こんにちは、Nisreenです。
Hi all, this is Nisreen!
The other day, we finally had some bookshelves arrive at our home. We reunited the books we brought all the way across the ocean from Japan to the United States, finally taking them out of the cardboard boxes.
実は渡米にあたり、本の９０パーセントを泣く泣く手放してきました。特にコロナ後、日本から米国への送料がとんでもなく高くなってしまったためです。
本の中でも、巻数の多い漫画は特に送料がかかるものです。悩んだ末、手に取って何度でも眺めたいような美しい漫画、なおかつ巻数が少ないものに絞った末、手元に残った漫画は２つだけでした。本当に素敵な作品なので、ここで紹介させてください。
In fact, in coming to the US, I had to give up 90 per cent of my books. -It brought me to tears. This is because shipping costs from Japan to the US have become ridiculously high, especially after Covid hit. Among the books, multi-volume manga sets are particularly expensive to ship. After consideration, I let go of all my manga except two artistic works that I wanted to contemplate again and again, These had only a few volumes. Let me talk about the two masterpieces here.
まず、一条ゆかりの「砂の城」です。
The first is Yukari Ichijo's ‘The Sand Castle’
The manga, serialised from 1977, tells a tragic love story set in France. I came across it in a second-hand bookshop when I was a teenager and read it with tears in my eyes.
Next is Hagio Moto's ‘The Heart of Thomas.’ I have both the
Japanese and English versions.
There is a Beardsleyesque feel to the art at times, and
there is a fresh beauty to them even today.
Both are from the 1970s. It was the golden age of shoujo
manga in Japan.
The two stories are completely different, but I believe the
poetic monologues, the romantic, hand-drawing style, and the way they depict an
idealised Europe are common elements of the two works.
Note: There are some aspects of The Sand Castle in
particular that are inappropriate in the light of current ethical standards.
The relationship between an underage boy and an older woman who is his previous
guardian would now be called sexual abuse, not romance.
If you take that out of the equation, it's a great piece of
art and a great story.
When I paint, I sometimes see an influence lurking from
these works.
ー――
類似の記事 -Similar articles-
-English-
Seven Strategies for Coping During the Pandemic
-Bilingual (日英)-
[Bilingual post] 5 Book recommendations /今お勧めの本５冊
[Bilingual post] The Must-Watch Netflix Original Film -Yeh Ballet-/ 必見のNetflix映画「Yeh Ballet」
[Bilingual post] My Inspirations 私のインスピレーション
-日本語-
中東（Middle East）or アフリカに関するおすすめの本（①問題提起的作品篇）
ー――
