Though published relatively recently in 2003 Yoko Ogawa's book is being republished as a companion for four other books by Japanese authors. Each different in subject matter, either capture aspects of the period when they were written in, or represent innovations in the development of the Japanese novel. There are works by Murakami,1994, Mishima 1963, Tanizaki 1936 and Kirino 1997 published by Vintage in there Japan Classics Series. Ogawa is one of a new generation of female writers that started to emerge in the last decades of the twentieth century.
The Housekeeper & The Professor is an example of a particular form of contemporary Japanese novel, where a touching relationship develops between two people from entirely different classes of society. Brought together despite odd circumstances and the evident impediment of eccentricity. Another novel similarly written in this style from 2001 is Hiromi Kawakami's Strange Weather in Tokyo.
Here we have The Professor, a mathematics genius, who, due to a car collision many years ago, has lost most of his ability to remember the present day short term details. He can only hold things for about eighty minutes before these slip away from recollection. Everyone who comes to know him has to deal with daily having to reintroduce themselves to him. The Professor wears an old bedraggled suit with numerous notes and pictures pinned to it. To help remind or prompt him to recollect.
The Housekeeper is employed through her agency to do just that, look after the house and The Professor's general wellbeing. There have been many housekeepers previous who have not been able to hack the job for long. It can be repetitive and taxing to ones patience. This particular housekeeper, however, starts to actively engage with the Professor through his primary means of communication, mathematics and analysis of statistics. The Housekeeper has a son, who The Professor calls Root, because of the shape of his head. Both become increasingly fond of the Professor, his eccentricities, his love of maths and begin to plan events and trips to broaden what he can experience every day.
This novel, like many contemporary Japanese novels, has no great dramatic story arc. It simply opens a window onto a strange world and unusual relationship. Ogawa's writing, whilst very modern in its choice of subject matter, bears a style that is the epitome of the classic Japanese novel. An unfussy clean use of grammar and sentence structure, with no extraneous words or literary flourishes. Little by way of lengthy exposition or description. The writing, though economical, contains sufficient information to communicate feeling or move the story on. Extensive use of internal dialogue or cathartic emoting isn't employed, passions are kept distinctly low key and restrained.
Despite this contained form, one is gently led into a world and atmosphere that you can identify with and feel for. Though we are never told who the Housekeeper, Professor or Root are, what their real names might be, they are not ciphers. Its a quintessentially human story, composed with a light touch and sense of care for the integrity of her characters. A study in how you connect with another person's world and viewpoint However remote, or from a different class, culture or life experience they may seem. No one is that cut off that their humanity cannot be still reached on some level, in small yet significant ways.
Without trying too hard to impress, Ogawa's novel does, nonetheless, do so.
CARROT REVIEW - 6/8
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