Our 2018 Maine Humanities Council ‘Let’s Talk About It’ series is

“Family and Self: Readings In Twentieth Century Japanese Fiction”

In Japan, with its strong legacy of Confucian values and traditional emphasis of group over the individual, the family plays an exceptionally important role. This series explores five novels— two authored by women and three by men—each engaged with issues of both family and self in a changing Japan, but from widely differing perspectives. The first two books we discussed in January and February were Enchi Fumiko’s The Waiting Years and Tanizaki Junichirô's The Makioka Sisters .

This month we will be discussing The Setting Sun by Dazai Osamu.

The remaining two books are:

• A Personal Matter by Nobel laureate Ôe Kenzaburô - April 9

• Good-bye Tsugumi by Yoshimoto Banana - May 14

All books in the series are available, free of charge, at our library.