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capnhist's review
challenging
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
A great example of proletarian literature
fxdpts's review against another edition
“The Crab Cannery Ship” is an impressive novel in its depiction of struggle and organic development of class consciousness, as well as its deep empathy. Of all the novels in this collection, this one best uses the “proletarian novel” format, where the entire crew of the ship is the protagonist. It does so without getting lost in individual personalities or an overwhelming number of workers (the workers in the engine room are not introduced until the ending).
“Yasuko” feels underdeveloped (it is only the first part of an unfinished work), but it is a good story. It switches between characters and settings rapidly, almost a bit too disjointed. It reads more like Les Misérables than the other two novels, almost separate vignettes of lower class misery rather than didactic and explicitly socialist.
“Life of a Party Member” is a lot of fun. There are parts that make organizing the factory and evading the police read like a heist story. Despite the narrator explaining his depersonalization necessary for the organizing he does, you also notice the author’s suffering in here. Kobayashi Takiji and many of his comrades were tortured by the Japanese Police due to their associations with the outlawed Japanese Communist Party and organized labor. This brutality informs every aspect of the narrator’s life and the author’s tendencies towards the urgency of the work and the depersonalization of organizing institutions. This also comes across after the failed bargaining effort in “The Crab Cannery Ship.” I did find the brevity of one conversation curious: the contradiction in organizing against worker dismissal from a factory making supplies for the war effort. Anti-war themes are expressed throughout, so I don’t know if this was from lack of development of these ideas by the circles the author was in or that these ideas would be further expressed in later parts of the novel.
Either way, this is a great view into early socialism and pretty readable and enjoyable even for work that’s quite didactic.
“Yasuko” feels underdeveloped (it is only the first part of an unfinished work), but it is a good story. It switches between characters and settings rapidly, almost a bit too disjointed. It reads more like Les Misérables than the other two novels, almost separate vignettes of lower class misery rather than didactic and explicitly socialist.
“Life of a Party Member” is a lot of fun. There are parts that make organizing the factory and evading the police read like a heist story. Despite the narrator explaining his depersonalization necessary for the organizing he does, you also notice the author’s suffering in here. Kobayashi Takiji and many of his comrades were tortured by the Japanese Police due to their associations with the outlawed Japanese Communist Party and organized labor. This brutality informs every aspect of the narrator’s life and the author’s tendencies towards the urgency of the work and the depersonalization of organizing institutions. This also comes across after the failed bargaining effort in “The Crab Cannery Ship.” I did find the brevity of one conversation curious: the contradiction in organizing against worker dismissal from a factory making supplies for the war effort. Anti-war themes are expressed throughout, so I don’t know if this was from lack of development of these ideas by the circles the author was in or that these ideas would be further expressed in later parts of the novel.
Either way, this is a great view into early socialism and pretty readable and enjoyable even for work that’s quite didactic.
hbermudes's review against another edition
3.0
The standard read of proletariat literature (and for good reason). To the point, depressing (but with a revolution!), the representative of a really important body of literature, historically. Reads almost like a pamphlet, propaganda piece, how-to manual of working class revolution but with a lot of similes.
tsghoulfriend's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ellakeh's review
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
lauren_elizabeth's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved reading this and wish it was more widely read and had a place on curricula in educational institutions! In wonderful translation by Željko Cipriš, Kobayashi Takiji’s stories vividly bring to life proletarian struggle and resistance amid brutal repression. Tortured and killed at the age of 29, his premature death is conjured in that 2 of the 3 “novels of struggle” were unfinished (I was particularly disappointed when Yasuko came to an abrupt end, as I was deeply absorbed.) I was inspired by how Marxism and real events in Japan were written into the fabric of the fiction; there was no clumsy or artificial propagandising to be found here. I was particularly struck by how Takiji often places the plight of women centre stage, while the three stories themselves centre on different situations, workplaces, and among different characters but function to provide a cohesive tapestry of the situation of the Japanese proletariat. I was especially impressed with the depiction of surveillance and torture, the repressive tactics of the bourgeoisie, the experience of radicalisation and growing theoretical literacy, and the shared struggle and drawing from it the strength to continue in the face of impossible odds. While dark in many places, I also found this incredibly uplifting, too.
hbermudes's review
3.0
The standard read of proletariat literature (and for good reason). To the point, depressing (but with a revolution!), the representative of a really important body of literature, historically. Reads almost like a pamphlet, propaganda piece, how-to manual of working class revolution but with a lot of similes.
willande123's review
5.0
Before reading this fascinating collection, I had never delved into the vast oeuvre of proletarian literature. The three stories undoubtedly have a socialist agenda, but it never feels forced. Kobayashi's elegant writing is incredibly persuasive and powerful. In the title novella, you feel like a member of the crew, living under horrible, diseased conditions in the "shit-hole" of a gigantic trawler and working for almost no pay. In "Life of a Party Member," you can feel the eyes of the secret police following you as you walk down the street, just trying to meet a comrade.
While Kobayashi has an agenda, he does not propagandize. His characters fail significantly more than they succeed. They live in squalid conditions and are under immense psychological pressure from constant surveillance. Strikes are quashed and organizers languish without charge in prison. Trade unions are hijacked by conservative leaders hoping to get elected to the Diet, the Japanese parliament. The reactionary union bosses, which Kobayashi and his characters constantly battle, use their workers as political pawns. Kobayashi paints the political suppression of Japan in the 1930s with shiver-inducing clarity. Never once did I doubt the sincerity or drive of his characters to create a better future.
Kobayashi, an organizing member of the Japanese Communist Party, was brutally murdered by the secret police of Japan's fascist regime, only because his works exposed the daily horrors of Japanese factories. Whatever you think of the political left, it is impossible to deny that without the concerted efforts of millions of working class activists and politicians, many more workers would still be caught in the endless vortex of disgustingly low pay and gross exploitation of labor. Many sacrificed their lives for others. Their altruism deserves to be remembered.
Growing up in an affluent, non-industrial suburb, I had little contact with members of the working class. Workers were sneered at by the upper-middle class white collar workers and their children, my classmates. Unlike many of my peers at school, my mother grew up working class. Her father was a firefighter and her mother a teacher in Jersey City, NJ. Every time I heard one of my friends make a casual comment about custodians and dining workers, I cringed. My mom never let me forget that all workers deserve respect, and my grandpa (still alive at 95!) told me about the horrors of the Great Depression from a young age. Works like Kobayashi's should be required reading for students, especially those who grow up in affluent neighborhoods without any conception of what it means to be exploited.
Željko Cipriš's translation is masterful and expressive, and I'm sure that Kobayashi would be proud. You can feel Kobayashi through Cipriš's words. The only thing that weakens this collection is that Kobayashi's death left the last two works incomplete, and the cliffhangers left me unsatisfied. But the cut-offs are fitting because the story of this young, idealistic writer was cut short too.
Spurred by the Great Recession, The Crab Cannery Ship became a bestseller in Japan for the first time in 2008. That gives me an inkling of hope that in a future that is set to be dominated by the political right, working people will never forget how awful it used to be, and how awful it still is for many workers, especially in the sweatshops of the developing world. Absolutely recommended.
While Kobayashi has an agenda, he does not propagandize. His characters fail significantly more than they succeed. They live in squalid conditions and are under immense psychological pressure from constant surveillance. Strikes are quashed and organizers languish without charge in prison. Trade unions are hijacked by conservative leaders hoping to get elected to the Diet, the Japanese parliament. The reactionary union bosses, which Kobayashi and his characters constantly battle, use their workers as political pawns. Kobayashi paints the political suppression of Japan in the 1930s with shiver-inducing clarity. Never once did I doubt the sincerity or drive of his characters to create a better future.
Kobayashi, an organizing member of the Japanese Communist Party, was brutally murdered by the secret police of Japan's fascist regime, only because his works exposed the daily horrors of Japanese factories. Whatever you think of the political left, it is impossible to deny that without the concerted efforts of millions of working class activists and politicians, many more workers would still be caught in the endless vortex of disgustingly low pay and gross exploitation of labor. Many sacrificed their lives for others. Their altruism deserves to be remembered.
Growing up in an affluent, non-industrial suburb, I had little contact with members of the working class. Workers were sneered at by the upper-middle class white collar workers and their children, my classmates. Unlike many of my peers at school, my mother grew up working class. Her father was a firefighter and her mother a teacher in Jersey City, NJ. Every time I heard one of my friends make a casual comment about custodians and dining workers, I cringed. My mom never let me forget that all workers deserve respect, and my grandpa (still alive at 95!) told me about the horrors of the Great Depression from a young age. Works like Kobayashi's should be required reading for students, especially those who grow up in affluent neighborhoods without any conception of what it means to be exploited.
Željko Cipriš's translation is masterful and expressive, and I'm sure that Kobayashi would be proud. You can feel Kobayashi through Cipriš's words. The only thing that weakens this collection is that Kobayashi's death left the last two works incomplete, and the cliffhangers left me unsatisfied. But the cut-offs are fitting because the story of this young, idealistic writer was cut short too.
Spurred by the Great Recession, The Crab Cannery Ship became a bestseller in Japan for the first time in 2008. That gives me an inkling of hope that in a future that is set to be dominated by the political right, working people will never forget how awful it used to be, and how awful it still is for many workers, especially in the sweatshops of the developing world. Absolutely recommended.
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