MENDING
THE
UNMENDABLE
Micheline Soong
W
hat first catches your eye when you pick up this book is how unconventional it is. The front and back covers are unattached to each other with the pages in a single accordion fold, so that if you open it up and stretch it out, you see that the pages are one long sheet folded back and forth attached to the separate front and back covers. Then you notice that there is a single sheet of paper with artwork printed on two sides sandwiched between two sheets of translucent paper. On one side, one sheet of translucent paper is printed in Japanese, and on the other side, the second sheet is printed in English. Delicately, the image of the wood-block print artwork dominated by hues of blues and green dotted by white drops by Keiko Hara emerges beneath the printed words in Japanese and English. The architecture of this book, melding the typogra- Words Like Distant phy of Maki Yamashita and the guidance of master book- Rain: A Conversation binder Atsuo Ikuta, is the perfect setting for the coming Between Jakucho together of two remarkably accomplished women, from Setouchi and Tess different cultures, different lives, and different worlds, for Gallagher an intimate conversation in twelve brief pages. One is an Eastern Washington award-winning poet and writer who survives her hus- University Press, . band, an even more famous writer. The other, is an award-winning novelist, divorced, and now a Buddhist nun who is currently drawn back into the limelight for her new translation of Murasaki Shikubu’s The Tale of Genji. Who they are on paper based on their credentials and c.v.s all falls away the moment you begin reading. The reader is drawn immediately drawn into the genuine connection that Jakucho¯ Setouchi and Tess Gallagher make with each other. Gallagher reveals the pain she feels grieving the recent loss of her beloved husband, Raymond Carver. Setouchi responds with gentle compassion and keen understanding: “Of all the numerous pains in this world, the most painful agony is to part from your beloved. You can hardly heal
the sorrow of parting.” When Gallagher responses wordlessly with tears welling in her eyes, Setouchi’s tone imperceptibly shifts from someone speaking from a place of authority to one who shares this particular experience of intense pain: “[taking Gallagher’s hands, her voice also choked with tears] But time is very tender. Time and tide will ease our pain, little by little. All we can do for that is just pray… ” The conversation alights on various topics that provide the reader Jakucho Setouchi with a voyeuristic thrill of insight— how each woman has dealt with a love, a rival, and loss, as a wife and as a mistress, to Buddhist ideas of the journey between edo, the present world of this life “full of pain and defilement,” and passing into the next realm of existence, jo¯do, “ ‘The Pure Land’ which is free from pain”, to nuts and bolts questions about each other’s writing projects—inspirations, muses, themes, and the role of writing in coping with grief. The intersection of cultures and life experiences by these two women is foregrounded by the tangible artifact that the book reads in both directions in the two distinct languages spoken by each woman. The artistry of the book is evident in the seamlessness of the conversation—the reader is oblivious to the multiple layers of mediation, requiring the services of a translator for both women—Jakucho’s responses are direct, warm, and fluid, as if these women knew and understood each other intimately, and immediately, so natural. A recommended read if you want to be taken on a journey without ever having to cross your threshold. Micheline Soong writes from Honolulu where she teaches World Literature at HawaiiPacific University.
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