Kinshu - Autumn Brocade

Teru Miyamoto

New Directions

2005

193 páginas

6h 26m

ISBN-10: 0811216330

Life, death, karma - these interwoven themes from the heart of Teru Miyamoto's lyrical novel in letters, Kinshu: Autumn Brocade, the first work to be published in the U.S. by one of Japan's most popular literary writers.
The word kinshu has many connotations in Japanese - brocade, poetic writing, the brilliance of autumn leaves - and resonates here as a vibrant metaphor for the complex, intimate relationship between Aki and Yasuaki. Ten years after a dramatic divorce, they meet by chance at a mountain resort. Aki initiates a new correspondence, and letter by letter through the seasons, the secrets of their past unfold as they reflect on their presents struggles. From a lover's suicide, to a father's controlling demands, to Mozart's Thirty-ninth Symphony ("a veritable marvel of sixteenth notes"), to the karmic consequences of their actions, the story glides through their deeply introspective and stirring exchanges. What begins as a series of accusations and apologies, questions and excuses, turns into a source of mutual suport and healing.