(born September 15, 1972) is a Japanese author. Most of his works are

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

or speculative fiction.

Biography

EnJoe was born on 1972 in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...

. He graduated from the physics department of

Tohoku University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated Nationa ...

, then went on to the graduate school at

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

and received Ph.D. for a mathematical physical study on the natural languages. He worked as a

post-doc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

researcher at several research institutes for seven years, then abandoned the academic career in 2007 and found a job at a software firm, which he left in 2008 to become a full-time writer.

Works

In 2006, he submitted his science fiction novel ''Self-Reference ENGINE'', made up of a number of related short works, to be considered for the Komatsu Sakyō Award. It was a finalist. It was published the following year by

Hayakawa Shobō is a Japanese publishing company, founded in 1945 by Kiyoshi Hayakawa. It is the largest science fiction publisher in Japan; almost all winners of the Seiun Award for Best Foreign Novel are published by the company. Notable books written by Jap ...

. In the same year, his short story "Obu za bēsbōru" ("Of the Baseball") won the contest of literary magazine ''

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 t ...

'', which became his debut in literary fiction. His literary fiction work is often dense with

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

s. Numerous annotations were added to "Uyūshitan" when it was published in book form in 2009, with none appearing in its initial magazine publication. EnJoe's science fiction works often employ mathematical motifs. The narrator of "Boy's Surface" (2007) is a

morphism In mathematics, particularly in category theory, a morphism is a structure-preserving map from one mathematical structure to another one of the same type. The notion of morphism recurs in much of contemporary mathematics. In set theory, morphis ...

, and the title is a reference to a geometrical notion. In "Moonshine" (2009), natural numbers are sentient through a savant's mind's eye in a field of the

monster group In the area of abstract algebra known as group theory, the monster group M (also known as the Fischer–Griess monster, or the friendly giant) is the largest sporadic simple group, having order 2463205976112133171923293141475 ...

. Project Itoh's ''

Genocidal Organ is the debut novel of Japanese science fiction writer Project Itoh. It was first published by Hayakawa Publishing in 2007 and later re-printed in 2010 in paperback form. A poll by the yearly SF magazine ''SF ga yomitai'' ranked ''Genocidal Org ...

'' was also a finalist of Komatsu Sakyō Award contest. It was published from Hayakawa Shobō in 2007, along with Enjoe's ''Self-Reference ENGINE''. Subsequently, they often appeared together at

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expr ...

s and conducting interviews, and collaborated in a few works. Itoh died of cancer in 2009. At the press conference after the announcement of Enjoe's

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 ...

in January 2012, he revealed the plan to complete Itoh's unfinished novel ''Shisha no teikoku''. It was published in August 2012 and received the Special Award of Nihon SF Taisho.

Awards

Japanese

* 2010: Noma Prize for New Writers for ''Uyūshitan'' * 2012:

for "Dōkeshi no chō (Harlequin's Butterfly)" * 2012: Nihon SF Taisho Special Award for ''Shisha no teikoku'' (''The Empire of Corpses'') (with Project Itoh) * 2013:

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention. ...

Japanese Long Form for ''Shisha no teikoku'' (with Project Itoh) * 2017: for "Mojika" * 2018: Nihon SF Taisho for ''Mojika''

US

* 2014: Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation for ''Self-Reference ENGINE''

Works

Translated into English

English translations (book length)

* ''Self-Reference ENGINE'' (Terry Gallagher (trans.), Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2013); translation of ''Self-Reference ENGINE'' (2007, 2010)

Short fiction in English translation

* "Freud" (excerpt from ''Self-Reference ENGINE'') (''Speculative Japan 2'', Kurodahan Press, 2011) * "Silverpoint" (''Japan Earthquake Charity Literature'', Waseda Bungaku, 2011) * "Meditations on Green" (''Monkey Business'', Volume 2, A Public Space, 2012) * "Endoastronomy" (''The Future Is Japanese'', Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2012) * "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire" (''Words Without Borders'', July 201

* "Harlequin's Butterfly" (Excerpt) ('' Asymptote (journal), Asymptote'', Jan 201

* "Time in "Time"" (essay) (''Monkey Business'', Volume 3, A Public Space, 2013) * "Printable" (''Granta'', Issue 127, Granta Publications, 2014) * "A Record of My Grandmother" (''Monkey Business'', Volume 4, A Public Space, 2014) * "List, Combination, Recursion" (essay) (''The Battle Royale Slam Book'', Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2014) * "Time Together" (''2014 PEN World Voices Online Anthology'', PEN American Center, 2014

* "Three Twitter Stories" (''2014 PEN World Voices Online Anthology'', PEN American Center, 2014

* "First Sentence" (essay) (''Granta Online Edition'', 7 May 2014, Granta Publications, 2014

* "Twelve Twitter Stories" (''Monkey Business'', Volume 5, A Public Space, 2015) * "The Squirrel Awakes" (Kindle Single, 2015) * "Overdrive" (''Saiensu Fikushon 2016'', Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2016) * "Shuffle Drive" (''Monkey Business'', Volume 7, A Public Space, 2017) *"Shadow.net" (''The Ghost in the Shell: Five New Short Stories'', Vertical/Media Tie In, 2017)

Scripts

* "I'm Never Remembering You, Baby" (''

Space Dandy , is a 2014 Japanese comic science fiction anime television series produced by Bones. The series follows the misadventures of Dandy, an alien hunter who is "a dandy guy in space", in search for undiscovered and rare aliens with his robot ass ...

'' episode 11, 2014) – writer * "An Other-Dimensional Tale, Baby" (''Space Dandy'' episode 24, 2014) – writer, guest character design * ''

Godzilla Singular Point is a Japanese anime television series co-produced by the animation studios Bones and Orange. Licensed by Netflix and directed by Atsushi Takahashi, the series premiered on March 25, 2021 on Netflix in Japan, and on Tokyo MX and other channels ...

'' (2021) – writer, series composition

Reception

An interviewer in the literary journal '' Asymptote (journal), Asymptote'' wrote, "Toh EnJoe's stories are known for their scientific lucidity and literary impenetrability. His language and his writing style, however, belie his background as a physicist: topics woven into his stories include science, but also linguistics, literary theory, and philosophical approaches to the imagination. His complicated narrative structures are the subject of heated discussions and have even evoked harsh reviews calling his work 'indigestible', 'sleep-inducing,' and 'reader-unfriendly'."

Notes

External links

*
Interview by Sayuri Okamoto
('' Asymptote (journal), Asymptote'', Jan 2013)
INTERVIEW: Toh EnJoe, Author of Self-Reference ENGINE
(SF Signal)
J'Lit , Authors : Toh EnJoe , Books from Japan
*
Excerpt
an
synopsis
of ''The Empire of Corpses'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Enjoe, Toh 1972 births Japanese science fiction writers Japanese male short story writers Postmodern writers Akutagawa Prize winners People from Sapporo Writers from Hokkaido Living people