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Keigo Higashino

Keigo Higashino (Japanese: 東野 圭吾, Hepburn: Higashino Keigo, born February 4, 1958) is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels. He served as the 13th President of Mystery Writers of Japan from 2009 to 2013. Higashino has won major Japanese awards for his books, almost twenty of which have been turned into films and TV series.[1]

Early life

Higashino was born in the Ikuno-ku ward of the city of Osaka in Osaka Prefecture. The logographic letters that make up the family name were initially read as "Tono", but Keigo's father changed the reading to "Higashino".

Growing up in a working class area, Higashino's childhood was challenging because of the lower class to which his family belonged.[2] He attended Koji Elementary School, Higashi Ikuno Junior High School, and Hannan High School. During his high school years he started reading mystery fiction.

Higashino studied Electrical Engineering at Osaka Prefecture University, where he became captain of the archery club. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.

Career

Higashino started writing while in high school and university, showing his manuscripts to friends.

In 1981, he began working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co. (presently DENSO), and married a high school teacher. He continued to write in the evenings and on weekends,[3] submitting unpublished mystery novels for consideration for the annual Edogawa Rampo Prize in 1983. In 1984, his submission, which drew on his wife's occupation, reached the final round. In 1985, at the age of 27, he won the Rampo Prize for best unpublished mystery for Hōkago (放課後, After School), drawing on experiences of the archery club at his former university. He resigned from DENSO in 1986 to start a career in Tokyo as a full-time writer.

In 1998, Higashino published Himitsu (秘密, Secret), which was adapted into a feature film and won the 52nd Mystery Writers of Japan Award for feature films in 1999. Secret was later translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published as Naoko in 2004, with a limited print run.[3] Higashino was inspired to write the story by reading a book in which a young child possessed the memories of someone who died nearby. He tried writing a short story featuring the implications of what would happen in such an instance, "but the ideas didn't fully materialize. Finally I presented it as a novel and it got picked up." A 1999 Japanese film, Himitsu, was based on the book, as was a 2007 English-language French remake,The Secret, starring David Duchovny.[2]

In 2006, Higashino won the 134th Naoki Prize for The Devotion of Suspect X (容疑者Xの献身, Yōgisha Ekkusu no Kenshin), an award for which he had been nominated five times previously. Suspect X also won the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award and was ranked the number-one novel by Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2006 and 2006 Honkaku Mystery Best 10, annual mystery fiction guide books published in Japan. The English edition of Suspect X, translated by Alexander O. Smith, was nominated for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Barry Award for Best First Novel.[3]

Higashino received the Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Prize in 2014 for Inori no Maku ga Oriru Toki (祈りの幕が下りる時, When the Curtain of Prayer Descends), the 10th book[a] to feature Detective Kyoichiro Kaga. He thought that the book would be the end of the Kaga series, as he had done what he wanted to do with it.[4]

Higashino is one of the most popular authors in Asia and, reportedly, the most popular novelist in China.[5] Translation rights for his books, like Suspect X, were sold as far afield as China, Thailand, France, Russia and Spain.[3] Both his Suspect X and Salvation of a Saint were published in 6 languages.[6] His popularity has drawn the attention of Asian academics, with papers and master's theses on his work published in China,[7] Indonesia,[8] Malaysia,[9] and Taiwan,[10] for example, and has also stimulated United States scholars.[11]

Higashino was elected president of the Mystery Writers of Japan (MWJ) in 2009, and served until 2013. From 2002 to 2007 he served on various MWJ selection committees, and fulfilled a similar role for the Edogawa Rampo Award from 2008 to 2013. In 2014, he became a selection member for the Naoki Prize.[12][13]

After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, Higashino donated the royalties of 100,000 copies of the reprint of The Wings of the Kirin (麒麟の翼, Kirin no Tsubasa), the sequel to Newcomer, to relief efforts in affected areas.[14]

Higashino reportedly avoids publicity, as he prefers people not to recognize him on the street.[3]

Contents and style

Higashino admitted in 2015 that his content and style had changed from his earlier writings, in which he treated motivation as the most important element.[4] In a 2011 interview, he stated that he wants his "readers to be continually surprised by my ideas."[3]

In addition to mystery novels, Higashino writes essays and story books for children. His style of writing the latter differs from his novels, and he does not use as many characters as in his novels.[citation needed] Higashino's works often include scientific elements, such as nuclear power generation and brain transplantation. Sports references, such as archery and kendo, ski jumping, and snowboarding, also occur often.

Suspect X inverts the classical whodunit structure, as the reader learns early on who the murderer is. Andrew Joyce writes in The Wall Street Journal that Higashino explores how "feelings of loyalty and the oppressive weight of human relations" are "catalysts for murder and dark pacts between neighbors or co-workers to dispose of bodies." Higashino claims that Japanese people prefer this format, in which the effects of characters' actions and intentions, in terms of emotions such as guilt and anguish, become clearer only towards the end of the story.[3]

While Higashino admits to liking Western writers, he feels most strongly influenced by Japanese authors such as Edogawa Rampo and Seicho Matsumoto. And "so my work naturally has that Japanese sense of old-fashioned loyalty and concern for human feeling." Regarding his Western readers, Higashino wants them "to read my work and come to understand how Japanese people think, love and hate. I want them to be impressed that there is a Japanese person who came up with such unusual stories."[3]

Works in English translation

Novels

Detective Galileo series

Police Detective Kaga series

Other novels

Essay

Honours, awards and nominations

Honours

Awards

Japanese Mystery Fiction Guide Rankings

Bibliography

By 2018 Higashino had published 66 novels, 20 short story collections, and one picture book. In all, there were 715 works in 8 languages by Higashino worldwide in 2020, excluding 20 which were about him.[6]

Detective Galileo (Manabu Yukawa) series

Police Detective Kaga series

Naniwa Detective Boys series

Detective Daigoro Tenkaichi series

Other novels

Essay collections

Other short story collections

Children's book

Comics

TV and film adaptations

Some of his novels have been made into TV drama series and films:

Japanese films

Japanese TV dramas

South Korean films

French film

Chinese film

Indian film

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kaga appears in 9 novels, as well as the short story collection Uso o Mō Hitotsu Dake (嘘をもうひとつだけ, Just One More Lie), 2000.

References

  1. ^ BookBrowse. "Keigo Higashino author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  2. ^ a b "Naoko — Vertical, Inc". www.vertical-inc.com. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Joyce, Andrew (February 11, 2011). "Is this Guy the Next Stieg Larsson?". The Wall Street Journal - Scene Asia. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "「ダブル受賞」に大沢・東野両氏語る 吉川英治文学賞 [Osawa and Higashino talk about "double award" @ Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Prize]" (in Japanese). March 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  5. ^ Kidd, James (2018-12-19). "The best books of 2018 - ones that made us laugh and cry". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  6. ^ a b "Higashino, Keigo 1958-". WorldCat Identities. 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  7. ^ Li, RJ (March 17, 2019). "Acceptance And Dissemination Of Higashino Keigo In China (2007-2017)". Globe Thesis. Archived from the original on January 6, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  8. ^ Endah Adriana, Ajeng; Andry Anita Dewi, Ni Made (November 1, 2018). "Penggunaan Tindak Tutur Dan Implikatur Pada Novel Yougisha X no Kenshin karya Keigo Higashino [The Usage of Speech Acts and Implicatur in Yougisha X no Kenshin novel by Keigo Higashino]". Humanis (in Indonesian). 22, 4: 860–867. doi:10.24843/JH.2018.v22.i04.p04.
  9. ^ Jie, Koik Shuh (2015). The Art of Murder: a Comparative Study of the Crime Writing of Thomas de Quincey and Keigo Higashino. Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Universiti Sains Malaysia.
  10. ^ Weifen, Zhang (January 1, 2016). "A study of the detective of 'Kyoichiro Kaga' by Keigo Higashino. Tamgang University Japanese Literature Scholarship Thesis". Airiti Library (in Japanese). Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  11. ^ Hawley, John C (2017). "Khaled Hosseini, Keigo Higashino, and Zoe Ferraris: Social Concealment, Personal Revelation, and Community Guilt". The Delhi University Journal of the Humanities and the Social Sciences. 4: 1–18.
  12. ^ "直木賞選考委員に高村薫氏と東野圭吾氏 来年選考会から - 本のニュー [Kaoru Takamura and Keigo Higashino selected as members of the Naoki Prize Selection Committee]". Book.asahi.com (in Japanese). 2014-03-22. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  13. ^ "会員名簿, 現会員 - 東野 圭吾 [Current Members, Higashino Keigo]". Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc. (in Japanese). 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  14. ^ "東野圭吾さん「麒麟の翼」増刷分の印税を寄付 [Keigo Higashino donates royalties for reprint of "Kirin no Tsubasa"]". Sponichi.co.jp (in Japanese). March 18, 2011. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  15. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2011). The Devotion of Suspect X. Detective Galileo Series. Vol. 1. Translated by Alexander O. Smith. p. 320. ISBN 9781250002693.
  16. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2012). Salvation of a Saint. Detective Galileo Series. Vol. 2. Translated by Alexander O. Smith. Minotaur Books. p. 336. ISBN 978-1250036278.
  17. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2016). A Midsummer's Equation. Detective Galileo Series. Vol. 3. Translated by Alexander O. Smith. St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Publishers. pp. 368. ISBN 9781250027924.
  18. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2021). Silent Parade. Detective Galileo Series. Vol. 4. Minotaur Books. p. 304. ISBN 9781250624826.
  19. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2024). Invisible Helix. Detective Galileo Series. Vol. 5. Minotaur Books. p. 352. ISBN 9781250875563.
  20. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2015) [2014]. Malice. Translated by Alexander O. Smith (2nd ed.). Minotaur Books. p. 288. ISBN 978-1250070326.
  21. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2018). Newcomer. Translated by Giles Murray. Minotaur Books. p. 352. ISBN 9781250067869.
  22. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2022). A Death in Tokyo. Translated by Giles Murray. Minotaur Books. p. 352. ISBN 9781250767509.
  23. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2023). The Final Curtain. Translated by Giles Murray. Minotaur Books. p. 352. ISBN 9781250767530.
  24. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2004). Naoko. Translated by Kerim Yasar. Vertical. p. 288. ISBN 1932234071.
  25. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2015). Under the Midnight Sun. Translated by Alexander O. Smith. Hachette. ISBN 978-0349138749.
  26. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2017). The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping. Penguin Random House. p. 240. ISBN 978-1942993834.
  27. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2019). The Miracles of the Namiya General Store. Yen On. p. 320. ISBN 978-1975382575.
  28. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2010). "My Favourite Mystery #2: Kuroi gashu (The Black Art Book) (author: Matsumoto Seicho). Translated by Adrian Pinnington". Mystery Writers of Japan. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  29. ^ "小説家の東野圭吾さんに紫綬＝歌人の俵万智さんら―秋の褒章". Jiji Press. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  30. ^ a b Polar Prize, Best International Novel
  31. ^ "『第71回菊池寛賞』東野圭吾、野沢雅子、栗山英樹ら【受賞一覧&受賞理由掲載】". Oricon. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  32. ^ Jonathan Romney (2011-02-13). "Into The White Night". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  33. ^ "Platina Data" (in Japanese). platinadata.jp.net. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  34. ^ "沈黙のパレード". eiga.com. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  35. ^ 白夜行 (2006) (in Japanese). allcinema.net. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  36. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2016). Ryusei no Kizuna (in Japanese). Nanhai Publishing Company. p. 354. ISBN 978-7544282604.
  37. ^ Higashino, Keigo (July 1999). Meitantei No Okite (in Japanese). Kodonsha. p. 348. ISBN 4062646188.
  38. ^ "志田未来と佐々木蔵之介が25歳差夫婦! 東野圭吾の出世作『秘密』連ドラ化". Oricon. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  39. ^ Higashino, Keigo (2016) [2010]. The Newcomer (Shinzanmono) (in Chinese) (2nd ed.). Nanhai Publishing Company. p. 253. ISBN 978-7544281102.
  40. ^ "妻夫木聡がTBSで16年ぶり主演、東野圭吾の「危険なビーナス」ドラマ化（コメントあり）". 映画ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  41. ^ "村上虹郎、森七菜ら、福山雅治主演『ガリレオ』新作SPドラマ出演 シリーズおなじみの面々も". Crank-in!. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  42. ^ Jason Bechervaise (2012-10-09). "Perfect Number". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  43. ^ Kumar, Anuj (11 November 2022). "'Monica, O My Darling' movie review: Vasan Bala's notorious noir is intoxicating". The Hindu.

External links