Jesse Ball and Josie Mitchell discuss the process of writing about different worlds, the fraudulence of speech, and why Jesse named his pet dog Goose.
Jesse Ball | Interview
Jesse Ball & Josie Mitchell
‘Confusion is the only natural response to the world, the alternative would be to just fall in with everyone else’s plans.’
New Japanese Writing
Shame
‘Men believed without a doubt that rape was just a variety of sex. That was the world in which Narumi and her classmates lived.’
Mieko Kawakami, translated by Louise Heal Kawai & Hitomi Yoshio.
People From My Neighbourhood
‘First prize went to the dog school principal, who of course had submitted a cartoon dog.’
Three stories by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen.
Larger Than the Night
‘Even if the children don’t understand, they know. Everything they managed to forget during the day comes back.’
Masatsugu Ono, translated by David Boyd.
Two Poems
‘Sounds like rain If I go to the window,
it could easily turn into bullets or rabbits.
Which one is right?
Should I go with my eyes or my ears?’
Toshiko Hirata, translated by Eric Hyett and Spencer Thurlow.
Faith
‘Hey, Nagaoka, wanna start a new cult with me?’
Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.
