Chad Post on Dogura magura (“Dogura magura”) by Yumeno Kyũsaku

By Chad Post — Published on December 7, 2009

Chad Post on Dogura magura (“Dogura magura”) by Yumeno Kyũsaku

Dogura magura exemplifies modern Japanese avant-garde gothic literature. In the story, the protagonist/narrator wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. He finds out that he was the subject of an experiment by a now-dead psychiatrist, and the doctors are working to bring back his memories. It is not clear whether he was a psychotic killer or the victim of a strange psychological experiment, but he is told that he killed his mother and wife and that he inherited his psychotic tendencies from an insane ancestor. I first heard about this book via the Japanese Literary Publishing Project, but more interestingly, I had it pitched to me by an English professor living in Estonia . . . He claimed that it was the greatest Japanese book ever written. Something like Philip K. Dick meets Finnegans Wake. Hell and yes.

Chad Post is the publisher of Open Letter.

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