The Temple of the Wild Geese and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen: Two Novellas

Two elaborate tales written in the early 1960s by the Japanese author Mizukami (1919—2004) explore volcanic oedipal urges lurking just below the surface of unlikely love triangles. In “The Temple of the Wild Geese,” set at a Zen Buddhist monastery in the mountains, Jinen, an unhappy, “disfigured” and lonely orphaned novice, develops a filial crush on Satoko, a recent widow and the reverend Jikai’s new common-law wife, which she encourages. When Jikai’s excessive drinking clouds his better judgment, Jinen’s desire is transformed into brutal action. It’s a simple jealousy tale centered on a complex relationship, and Mizukami achieves remarkable psychological depth through detail and stylistic finesse. “Bamboo Dolls of Echizen,” set in 1924, similarly hinges on a maternal relationship gone sour when a young bamboo craftsman takes his father’s prostitute as a wife and insists on treating her as a mother rather than as a proper wife, to the detriment of her health. Readers new to Mizukami’s work will be enthralled by the isolated, rural settings of the northern Hokuriku region of Japan, and by his elegant storytelling. (Mar.)