A collection of short aphorisms and sketches on morality, love, art, war, the mob and suicide, wry and often bitter. Writers from Rousseau to Strindberg are weighed along the way.
Books mentioned in Words of a Pygmy (15)
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Rousseau loved to confess. Yet the naked Rousseau cannot be found even in his Confessions. [auto-translated]”
Colomba by Prosper Merimee: “Mérimée disliked confession. Yet does his Colomba not speak of himself in hints? [auto-translated]”
Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenkō: “I'm often told, "You must surely love Essays in Idleness." Unfortunately I have never loved Essays in Idleness, and its fame is nearly incomprehensible to me, though I grant it suits middle-school textbooks. [auto-translated]”
The Republic by Plato: “Our society seems unable to stay safe without slaves. Even the Plato of The Republic presupposes slaves, and this is no accident. [auto-translated]”
Keikichi's Temptation by Kan Kikuchi: “Keikichi did not fall to temptation, surely thanks to moral conviction; but the woman who tempted him was wearing his wife's borrowed clothes. See Kikuchi Kan's Keikichi's Temptation. [auto-translated]”
The Spring Overcoat by Mosaku Sasaki: “For the exercise I will set Mr. Sasaki Mosaku's new book, The Spring Overcoat; by next week apply the half-affirmation method to Mr. Sasaki's work. [auto-translated]”
Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw: “It is not men who hunt women but women who hunt men. Shaw dramatized this fact in Man and Superman, but he was not the first to do so. [auto-translated]”
Memoirs of My Dead Life by George Moore: “George Moore, in Memoirs of My Dead Life, slips in this remark: "A great painter knows exactly where to put his name, and never puts it in the same place twice." [auto-translated]”
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant: “The typical owner of such worldly wisdom is surely the hero of Bel-Ami. When he takes a lover, he is already thinking of the break. [auto-translated]”
Wisdom and Destiny by Maurice Maeterlinck: “We do not even know ourselves, much less act on what we know. Maeterlinck, who wrote Wisdom and Destiny, did not know wisdom or destiny either. [auto-translated]”
A New Life by Shimazaki Tōson: “After reading Shinsei: did a "new life" ever really come? [auto-translated]”
A Confession by Leo Tolstoy: “Reading Birukoff's life of Tolstoy makes it clear that Tolstoy's A Confession and My Religion were lies. Yet no heart is more painful than that of the Tolstoy who kept telling them; his lies drip more red blood than other men's truths. [auto-translated]”
My Religion by Leo Tolstoy: “Reading Birukoff's life of Tolstoy makes it clear that Tolstoy's A Confession and My Religion were lies. Yet no heart is more painful than that of the Tolstoy who kept telling them. [auto-translated]”
Legend by August Strindberg: “In his Legend, Strindberg describes an experiment to find out whether death is painful. But such an experiment cannot be done in play. [auto-translated]”
Biography of Tolstoy by Pavel Biryukov: “If you read Biryukov's life of Tolstoy, it is clear that Tolstoy's "My Confession" and "My Religion" were a lie. [auto-translated]”