4 Quotes & Sayings By Hiromi Kawakami

Hiromi Kawakami is a novelist, essayist, and translator who has published over eighty books in both Japan and the United States. Her fiction includes novels, short stories, and essays on women's issues; she has written numerous short stories about her personal experiences. Her essays include reflections on her time in Kyoto during the 1960s and '70s, where she founded an antiwar movement against nuclear weapons. Her translations include the travel writing of Hishida Shunsai, the work of Henri Michaux, and the writings of Alice Tokoi Read more

Born in Tokyo in 1933, Kawakami studied literature at Waseda University from 1950 to 1954 before going to Paris to study at the Sorbonne from 1955 to 1957. In the late 1960s she returned to Japan and took up residence in Kyoto, where she taught literature at a university for a number of years. In 1970 she moved to New York City.

1
I kissed the girl on the lips, as if to suck her breath inside me. When I did this, the girl wilted, ever so slightly. In my arms, gradually she became lighter, and more transparent. The smell of lilies rose up, filling my breast, overwhelming me. The taste of the kiss was so sweet, I couldn't stop—even though I knew she would go on wilting if I continued. The girl was wilting by the instant, and something thick and strong was filling my breast. Hiromi Kawakami
2
I, on the other hand, still might not be considered a proper adult. I had been very grown-up in primary school. But as I continued through secondary school, I in fact became less grown-up. And then as the years passed, I turned into quite a childlike person. I suppose I just wasn't able to ally myself with time. Hiromi Kawakami
3
Sucked in and turned around by the blades, the night at first flows smoothly, but then it starts to take on a denser consistency. Already the night was nearly halfway through its course, so a good portion of it had hardened. Because of this, as I walked through it, it gave me none of the easy, buoyant feeling you get in the early-evening hours. Something about it seemed creaky. But that was, in its own way, typical of the night too. Hiromi Kawakami