≡ Download The Fox Woman Kij Johnson Susan Seddon Boulet Books

The Fox Woman Kij Johnson Susan Seddon Boulet Books

Download As PDF : The Fox Woman Kij Johnson Susan Seddon Boulet Books

The Fox Woman Kij Johnson Susan Seddon Boulet Books

I came to Kij Johnson's The Fox Woman after reading her award winning short story, 26 Monkeys, Also The Abyss. From these two works it would seem that Johnson is an author of sensitivity. She deftly weaves wonder, beauty and sorrow together while preserving mystery, and a respect for both her characters and her readers. She leaves room within the stories for her characters to breathe, and for her readers to reflect without heavy-handed explanations of theme or meaning.

The Fox Woman takes the form of an epistolary novel, with the events and--more significantly--the internal development of the characters being developed through the journal entries of Kaya no Yoshifuji, his wife, Shikujo, and Kitsune, a little fox who is infatuated with Yoshifuji. The story develops slowly, rather like a tree awakening into bloom. While some readers seem to have been put off by this oblique development, I find that it gives breathing space for the characters, a narrative legitimacy, and helps give the reader time to realize that the real nature of this novel is not that of a neatly plotted series of events, but rather more a meditation upon the realities of our own lives, our fantasies ritualized into legitimacy, our own courteous lies and kindnesses.

The characters in this book are not heroic. Nor are they idealized. Yoshifuji has failed at court, and he is increasingly distant from his wife and son. Kitsune, his wife, who takes as her models the idealized characters of monogatari tales, is ever-perfect in her wifely courtesy, and unintentionally aloof in her perfection. The fox woman, herself, is not treated with the light hand of the fantasist, but is constantly faced with the all too real consequences of her actions. One reviewer [ goo.gl/lEVf ] expressed a desire "to stab all of the characters in the eye with sharpened sticks," for their sin of irritating the reader. Others have indicted the characters of the crime of dullness. I think these readers are missing the point. Yoshifuji, Shikujo, and Kitsune act as we act, think as we think, dream as we dream. They are guilty of being infected with our own misguided mediocrity. If we recognize our kinship to them, we stand to gain from their painful if fictional lives. If we stand over them, accusing them, failing to recognize how we are never very far from their delusional mendacity, then we will continue to live as they lived-fictional lives, built on a thin and failing glamour, doomed to face the truth only when there is no less painful delusion in which to escape.

Kij Johnson gives us beauty and sensitivity. She gives us a chance to see some small way into the truth of our lives, and she does so gently and without judgment. In this, she gives us a gift worthy of reverence.

[Originally posted at [...] ( goo.gl/Ghh9 ).]


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The Fox Woman Kij Johnson Susan Seddon Boulet Books Reviews

"The Fox Women" by Kij Johnson has earned varying reviews from dislike towards the novel to absolute adoration. I had picked this book up because I am one who enjoys myths and legends that promote elegant story and writing style. To me, this book was no exception.
I had found this book when searching for fox and other mythological and magical animal tales on a whim. I read a few passages from the sample; and fell in love with reading for the first time in a very long time. Much of my reading material at the time were text books that thus added to the dry and gray world that I was trudging through during the last year of college. The Fox Woman painted a beautiful world through poetic writing that I had not seen from any other book I have ever read. This book, to me at least, held the elegant mysticism I was looking for.

~Gemi
Some parts of the story were difficult to follow but overall it was a good read. If you know much about Japanese culture- especially during this period- you are probably aware that homosexual acts were not uncommon. There is one scene where such acts occur so if that offends you I wouldn't recommend this book.
In Kij Johnson's fantasy novel, The Fox Woman, she blends Japanese folklore with a style of poetry that is both traditional and clearly her own. The story, one of a nobleman and his family who move to the country, is told in three voices Yoshifuji (the husband), Shikujo (the wife), and Kitsune (a fox). Making these voices more intimate is the fact that they are from three diaries, making them honest, strong, and beautiful.
When Kaya No Yoshifuji and his family move to the capital, it upsets two sets of lives, those of his family and those of the family of foxes that have been living underneath the unused country house. Kitsune, the fox, looks on these strangers with a sense of longing and wonder, unable to understand their human ways. Soon her obsession reflects in Yoshifuji, who becomes obsessed with the foxes living near his home. As Kitsune's obsession grows, she falls in love with Yoshifuji and seeks to use fox-magic to transform herself into a woman to obtain his love.
Woven into the story is a wonderful collection of poetry. Yoshifuji and his wife trade poems in a custom that is difficult for Kitsune to understand. So it may also be for the readers of fantasy who are not well-versed in reading poetry. Yet, readers should neither ignore nor underestimate these lines. The simple words are beautiful, as the poem that Yoshifuji writes on the surface of a fan his wife left behind "The spider's web can catch the moonlight, / but cannot keep it."
The poetry is an intricate part of the novel, not only for its beauty but also for its importance within the story. Yet, it is not only the poetry within the novel that keeps the reader entranced, but the poetry of the novel. The lives of the characters are reflected in the seasons, their surroundings, and even in the spider web that Yoshifuji refuses to have swept away from his room. The novel reminds the reader of the poetry of life, and the beauty that exists in all things.
Kij Johnson does a masterful job of writing a fantasy story that is a love story, a fable, and a poem. As her first novel, it is a wonderful promise of things to come.
I came to Kij Johnson's The Fox Woman after reading her award winning short story, 26 Monkeys, Also The Abyss. From these two works it would seem that Johnson is an author of sensitivity. She deftly weaves wonder, beauty and sorrow together while preserving mystery, and a respect for both her characters and her readers. She leaves room within the stories for her characters to breathe, and for her readers to reflect without heavy-handed explanations of theme or meaning.

The Fox Woman takes the form of an epistolary novel, with the events and--more significantly--the internal development of the characters being developed through the journal entries of Kaya no Yoshifuji, his wife, Shikujo, and Kitsune, a little fox who is infatuated with Yoshifuji. The story develops slowly, rather like a tree awakening into bloom. While some readers seem to have been put off by this oblique development, I find that it gives breathing space for the characters, a narrative legitimacy, and helps give the reader time to realize that the real nature of this novel is not that of a neatly plotted series of events, but rather more a meditation upon the realities of our own lives, our fantasies ritualized into legitimacy, our own courteous lies and kindnesses.

The characters in this book are not heroic. Nor are they idealized. Yoshifuji has failed at court, and he is increasingly distant from his wife and son. Kitsune, his wife, who takes as her models the idealized characters of monogatari tales, is ever-perfect in her wifely courtesy, and unintentionally aloof in her perfection. The fox woman, herself, is not treated with the light hand of the fantasist, but is constantly faced with the all too real consequences of her actions. One reviewer [ goo.gl/lEVf ] expressed a desire "to stab all of the characters in the eye with sharpened sticks," for their sin of irritating the reader. Others have indicted the characters of the crime of dullness. I think these readers are missing the point. Yoshifuji, Shikujo, and Kitsune act as we act, think as we think, dream as we dream. They are guilty of being infected with our own misguided mediocrity. If we recognize our kinship to them, we stand to gain from their painful if fictional lives. If we stand over them, accusing them, failing to recognize how we are never very far from their delusional mendacity, then we will continue to live as they lived-fictional lives, built on a thin and failing glamour, doomed to face the truth only when there is no less painful delusion in which to escape.

Kij Johnson gives us beauty and sensitivity. She gives us a chance to see some small way into the truth of our lives, and she does so gently and without judgment. In this, she gives us a gift worthy of reverence.

[Originally posted at [...] ( goo.gl/Ghh9 ).]