Salmonella Men on Planet Porno

Translation by Andrew Driver

Japanese sci-fi author Yasutaka Tsutsui’s tales have been called both metafiction and hyperfiction; the 73-year-old author’s surreal and satirical send-ups of Japanese society celebrate the freedom of literature with mind-bending trips into alternate realities.

With Salmonella Men on Planet Porno, his latest English-translated collection of short stories, the author’s stories show his trademark fearlessness in the face of taboos; war, sex, the media, and the sheep-like mentality of groups are all fair game.

Tsutsui, who became so frustrated with overly cautious Japanese publishers that he went on a three-year writing strike in the ‘90s, talks to Theme about his career.

Theme: What first inspired you to write?
Tasutaka Tsutsui: I’ve always been inspired by works of non-fiction, especially those in social sciences, biology and psychology. That’s why some people call me a “bookish” author. In the early days, I sometimes got hints from movies. But now I rarely find inspiration in other writers’ fiction.

Are there any topics you consider off-limits to write about?
No. As an author who’s constantly railing against media gags on expression, it wouldn’t do for me to limit my topics, would it.

Do you write for a particular audience?
I write for the part of me that hasn’t read that story yet.

People who have lived, or were raised, in Japan will probably understand your stories on a different level than a foreigner who has never been there. Do you worry that the international market is not able to “get the full experience” of your stories, so to speak?
Sometimes even Japanese readers don’t understand my stories, let alone foreign ones. It’s the fate of all authors that our most cherished works are not understood.

Can you explain how your writing has evolved over the years, both in tone and content?
I can no longer write slapstick, as I did at the beginning. My aging body won’t let me do it any more. Instead, I’ve moved more into dreams, metafiction, word play and black humor. Those have won me a clutch of literary awards, but now I’m a bit perplexed to hear people say I used to be more interesting.

Can you talk about your decision to give up writing in 1993?
It was because I felt straitjacketed by media gags on expression. Black humor tends to suffer particularly in this respect, and so, as a writer of black humor, I thought I’d better take a stand against it.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno is a collection of stories, some written as long ago as the 1970s, that still have resonance today, in 2008. To what do you attribute this?
Thank you very much, but I have no idea. Actually, those stories have never been particularly well received or created that much resonance in Japan.

Looking back on the stories from this collection, do you still feel the same connection with the material today that you did when you first wrote it?
Oh yes.

Why did a collection of your work take so long to hit the English-language market? What finally enabled its release?
It took that long for a good translator who understands my works to come along.

The “Desert Island” question: If you could be trapped on a deserted island with any three people from ancient history to the present day, who would they be, and why?
The Marx brothers. But only on condition that they speak Japanese (except Harpo, of course). Because I could never get bored with them around.

What do you hope for people to come away with after reading your work?
I hope something will remain in their memories, be it laughter, surprise or sheer disappointment.

Salmonella Men on Planet Porno, a collection of short stories by Yasutaka Tsutsui, is available on Pantheon & Schocken Books, a division of Random House.