"Paradise Lost" is a novel written by Japanese novelist Junichi Watanabe. It tells the story of a middle-aged man and woman who both died in love due to an extramarital affair.
Main content introduction:
The 55-year-old male protagonist Jiumu and the 38-year-old female protagonist Rinko each have families, and they met a few months ago. At that time, Jiumu had just stepped down from the post of publishing director of a large publishing house, and Rinzi was giving a temporary calligraphy class at a cultural center. Jiumu admires Rinzi's dignified calligraphy, elegant temperament and beauty, while Rinzi is attracted by Jiumu's "childishness with a depressive flavor".
After frequent interactions, the two finally walked into the hotel together.
Later, Jiumu’s wife urged him to sign the divorce papers several times, and the publishing house notified him that he would be transferred to a subordinate branch while presenting a slanderous informant letter.
Rinzi's husband punished her by not divorcing her, and her mother Yibu severed the mother-daughter relationship with her. In the end, Jiumu left his house and savings, and only carried a bag of autumn sweaters to bid farewell to his wife and daughter. He and Rinzi walked leisurely to the last stop of their lives, embracing each other in a villa-style hotel and committing suicide by taking poison.
The two wrote in a suicide note to "everyone": "Forgive us for going our own way in the end, and please bury us together."
"Paradise Lost" won the 2003 Kikuchi Hiroshi Award in Japan.
"Paradise Lost" caused a great sensation in the Japanese literary world after its publication in 1997. Subsequently, "Paradise Lost" was also translated into many languages.
Extended information
1. Introduction to the writer
Junichi Watanabe, male, Japanese
Japanese physician and novelist
Born on October 24, 1933 in Sunagawa City, Hokkaido, Japan, and died in Tokyo, Japan on April 30, 2014 at the age of 80.
2. Creative Inspiration
The author once said frankly: "When I wrote the novel "Paradise Lost", I was also in love, so this novel is a mixture of dreams and reality. The intertwined product, coupled with the love I experienced in the past, and recalling the music and scenes I heard at that time, made me enter an irresistible state of love and immersed myself in it."
Watanabe said frankly. Creative motivation: "The reason why I wanted to write "Paradise Lost" is because I have a deep sense of crisis. I feel that, contrary to the high civilization of modern society, we humans are still animals after all, and have nothing to do with other creatures on the earth. The difference is composed of female and male, but unfortunately we have lost this most basic understanding."
3. Theme of the work
Junichi Watanabe in "Paradise Lost". The main views on love expressed are:
1. The love of young people is pure, but middle-aged people have various complicated relationships and roles in society. They are burdened with various burdens and can still get love. , this kind of love is more pure.
2. For lovers who are truly in love with each other, as their spiritual love deepens, their physical love will inevitably deepen, and the deepening of physical love will in turn promote the continuous sublimation of spiritual love.
3. Two people love each other deeply from the bottom of their hearts and cannot extricate themselves. But when the love reaches an absolutely exclusive level, it will inevitably destroy this love and eventually lead to death.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Lost Paradise
Baidu Encyclopedia - Watanabe Junichi