#216 | Fuminori Nakamura: Subtle, Dark, Complex—Maybe the Most Underrated Author in America

episode SUMMARY:

Douglas Vigliotti explores “The Rope Artist” by Fuminori Nakamura, an acclaimed Japanese author whose noir-tinged literary fiction delves into the dark underbelly of the human psyche. Vigliotti delves into the author's lack of appeal in the United States, distinctive minimalistic style, and powerful usage of metaphor—in this case, ropes, tethering people to their pasts and struggles. Nakamura combines the rarity of transgressive with passive, creating an entire mood on the page.

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Welcome back to “Books for Men”, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week I have a literary work of fiction to share with you or noir depending on how you classify it, and I'll get into that during the episode. But it is titled “The Rope Artist” by Fuminori Nakamura. It is around two hundred eighty-two hundred and ninety pages. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you might recognize the name because he is the first-ever repeat writer on the podcast. And I'll get into that when I dive into the episode. But before I share any more about the author, the book, or any of my large takeaways, I wanted to remind you that I have a brand-new book that is coming out in November titled “Aristotle for Novelist: 14 Timeless Principles on The Art of Story”. And if you're interested in finding out more about that, you can on the website AristotleforNovelists.com.

(01:07)

Also, if you are a regular listener of this podcast, the best way that you can support it is by clicking the subscribe button on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on because that is the surest way to get it in front of more eyeballs and ears and in return, inspire more men to read. And lastly, always want to remind you that there is a companion newsletter to this podcast. Each month I send out a tidy little email that rounds up all of the episodes from that month. It's complete with episode summaries, full book and author information, all the best quotes, or my favorite quotes I should say, and newsletter-only book recommendations. So if you're interested in signing up for that, you can on the website BooksforMen.org. With that being said, let's jump right into today's episode. So the author, Fuminori Nakamura, is actually a pseudonym, and he's written, I think it has to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 works between essay collections, short stories, novellas, novels.

(02:10)

However, only 10 of those books, and they're all novels are translated into English. It's not so easy to find a lot of information on him. He was the winner of the Kenzaburo Oe Prize, which is a top literary prize in Japan that lasted during the mid-2000s and he won it for the book that I shared back in February of 2023, “The Thief”. So if you're interested in checking out that, I would definitely go back and listen to that episode. It was before I was numbering them, so you'd have to go by date and year. This might be a good time to remind you that on the website BooksforMen.org, there is a tab called transcripts and all of the books are listed in alphabetical order, so you could find it that way as well. Given that Nakamura is the first-ever repeat author on the podcast, you can imagine that I think very highly of his work.

(03:05)

I've read 90%, so nine out of the 10 novels that are translated into English, I've read, the only one that I haven't is “Cult X”. It is on my TBR, so I will read it in the near future. Some of my other favorites, aside from the one that I'm sharing with you today and the one that I previously shared with you are “Last Winter, We Parted” and “The Gun”. I would say those two are probably my two other favorites. All of his work has a very similar sensibility and style, and that's something that I will get into a little bit later in the episode. I should mention that the book that I'm sharing with you today, “The Rope Artist” is one that I just read and I was going to put it in the newsletter as something that I read recently, which is something that I do at the bottom of every newsletter.

(03:54)

But the book had such an impact on me, and I have such revere for this author that I said, why not make 'em the first ever repeat on “Books for Men”. And one of the few times that I featured a book on the podcast so closely after actually reading it. So usually there's a large separation, sometimes it's years even where I'll feature a book that I think you will enjoy. But I definitely hadn't read it recently. But yes, as I mentioned and alluded to, I wanted to shine a light on this author mostly because every time I bring up his name, people have never read his work. And it was funny, I actually read an article about him, which pointed out the big disconnect between how he's viewed in Japan versus how he's viewed in the States. So at the top of this episode, I mentioned whether this work was literary fiction or noir.

(04:46)

And in Japan, he's regarded as a literary fiction author, but because of the way the US segments books and sells books, he's labeled more as a noir author. And while this definitely has noir elements in it, it definitely is a bit of a misalignment. And what's interesting to me, especially when I read that article, was when I looked at my notes preparing for this episode, one of the things I had written down about all of his work was, and I'm quoting myself, it is noir but not like you've ever read before. And so to me, it was pretty evident that this was much different than anything I had read prior. And consequently why I ended up reading all of his books pretty much. But I will share more about all of this when I share some of my larger takeaways. First, I should probably tell you what the book that I am sharing with you today, “The Rope Artist” is actually about.

(05:46)

So in short, it's a story of two detectives, Togashi and Hayama, investigating the death of a kinbaku instructor and kinbaku, hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, is the art of Japanese bondage. So tying a person up in intricate patterns using hemp rope, yes, it's what you think it is—BDSM and seductive and sexual in its nature. Each investigator has their own struggles in dark desires, making the reader unsure of how the story will unfold as it goes deeper into the underbelly of this world. The story itself is told in a very puzzle-like fashion, so it challenges you. But the thing that I really appreciate most about this story is you understand why everyone is doing what they're doing and why they are in the situation that they are in. And to me this is a super important aspect to writing a well-told story, but even more so when you're going into the area of transgressive or subversive material because it helps you understand where these people are coming from and without tackling the why and that backstory, it becomes really hard to empathize with the characters or see the world through their eyes, ultimately helping you relate to these characters even if the worlds that you are coming from are vastly different.

(07:19)

So my first big takeaway is more about him than it is this particular book, but this book is a great example of what I am about to say, and that is he tackles difficult subject matters with such a minimalistic style that I admire the work. It challenges you intellectually, but not in the language or the actual reading of it. And in a way, this gives you the time and space to truly question the nature of what you are eating. Because, if the prose was dazzling, or if it was voice-y like a lot of crime novels can be at times, this distracts from the point of the work. And by not overshadowing the thematical importance of what you're reading, it really lets you examine it in a way that I appreciate in all of his work. This book relies heavily on metaphor, specifically the metaphor of the rope.

(08:31)

So what does the rope mean in the grand scheme of things? And not to make it too reductive, but here's a good one-line quote from the book, “Ropes tether someone down who was about to vanish.” And then later in the book he ties in this idea of vanishing at the end with a line like this, “Unlike the previous others who vanished, she was heading towards reality. When she reached the road ahead of us with all the people going by, she would blend into the crowd. But I just stood there watching her back. She slipped away. I lit a cigarette. Are sure you're fine? I blinked once. Twice. She was disappearing. On the road ahead.” So not only that, but I think the quote gives a good sense of what Nakamura's prose is like bleak, exacting bone dry in this juxtaposition of transgressive with passive almost makes for this really unique mood on the page one that is extremely distinct.

(09:45)

But having said that, I could see how it also aids in his lack of popularity in America as compared to Japan between the genre misalignment, which I talked about before, the metaphor aspect of this author, and the prose style. It just makes sense to me that it would have a much harder time finding an audience. In the States, we tend to like things that are bolder, bigger, louder, more on the nose, and more spectacle-based, really. And I can honestly say that Nakamura is none of those things, or at least not in a heavy dose. But that in no way means that the weight of the work isn't heavy. I actually checked out the Goodreads rating on this book and it's under a three, so it's a 2.93 and that's in 500 reviews. To say I was a bit shocked would be an understatement, but I say that a little bit facetiously just because I see where, as I've just mentioned, the misalignment is with his work and American culture in general, dark, challenging, minimalistic can easily be misconstrued as nihilistic, amateur, and not good.

(11:09)

All in all this work, just like all of his books, does a great job at exploring the dark side of the human psyche. Or like he says in the book, “The fact that anyone can claim they're a good person proves that human beings are monsters.” Or another one of my favorites and I will end the episode with this quote. “I had to get out of here fast. But if I wanted to get out of here, I could just leave.” Alright, so that's all I've got. I wanted to thank you so much for listening, and if you enjoyed this episode please remember to click subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. And if you've got it in you, rate or review it, that would be amazing. Also, if you're interested in checking out more information on my new book, “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Artist Story”, you can by visiting: AristotleforNovelists.com.

(12:07)

If you want to connect with me, there are two ways to do so—on Instagram @douglasvigliotti, it's the only social media that I have, or by visiting my website, DouglasVigliotti.com. Lastly, if you want to listen to some of my more recent work, you can by tuning into the podcast “Slightly Crooked: Good Stories, Told Well”. Seasons one and two feature “Tom Collins: A ‘Slightly Crooked’ Novel and “mini heartbreaks (or, little poems about life)”, both are written by yours truly, and they will be linked up in the show notes. So again, thank you so much for listening and if you want more information on this podcast, you could always visit BooksforMen.org.