. But I want a more in-depth answer.

>>8877427
Akutagawa, Dazai, Souseki are like the most essential

The beautiful and grotesque have a ton of little stories from akutagawa and is really cheap
I am a Cat or Daisuke by Souseki are good options (second is my favorite book is about a neet)
Run Melos, Schoolgirl and No longer human are the most popular works of dazai.

Mishima is pretty good. I have only read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, but it's a solid novel, and quite distinctly Japanese; there's a ton of Zen talk, if you're into that.

The Gate by Soseki captures traditional Japanese attitudes towards life and art better than any other Japanese novel I've read.

>>8878079
Seconded. Everything he wrote is good, and good for a different reason, which is impressive in its own way.

Have you tried the one called
My Diary Desu
?

>>8877427
haraki murakami is their homer

>>8877444
shove a tree up your ass, mod

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>>8877427
Well, the first thing to do is avoid all the Japanese authors that westerners will tell you about. Mishima, Murikami and all that are Western trash (or, as they say in japan, kakuni) and you need to read the real Japan.

I'm too poor to travel to beautiful Nippon, so I came up with a crafty alternative. In the basement of my house(not technically MY house (it's my parents) but that's not important. Thanks dumb western Economy (kinpira gobu)!!! Wouldnt happen in Japan of course!!!) I built myself a small Japanese enclave. My modest offering is of course no substitute for an actual taste of the actual Japan, but it did it's job. During the day, I was like one of you westerners. I watched western porn, played western video games, ate and drank western wares.

But as night fell, I would tell my (single) mother to fetch my kimono, and have her swathe me in its warm (I sat it atop a radiator every morning) embrace, warmer than the embrace of any western """"women"""""!!!! And down I'd go into my other world. In my little Nippon underground I had everything an enlightened Wapanese could want. There was a veritable cornucopia of eastern pornographies (sunomonu), in a sub district of Nippon-lite which I wittily called "Fapan". There was all of my favorite anime and manga, the finest of fine art. There was a banquet of Japanese snacks (wagashu), from octopus rings to sugared shinto-cakes, all washed down with a nice warm glass of awamori. In time, I will be japanese, as if I had lived there my whole life (itasha in japanese)

And then, in the place of pride, I am after all a litizen like all of you, (or as the japanese say, a mogera wogura) was my bookshelves of the finest japanese literature.

Just for you OP (or as the japanese say Nihonzaru) I have taken the time to select the finest of this literature (or as the japanese say goku boku pokki-san senpai san soku) for your enjoyment (or as the japanese say Fainaru Fantajī iv):

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>>8878395
ナルファンタジ (Ulysses-san) by Jamuramasi Joycikami
--This is slice-of-life like you’ve never read it before. Joyceikami takes you on a journey through the ancient feudal Japanese city of Dublin, alongside our hero, Leopold Bloomijiro, a samurai whose waifu is going to cheat on him with another samurai. But what makes it really spectacular is how Joyceikami plays with the form: One chapter for example is done like an anime script, another is a history of manga. Crazy stuff, but very dense with a lot of references to Japanese culture.
バットマン (Gravitosha’s Rainbaru) by Thomoshio Pynchoniru
--Now this is a crazy one. If you like Metal Gear Solid, you’ll like Thomoshio (it was a huge inspiration for his novels). Pynchonuro’s my fav writer for sure because my fav thing in books is goofs, gags, jokes and rambunctious behavior, and his books are full to the brim of it. Every novel is like one of those novelty snake cans, you open the book & POP you get a face fulla snakes and you fall back cackling. The mad mind, the crack genius, to do it! and then you think hmmm whats he gonna do next, this trickster, and you pick the book back up and BZZZZZZZZZZ you get a shock and Hahahahahah you've been pranked again by the old pynchmeister, that card. "Did that Pynchonuro?" he says, laughing yukyukyukyuk. Watch him as he shoves a pair of plastic buck teeth right up into his mouth and displays em for you- left, right, center- "you like dese? Do i look handsome???" Pulls out a mirror. "Ah!" Hand to naughty mouth. And you're on your ass again laughing as he snaps his suspenders, exits stage right, and appears again hauling a huge golden gong.
切腹 (Infiniku Jestu) by Daviyuki Fosteru Wallasui
--What a book!!! Truly Japan’s finest work of fiction. It’s big enough to knock out an adult male (they actually tested it during the second world war, look it up), and its truly a spiritual book. Daviyuki truly understands the way of the tao and of the flowing river. The only thing that comes close to the sublime calm of reading Wallasui for me, is the pleasure of finishing my favorite anime video game, Kensuki’s Kingdom, when the hero, Buki-san, is reunited with his waifu, Kuki, after rescuing her from the ninja’s rock garden (karesansui as the Japanese say).
Now if you’ll excuse me OP, the sky is dimming, and I anticipate that tonight will be a good night!! I have torrented several thousand hours of tentacle geisha fapumentaries (a concept the west has yet to capitalize on and ruin!!!!) and would like also to listen to the new album by my favorite Japanese experimental rock outifit, Unit 731!!! Sayonara friend (or in japanese, tamagotchi!)!

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>goku boku pokki-san senpai san soku

>>8878057
Quality post.

Souseki has all sorts of great stuff. I'm thoroughly enjoying botchan right now, and kokoro is one of my all-time favorite books

>>8877458
>>8878297

> But I want a more in-depth answer.

Click the link in the sticky. This will take you to a wiki that contains the information you're looking for.

>>8877427
Boku no Pico

>>8878273
What's a good place to start with him? Mope masters like Dazai have left me cold, but I love Akutagawa and Soseki.

>>8878079
>>8878273

> a literal faggot who committed sudoku because he could neither be with his hunky dreamboat bf nor could he live in grorious pre-war Japan.

Yeah, no. He's shit poplit.

>>8878472
The Sound Of Waves is his most "normal" book: just a simple love story (hetero, which is not always the case with him), sweet and lyrical. Everything else is very strange, though never in a western avant garde sort of way. Forbidden Colors is my favorite.

Kawabata?

Do not fall for the Mishima meme-a. He was a bad writer and a worse person.

>>8878538
Snow Country? More like Snow Comfy haha

>>8878554
Good one, anon.

>>8877444
Hmm

Start with The Tale of Genji and the poems of Matsuo Basho

then realize that you fell for the >translations meme hard and that you should either learn Japanese or fuck off back to Western lit

>>8878402
>>8878395
too long for a shitpost

>>8878565
Typical Westerner!!!! In Japan, shitposts are often the size of novellas (or as the japanese say, tokubetsu kogekitai)!!!!

>>8878478
>>8878548

Odd to judge an author's work on his character traits. Really makes you think...

>oh wait I'm in a thread full of autistic anime fags.

Proof:>>8878561

>>8878600
>autistic anime fags
This is an ANIME website I don't care what board your on you'll respect that okay punk?

In Nippon, they treat """"autism"""" with respect. It's often seen as a sign that you are closer to the tao or the secret energy of the universe discussed in works like the I Ching and Naruto.

They treat us like we should be treated. They give us advance screenings of the latest animes. If I could get the money to travel to Nippon, I would often find the newest Manga arriving through the letterbox of my dokutsu (a kind of Japanese house), with the writers asking for my opinion as one of the roju (the word for autistic person in japan, but which doesn't have the same connotations as in the west and connotes respect and authority instead)

>>8878636
>>8878402
>>8878395
I know this is basically a riff on a ten year old copypasta but I've always found this joke funny and I admire the dedication you're putting toward it.
The pynchon pasta embedded in the middle of it is also a nice touch. I look forward to your future shitposts.

>>8878646
This desu.
Thanks for your service

>>8877427
Naruto

>>8877427
Fucking weebs I swear