Contents

How Do You Live?: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:54, 13 November 2023

How Do You Live?

Re-release cover from 2017, with art by Shoichi Haga
Author	Genzaburo Yoshino
Original title	君たちはどう生きるか
Language	Japanese
Set in	Senior High School at Otsuka
Publisher	Shinchosha
Publication date	1937
Publication place	Japan
Pages	298[1]

How Do You Live? (Japanese: 君たちはどう生きるか, Hepburn: Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) is a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino. It follows a 15-year-old boy named Junichi Honda, nicknamed Koperu, and his uncle as the youth deals with spiritual growth, poverty, and the overall experience as human beings.^[2][3]

Background

Yūzō Yamamoto was originally tasked with writing the final novel in the serial Nihon Shoukokumin Bunko. However, he was unable to due to illness. Instead Genzaburō Yoshino wrote How Do You Live? in his stead and published the book in 1937. In the first edition Yamamoto is Co-author but in the revision after the war 1948 Yoshino alone is credited as Author.^[4]

After the conclusion of World War II, the book underwent several changes such as vocabulary and was republished in 1945 by Mira-sha Publishers.^[5]

How Do You Live? is a popular work of literature in classical arts education and is often considered as a part of children's literature.^[6]

Plot

Junichi Honda is a fifteen-year-old junior high school student, known by his nickname Koperu, after the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus. He is athletic and academically gifted, and popular at school. Koperu's father, a bank executive, passed away when he was young and he lives with his mother. His uncle (on his mother's side) lives nearby and visits frequently. Koperu and his uncle are very close. Koperu shares about his life and his uncle gives him support and advice. His uncle also documents and comments on these interactions in a diary, with the intent to eventually give the diary to Koperu. The diary writing, which is interspersed with the narrative, provides insight into the ethical and emotional trials that Koperu shared with his uncle. The diary entries, which cover themes such as "view of things", "structure of society", "relation", etc. are in the style of a note written to Koperu.^[7]

Thinking like Copernicus that our Earth is a celestial body moving within the vastness of space, or thinking that our Earth is fixed at the center of the universe, are two ways of thinking that, in reality, are not only related to astronomy. Even when we think about things like the world around us or our own lives, the truth is that we are still revolving around them after all.

— About view of things (Uncle's note)

In the end, Koperu writes a decision on his future way of living as a reply to his uncle, and the novel ends with the narrator asking the question "how do you live?" to the reader.

Characters

• Junichi Honda/Koperu – A 15-year-old boy who experiences the ups and downs of school life, friendships, and finding his place in the world.

Publication

This book is one of the "Nihon Shoukokumin Bunko" series that intended to convey knowledge and ideas of free and progressive culture to school children in Japan (Shoukokumin literally means younger citizens). However, many of the works were discouraged by the rise of Japanese militarism in 1930s.^[5]

Political scientist Masao Maruyama praised the composition in which a child named Koperu observes reality and naturally portrays the process of discovering various things. He also commends how this complements the main character's discoveries, which are conveyed in the form of letters from the child's uncle.. Moreover, the question "How Do You Live?" which is also the title of this book is not only the ethical problem of "How to live", but also about the kind of social scientific awareness to live. It is evaluating the problem of existing.^[8]

Author Yoshino Genzaburō, How Do You Live? was not originally conceived as a literary work, but was intended as a book on ethics. However, according to Takada Riko, this book is also a liberal arts theory written for students of former junior high school during the height of culturalism. Takada focused on the privileged family environment and the "high" social class of the heroes. Those were drawn by the author, who was inspired by the people during his time at Takashi Associated Junior High School (now a high school attached to the University of Tsukuba). He mentioned that this book is intended to resonate with educated boys, which, during that era, was a limited number of privileged citizens.^[9]

Format

The story alternates viewpoint and storytelling between Koperu and his uncle.^[10] Koperu narrates his life in school as he goes through the life as a school child. His uncle narrates his experiences to help his nephew deal with bullying and struggles.

Themes

Koperu deals with the struggles of growing up as a human being. Much of the aspect of growing up involves dealing with people who are in opposition to the person, bullying, and philosophy.

Manga adaptation

In 2017, the book was serialized in manga form by Shoichi Haga and saw publication by Magazine House under the title How Do You Live? Cartoon Stories.^[11]

Legacy

The novel appears in one of the scenes of the Studio Ghibli animated film also titled How Do You Live?, but titled internationally as The Boy and the Heron (2023). Although the novel appears in-universe and serves as a major plot point, the film is otherwise not connected to the novel and is not an adaptation.^[12] The release of the film led to increased sales and reprints of the book in Japan. It was sold in multiple quantities in the Mercari marketplace app. Iwanami Shoten announced that the total circulation of the book reached 1.8 million copies, making it the number one book on Iwanami Bunko.^[13]

English translation

The book was translated into English by Bruno Navasky, and published in 2021 by Penguin Press.^[14][15]

References