Dobutsu Kitan Shu (Mysterious Animal Stories)

This book is a translation of Bestiario, a collection of short stories by Dino Buzzati (1906-1972) who was one of Italy’s leading writers in the 20th century. While working as a journalist for the major newspaper Corriere della Sera, Buzzati also wrote fantastical and allegorical novels and plays about the absurdity of life and the mysteries and wonders lurking under the surface of everyday life. He was also a talented painter who left behind many works (including the painting on the cover of this book). Although most well-known for his novel Il deserto dei Tartari, he is also revered as a master of short stories.
 
Mysterious Animal Stories is a posthumous anthology of 36 short stories featuring animals. As the stories are the product of an author of fantastical literature, they do not depict animals per se but, rather, animals with human characteristics, animals that talk and speak out against people, monstrous and eerie entities, imaginary creatures, people that transform into animals, and animals that transform into humans. The animals depicted by Buzzati appear, at times, as frail creatures subservient to humans and, at other times, as entities that cause anxiety and fear. They symbolize the enigmas and mysteries that exist outside the realm of the human intellect.
 
While the themes of the individual stories vary, what emerges overall is an awareness of issues surrounding the relationship between people and animals. In some stories, the author depicts human exploitation and abuse of animals with compassion and indignation; in others, he uses biting irony or weaves disturbing tales cast in the shadow of the supernatural.
 
To the extent that Buzzati incorporated and created narratives based on issues relating to animals—such as the arbitrariness of the division between humans and animals and the domination, violence, and exploitation of animals by humans, he was a step ahead of contemporary thinkers such as Derrida, Agamben, and Singer who have also reexamined such issues. He was also ahead of his time in addressing issues such as environmental destruction and extinction and reminding us of the role and power of literature based on imagination. Buzzati’s depiction of animals and use of imagination to elicit empathy with the animals continually confronts us with the question, “What does it mean to be human?” At a time when literary studies are increasingly focusing on the representation of animals, Buzzati’s animal stories are well-deserving of attention.
 
That said, the book is by no means formal and stiff. There are humorous stories that will make the reader grin, stories with SF-like plots, and ghost stories that are sure to entertain. My greatest honor as a translator would be to help readers discover such a unique Italian writer.
 

(Written by NAGANO Toru, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology / 2023)