is a 2023 debut novella by Japanese writer

Saou Ichikawa is a Japanese writer. She is best known for her debut novel ''Hunchback'', for which she won the Akutagawa Prize in 2023. Biography Ichikawa was born in 1979. She has congenital myopathy and uses a wheelchair and a respirator, the latter which ...

. It was originally serialized in ''

Bungakukai is a Japanese monthly literary magazine published by Bungeishunjū as a oriented publication. History and profile The first version of ''Bungakukai'' was published from 1893 to 1898. The founders were the first generation romantic authors in ...

'' in May 2023 before being published in book form by

Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well a ...

on June 22, 2023. The novella proceeded to win the

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History Th ...

on July 19, 2023, making Ichikawa the first-ever disabled author to win one. An English translation by Polly Barton was released by

Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in London Boro ...

, which holds North American rights to the title, on March 18, 2025.

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

holds world English rights. Barton's translation was longlisted for the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

Synopsis

The novella follows Izawa Shaka, a woman in a group care facility who suffers from

myotubular myopathy X-linked myotubular myopathy (MTM) is a form of centronuclear myopathy (CNM) associated with mutations in the myotubularin 1 gene. It is found almost always in male infants. It is one of the severest congenital muscle diseases and is characterized ...

and writes

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

. It extrapolates on her thoughts on a variety of different topics including but not limited to Tomoko Yonezu's vandalism of the ''Mona Lisa'' at the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō wards of Tokyo, ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the , is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, prese ...

Nietzschean Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Represe ...

thought, and

disability studies Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability. Initially, the field focused on the division between "impairment" and "disability", where impairment was an impairment of an individual ...

in relation to the films of

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

, among others.

Critical reception

Due to its groundbreaking revelation of disabled life in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, as well as its awarding of the Akutagawa Prize, some critics have considered ''Hunchback'' to be one of the most important works of Japanese literature in the twenty-first century.

Keiichiro Hirano is a Japanese novelist. Hirano was born in Gamagori, Aichi prefecture, Japan. He published his first novel (''Nisshoku'', ) in 1998 and won the Akutagawa Prize the next year as one of the youngest winners ever (at 23 years of age). He graduated ...

, who was a judge for the Akutagawa Prize in 2023, stated that there was "overwhelming support" for the novel's strength and its critique of ableism in civil society. In a

starred review A starred review is a book review marked with a star to denote a book of distinction or particularly high quality. A starred review can help to increase media coverage, bookstore placement and sales of a book. Outlets that published starred review ...

, ''Publishers Weekly'' called the book a "provocative debut" and a "damning critique of Japanese cultural norms." The reviewer ultimately found Shaka "a deeply human character" by dint of her "desire and wit." ''The New York Times'' observed themes of "survival" in Shaka's life encased in Ishikawa's "plain, uncharged language, rendering them all the more shocking to a reader who may never have considered the limits of what a body like hers must cope with." ''The Guardian'' called Ichikawa a "transgressive" Japanese writer and concluded that she "uses the vantage point of her disability for a particular insight into human nature, but we mustn’t condescend to call this novella autobiographical. Its structure—beginning and ending with a story, the latter possibly written by the narrator, possibly not—would tease us if we do." The reviewer also lauded Barton's "deft translation." ''Datebook'' lauded Ichikawa's "scathing takedown of ableism in modern society" and her critiques of desire rendered through Shaka's unflinching and raw voice: "It's a stunning portrait of a broken body and wildly alive spirit that reminds us not only of our frailty but of our indelible strength when tested." ''Radio Times'' listed the book in twelfth place in a list of the 20 best upcoming books of 2025. ''Electric Literature'' included it in an anticipated translations list for the winter and spring of 2025.

References

{{reflist 2023 Japanese novels Novels about disability