[KineJapan] New Publication

[Schermann Susanne]

May I draw your attention to a new publication of writings by Alan Booth, edited by a friend of mine. There are many film reviews, so it might be of interest for some of you. 



THIS
GREAT STAGE OF FOOLS
An
anthology of uncollected writings
by Alan
Booth
 
edited by
Timothy Harris
with an afterword
by Karel van Wolferen
 
Published
by Bright Wave Media, Inc, Yokohama, Japan
303 pp
 
Price
¥2,500
 
(enquiries
and further information: http://brightwavemedia.com/booth.html)
 
 
Alan Booth
(1945-1993) was the author of two very well-received books: The Roads to
Sata (Penguin), about walking the length of Japan, and Looking for the
Lost (Kodansha America). He was also an accomplished critic and journalist,
and in 1979, at the request of Timothy Harris, then the arts editor at the Asahi
Evening News, he began writing weekly reviews of Japanese film.This
Great Stage of Fools opens with a large selection of these film reviews, as
well as longer pieces on ‘the state of the art’, the director Kinugasa
Teinosuke, etc. The reviews themselves are divided into groups; The Best; The
Worst; Priests, Peasants, Samurai & Lovers; Anime; and, finally, The War.
There are altogether 43 reviews, and the films reviewed include Zigeunerweisen, Doro no kawa, Sasameyuki, Osōshiki, Kagemusha, Ran, Hotaru no haka, Akira, Senjyō no merii kurisumasu, and Shanhai
bansukingu. Through his choice and arrangement, the editor has sought to
create a portrait of what was happening in Japanese film in the years 1979 to
1990.
In
addition to having a great knowledge of film, Alan was himself an accomplished
actor and stage-director (his Birmingham University production of the Bad
Quarto of Hamlet won first prize in a European student competition and
was praised highly by the famous critic Harold Hobson). His very practical
knowledge of drama and his fascination with popular culture, as well as his
dislike of pretension and grasp of social realities, made him a formidable
critic of film, since he was aware of important aspects of film that many
people are blind to. He had also a wonderful ear and a great sense of humour,
and he writes beautifully. His work is a delight to read.
The
remainder of the book is given over to accounts of Japanese festivals and
folksongs, an interview with the great Tsugaru shamisen player Takahashi
Chikuzan, an account of a walk through Shikoku, and, finally, a few articles on
living with cancer, and dying of it.
In a very
appreciative review of this anthology in the Japan Times, Damian Flanagan,
author of books on Natsume Soseki and Mishima Yukio, wrote: ‘Booth was for my
money the greatest writer about Japan of his generation.’
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