, also translated as ''The Counterfeiter'', is a Japanese

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

by Yasushi Inoue first published in 1951.

Plot

In early 1951, an art journalist receives an invitation for the 13th death anniversary of famous painter Keigaku Ōnuki. He remembers the assignment he received from Keigaku's relatives to write a biography on the artist 9 years ago, and decides to finally finish the project, which had come to a halt during the early

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

years. While studying Keigaku's diaries, he repeatedly reads of a friend by the name of Shinozaki, finally realising that Shinozaki is no other but Keigaku's former friend Hōsen Hara, who successfully copied Keigaku's art and sold it as originals. The journalist recollects memories going back to 1943, when he met private owners of Keigaku's paintings and was repeatedly confronted with Hara's technically adept copies, and to 1945 and 1947, when he stayed in the village in Chūgoku Mountains, where Hara lived during his last years. Abandoned by his wife, Hara illegally experimented with gunpowder to create a firework of the colour of red

chrysanthemums Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

. The journalist contemplates on the fate of a man who, overshadowed by a famous artist friend, never received recognition for his own talent and faded into obscurity.

Publication history

''Life of a Counterfeiter'' first appeared in the October 1951 edition of '' Shinchō'' magazine and was published in book form by Sōgensha the same year.

Reception

When published in 2015 in a new English translation, Eileen Battersby of '' The Irish Times'' saw in ''Life of a Counterfeiter'' "one of Inoue’s strongest stories", and the reviewer of '' Publishers Weekly'' a "masterly meditation on fate and obscurity".

Translations

''Life of a Counterfeiter'' was published in English in 1965, translated by Leon Picon, and in 2015, translated by Michael Emmerich.

Bibliography

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References

{{Yasushi Inoue 20th-century Japanese literature Japanese novellas Works by Japanese writers Nonlinear narrative literature 1951 novels