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Natsuo Kirino

Natsuo Kirino (桐野夏生) (nom de plume, real name Mariko Hashioka), born in 1951 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, is a Japanese novelist and a leading figure in the recent boom of female writers of Japanese detective fiction. A prolific writer, she is most famous for her 1997 novel, Out, which received the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, Japan's top mystery award, and was a finalist (in English translation) for the 2004 Edgar Award. In addition, Kirino received the 1993 Edogawa Rampo Prize for mystery fiction for her debut novel, Kao ni furikakeru ame (Rain Falling on My Face), and the 1999 Naoki Prize for her novel Yawarakana hoho [Soft Cheeks]. So far, four of her novels (Out, Grotesque, Real World and What Remains) have been translated into English. The latter novel, a violent tale of childhood abuse and sexual degradation, enjoyed a considerable readership in Japan; Kirino, however, has expressed doubts that it will do as well in the U.S. market. Kirino also has written an installment in the Canongate Myth Series (concerning the myth of Izanagi and Izanami), to be published in 2009.

A Japanese film adaptation of Out, directed by Hirayama Hideyuki, was released in 2002 to generally tepid reviews. According to Variety (on-line edition), New Line Cinema has purchased the rights for an American version, to be directed by Nakata Hideo (Ring, Ring 2).

Bibliography

Fiction

Novels:

Kao ni furikakeru ame (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993)
Tenshi ni misuterareta yoru (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1994)
Auto (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1997); English translation by Stephen Snyder as Out (New York: Kodansha, 2003; New York: Vintage, 2005)
Mizu no nemuri hai no yume (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1998)
Faiaboro burusu [Fireball Blues] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1998)
Yawarakana hoho (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1999); French translation by Silvain Chupain as Disparitions (Paris: Rocher, 2002)
Gyokuran (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 2001)
Dâku [Dark] (Tokyo: Kodansha: 2002)
Gurotesuku (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2003); English translation by Rebecca L. Copeland as Grotesque (New York: Knopf, 2007)
Kogen (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2003)
Riaru warudo (Tokyo: Shueisha, 2003); English translation by J. Philip Gabriel as Real World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008)
Zangyakuki (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 2004); English translation as What Remains (London: Harvill Secker, 2008)
Tamamoe! (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 2005)
Boken no kuni (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 2005)
Metabora (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 2007)
Tokyo-jima (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 2008)

Short Fiction:

Sabiru kokoro (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1997)
Jiorama [Diorama] (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1998)
Rozu gâden [Rose Garden] (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2000)
Ambosu mundosu [Ambos Mundos] (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2005)

Quotes

"All of them had the ability to interact with others: friends, lovers, someone to whom they could open their hearts, someone with whom they could share conversation, someone they longed to see once work was done. They had people outside the workplace who made them feel happy." --GROTESQUE

Works on Kirino

Rebecca L. Copeland, "Woman uncovered: pornography and power in the detective fiction of Kirino Natsuo", Japan Forum 16/2 (2004): 249-69
Amanda C. Seaman, Bodies of Evidence: Women, Society, and Detective Fiction in 1990s Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004), 86-118
Idem, "Inside OUT: Space, Gender, and Power in Kirino Natsuo", Japanese Language and Literature 40/2 (2006): 197-217