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Robert Norris has lived in Japan since 1983, mostly in Dazaifu, near Fukuoka in Kyushu. After retiring from university teaching in 2016, he returned to his long-standing passion for writing. The result was a heartfelt memoir about his life – and his mother’s – titled: The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me (Tin Gate, 2023).

In this episode with John Ross, we hear about Robert’s decades in Japan, from his early days learning Japanese through a local softball team, to his later academic career, including his time as a university dean. Naturally, the conversation also turns to books, and some of his favorite works of Japanese fiction.

Books & Authors mentioned:

The Woman in the Dunes by Abe Kōbō (published in Japanese in 1962; English edition, and film adaptation 1964).
No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu (Original Japanese title Ningen Shikkaku, published 1948, English. Edition 1958).
The Breaking Jewel by Oda Makoto (English edition, 2003, translated by Donald Keene)
Sakaguchi Ango’s short story “The Idiot” (published 1946).
In the discussion, Robert Norris referred to the “Buraiha” (無頼派 “decadent school” of writers), comparing these post-WWII writers to the Beat Generation in the US. The school is associated with Dazai Osamu, Sakaguchi Ango, and contemporaries.

Learn more about Robert Norris and his writing at his website.

(This episode was originally released on the Bookish Asia Podcast with Plum Rain Press in 2024).