Scan barcode
A review by saareman
A Distant Neighborhood by Jirō Taniguchi
4.0
Is it a dream, or...?
Jirō Taniguchi (1947-2017) had an almost-50-year career as a manga artist and writer but has only recently begun to be published in English translation. I first came across his gorgeous memoir-like [b:Jiro Taniguchi Venice|34679287|Jiro Taniguchi Venice|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490436313s/34679287.jpg|55852998] (original 2014, English 2017) and then found that "A Distant Neighbourhood" (originally from 1998/99 in Japanese) was also available in English translation.
The French edition of "A Distant Neighbourhood" titled [b:Quartier lointain|2189436|Quartier lointain|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327401987s/2189436.jpg|2195155] seems to be the dominant one on Goodreads and the French certainly took Taniguchi to heart as the initial French publication in 2-parts was made in 2002/3 and a French film version was made in 2010. Taniguchi was knighted as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts & Letters) in 2011.
"A Distant Neighbourhood" is a combined body-swap & time travel story with a 40-some year-old man being catapulted back in time to his 16-year-old body but with his future memories intact. Knowing the future as he does he has to choose whether to influence the path that a new timeline's future will take. No further spoilers from me on that.
I enjoyed "A Distant Neighbourhood" for its inventive multi-timeline story. It was slightly disappointing that only a few initial pages were colourized, as Taniguchi's cityscapes and landscapes really come alive when painted in. However the lack of colour didn't detract from the story itself. I hope to track down further Taniguchi and I see that his [b:Guardians of the Louvre|30086778|Guardians of the Louvre|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463827229s/30086778.jpg|43687284] (Original Japanese 2014, English 2016) is another recent work that is available in translation.
Trivia & Links
The body-swap and time-travel themes made me wonder about how long those have existed as fiction genres and I was surprised to find that it is as early as 1882 for the body-swap of [a:F. Anstey|267063|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450553978p2/267063.jpg]'s [b:Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers|477483|Vice Versa A Lesson to Fathers|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348836474s/477483.jpg|465697] and 1733 for the time-travel of [a:Samuel Madden|556709|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:Memoirs of the Twentieth Century|4471630|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (Foundations of the novel)|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|23744726].
You can read more at the Wikipedia entries for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_swap and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_time_travel_works_of_fiction
Jirō Taniguchi (1947-2017) had an almost-50-year career as a manga artist and writer but has only recently begun to be published in English translation. I first came across his gorgeous memoir-like [b:Jiro Taniguchi Venice|34679287|Jiro Taniguchi Venice|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490436313s/34679287.jpg|55852998] (original 2014, English 2017) and then found that "A Distant Neighbourhood" (originally from 1998/99 in Japanese) was also available in English translation.
The French edition of "A Distant Neighbourhood" titled [b:Quartier lointain|2189436|Quartier lointain|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327401987s/2189436.jpg|2195155] seems to be the dominant one on Goodreads and the French certainly took Taniguchi to heart as the initial French publication in 2-parts was made in 2002/3 and a French film version was made in 2010. Taniguchi was knighted as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts & Letters) in 2011.
"A Distant Neighbourhood" is a combined body-swap & time travel story with a 40-some year-old man being catapulted back in time to his 16-year-old body but with his future memories intact. Knowing the future as he does he has to choose whether to influence the path that a new timeline's future will take. No further spoilers from me on that.
I enjoyed "A Distant Neighbourhood" for its inventive multi-timeline story. It was slightly disappointing that only a few initial pages were colourized, as Taniguchi's cityscapes and landscapes really come alive when painted in. However the lack of colour didn't detract from the story itself. I hope to track down further Taniguchi and I see that his [b:Guardians of the Louvre|30086778|Guardians of the Louvre|Jirō Taniguchi|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463827229s/30086778.jpg|43687284] (Original Japanese 2014, English 2016) is another recent work that is available in translation.
Trivia & Links
The body-swap and time-travel themes made me wonder about how long those have existed as fiction genres and I was surprised to find that it is as early as 1882 for the body-swap of [a:F. Anstey|267063|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450553978p2/267063.jpg]'s [b:Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers|477483|Vice Versa A Lesson to Fathers|F. Anstey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348836474s/477483.jpg|465697] and 1733 for the time-travel of [a:Samuel Madden|556709|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:Memoirs of the Twentieth Century|4471630|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (Foundations of the novel)|Samuel Madden|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|23744726].
You can read more at the Wikipedia entries for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_swap and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_time_travel_works_of_fiction