Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui Search Amazon for other books by or about Yasutaka Tsutsui. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

At the Institute for Psychiatric Research, scientists on the verge of winning a Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology have invented technology for reaching into the minds of patients. Their machines can collect and record the dreams of their patients and, by recourse to subsequent psychoanalysis and similar techniques, the therapists can cure problems such as schizophrenia. Being able to resolve mental health problems discretely is of considerable importance in Japanese society - although the book does not state this, the depression apparently suffered by Princess Masako and its coverage in the media have helped to indicate just how strong taboos remain concerning mental health issues in Asian countries. This provides an additional layer of meaning to the action once the inevitable problems arising from the use of the technology become evident. Anyone even casually familiar with Japanese society will be aware of the troubled attitude towards technology in that country and, also, the problems that are caused by the suppression of emotions and desires. This becomes physically manifested as dreams become, in a sense, real and the lines between reality and the world of dreams is blurred and, indeed, broken.

Psychoanalytical techniques mingle with Buddhist and Christian iconography to provide an increasingly bizarre dreamscape in this novel, which is generally regarded as Tsutsui's masterpiece (although the available body of work in English remains limited and it is difficult to assess the extent of his range and ability). Yet the action remains rooted in the mundane details of life, which are faithfully reproduced here in the same way that they seem to be so often in Japanese literature. Perhaps that is because so much of being Japanese is bound up with duties and Confucian-style mutual relationships and the details of these inform every moment of the day. In any case, the main characters tend to have everyday lives to lead away from the narrative and worry about what to eat and drink and how to behave with respect to each other. Consequently, no matter how fantastic the action becomes, it is still connected to the real world and the mundane and the magical are merged with each other, not completely separate realms.

One problem with the book is the central character, Atsuko Chiba, who takes the eponymous role of "Paprika" when she pursues her semi-legal profession of "Dream Detective." As the only important female character among a cast of males, Paprika/Atsuko plays a special role and, as so often in Japanese society, it is a problematic one because of her gender. It is probably better to consider her as a symbol or allegory as much as a real person, especially those whose feminist sensibilities might become outraged. We are introduced early in the narrative to the concept of the female figure who appears in dreams as being the usually-suppressed female aspects of the male psyche. As Hegel would perhaps have explained, the opposites who fall in love desire in each other what is different from themselves. Consequently, the male characters tend to grow or develop as a result of being confronted by their female selves, so to speak, in the figure of Paprika, with whom they are all deeply in love and with whom many of them achieve some kind of sexual intimacy. As previously mentioned, this is problematic as being viewed purely as a description of human relationships (and the rather louche cover picture, which has precious little relation with the text, does not help here).

This is an enjoyable book which does not quite scale the heights of greatness, perhaps because the act of translation from Japanese to English (competently enough done by Andrew Driver) has stripped the language of much or all of the poetry and deeper meaning that it might have had. Anyway, it will be of great interest to readers who enjoy modern Japanese literature.