Fuji

A panoramic history of Japan’s iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world’s most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire.

A panoramic history of Japan’s iconic mountain from the Ice Age to the present Mount Fuji is everywhere recognized as a wonder of nature and enduring symbol of Japan. Yet behind the picture-postcard image is a history filled with conflict and upheaval. Violent eruptions across the centuries wrought havoc and instilled fear. Long an object of worship, Fuji has been inhabited by deities that changed radically over time. It has been both a totem of national unity and a flashpoint for economic and political disputes. And while its soaring majesty has inspired countless works of literature and art, the foot of the mountain is home to military training grounds and polluting industries. Tracing the history of Fuji from its geological origins in the remote past to its recent inscription as a World Heritage Site, Andrew Bernstein explores these and other contradictions in the story of the mountain, inviting us to reflect on the relationships we share with the nonhuman world and one another. Beautifully illustrated, Fuji presents a rich portrait of one of the world’s most celebrated sites, revealing a mountain forever in the making and offering a meditation on the ability of landscape both to challenge and inspire.

Fuji er en roman, der flår porten til menneskets psyke op. Den er barnet af et grotesk samleje mellem kristendom og buddhisme, et frankensteinmonster sammensat af Dostojevskijs tunge lemmer med et islæt af haiku. Scenen er sat på et psykiatrisk hospital under Anden Verdenskrig, hvor en metafysisk krig om virkelighed udkæmpes mellem læger og patienter. Voldsom i sin stilhed er romanen som vulkanen Fuji, den venter blot på at gå i udbrud. Japanske Taijun Takeda (1912-76) blev født ind i en munkefamilie. Han afbrød sine studier i Sinologi, fordi han blev arresteret for at være marxist. Hans erfaringer som munk, flirten med den marxistiske bevægelse og oplevelser som udstationeret i Kina under Anden Verdenskrig var ansatsen til hans litterære virke, som satte uudslettelige spor i efterkrigslitteraturen. Han er oversat til fransk, tysk og er udkommet på engelsk med novellerne This Outcast Generation and Luminous Moss og The Misshapen Ones. Han har vundet prisen Den store japanske litteraturpris for sit værk Keraku i 1973 og Noma-litteraturprisen for værket Memai no suru sanpo i 1976.

Fuji er en roman, der flår porten til menneskets psyke op. Den er barnet af et grotesk samleje mellem kristendom og buddhisme, et frankensteinmonster sammensat af Dostojevskijs tunge lemmer med et islæt af haiku. Scenen er sat på et psykiatrisk hospital under Anden Verdenskrig, hvor en metafysisk krig om virkelighed udkæmpes mellem læger og patienter. Voldsom i sin stilhed er romanen som vulkanen Fuji, den venter blot på at gå i udbrud. Japanske Taijun Takeda (1912-76) blev født ind i en munkefamilie. Han afbrød sine studier i Sinologi, fordi han blev arresteret for at være marxist. Hans erfaringer som munk, flirten med den marxistiske bevægelse og oplevelser som udstationeret i Kina under Anden Verdenskrig var ansatsen til hans litterære virke, som satte uudslettelige spor i efterkrigslitteraturen. Han er oversat til fransk, tysk og er udkommet på engelsk med novellerne This Outcast Generation and Luminous Moss og The Misshapen Ones. Han har vundet prisen Den store japanske litteraturpris for sit værk Keraku i 1973 og Noma-litteraturprisen for værket Memai no suru sanpo i 1976.