日本の文学賞

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Yuji Usui

うすい ゆうじ

Usui Yūji

別名: 薄井 雄二 / くじら鳥 / たの・かえる
ペンネーム: Kujira-dori（Online handle / pen name）, Tano Kaeru（Used as illustrator pen name）

プロフィール

性別
男性
生誕
1949-01-01 （Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan）
国籍
Japan
言語
Japanese

経歴

職業
Novelist, Illustrator, Translator, Publishing/production company owner
活動期間
1988年〜
所属
Ihatov Co., Ltd. (advertising/editing production), JALInet (JAPAN LITERATURE net) — founding initiator
影響を受けた人物
Michio Tsuzuki, Yasutaka Tsutsui

学歴

Ibaraki Prefectural Tsuchiura First High School
国: Japan

受賞歴

Shosetsu Gendai New Writer's Prize (51st)
1988
対象作品: Zanzou Shounen ("Residual Image Boy")
結果: Winner
Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Newcomer Award (15th)
1994
対象作品: The Grass Fish on the Tree
結果: Winner

受賞・候補エディション

作品

代表作

The Room with the Angel Cat

1991年 Novel (fantasy)

A fantastical novel about lonely characters and their encounters with a mysterious 'angel cat.'

lonelinessfantasycats

The Grass Fish on the Tree

1993年 Novel (contemporary literature)

Through a strange creature appearing atop a tree and its interactions with townspeople, the work explores family and renewal.

familyregenerationthe supernatural

The Whale-Falling Forest

1991年 Fiction (fantastical stories/short stories)

A collection of short and medium-length stories set around the uncanny premise of whales falling from the sky.

strange natural phenomenafantasynostalgia

Blue Time

1995年 Short stories / ensemble

A group of short stories that examine dislocations of time and memory, where the ordinary meets the extraordinary.

timememoryboundaries between reality and fantasy

Transparent Ark

1995年 Novel (fantasy)

An allegorical tale of journey and loss, where reality and symbolism overlap.

lossjourneyallegory

The Demon of Stockholm

2000年 Novel (elements of mystery)

Set in Northern Europe, this novel mixes a sense of foreignness with mystery, where exotic landscapes cast shadows over the story.

alienationmysterycultural distance

全著作

  • The Room with the Angel Cat
  • The Whale-Falling Forest
  • The Grass Fish on the Tree
  • The Touch of Stars
  • Blue Time
  • Transparent Ark
  • Hokuriku Phantasmagoria: Lovers of Another World
  • The Door of Rain
  • What the Afternoon Footsteps Did to Me
  • Typhoon Girl
  • The Pillow-Clock Woman
  • Full Moon Stories
  • Paradox of the Gods
  • Yukikonna
  • The Hunters
  • The Shy Rainbow
  • Raising the Dodo
  • President's Tale
  • Fourteen-Year-Old Drift
  • The Demon of Stockholm
  • Lakebed
  • Rings of Water
  • Beyond (Collected Masterpieces)
  • Grandpa Rider
  • The Lonely Elephant of Kyōhō

作家による翻訳

  • Stephen Young — "Bookworms: Their Ecology and Pathology — Protecting Them from Extinction" (translation, Arton, 2002)
  • Bong Joon-ho / Shim Sun-bo — "Memories of Murder" (interpretive translation, Arton, 2004)

作風・主題

文体
strongly fantastical imageryblending of everyday and uncannylyrical, slightly melancholic narration
頻出モチーフ
catswater / lakesthe moonforestsmemory and temporal dislocation

評価・遺産

Known for blending fantastical motifs with subtle dislocations of everyday life, Usui was active mainly from the 1990s onward. He won awards such as the Shosetsu Gendai New Writer's Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Newcomer Award, and holds a distinct place in contemporary Japanese literature.

資料所蔵先

  • National Diet Library of Japan (author catalogue)
  • Library of Congress (records)

豆知識

  • Worked as an illustrator under the name "Tano Kaeru."
  • Also known online by the handle "Kujira-dori."
  • Shifted to fiction after attending a creative writing course taught by Michio Tsuzuki.
  • Won the 51st Shosetsu Gendai New Writer's Prize (1988) and the 15th Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Newcomer Award (1994).