William Dale Jennings (1917–1982)

I opened the book this morning and could not put it down till I was done. The subtitle is "A Novel Based on a Zen Myth." The story is paced with the headlong rush of an Indiana Jones movie. The characters have no names - they are the Ronin, the Lady, the Minor Lord, the Young Daimyo, the Old Swordsman, and thus they become archetypes.

The language is exquisite, with a dry humor. For example, at one point, the Minor Lord decides that his Lady should have armed protectors, so he goes to the Imperial Ladies' Fencing School, where he spent the next day auditioning advanced students. "His distress receded in copious tea and the special excitement of fighting females. He stayed and stayed, discussing with the Master such proper irrelevancies as the unusually large flights of cranes this season."

It has straightforward descriptions that Victorians would bowdlerize instantly. In the first two pages, the Ronin cuts off two fingers, then the hand, of a rice shop merchant for the temerity of not cowering because the Ronin ate his food and does not intend to pay. Then the Ronin steps outside and pees in the street. He kills a monk who puts him under arrest, then finishes peeing.

For plot, well, we follow a Ronin who is strong, and cruel, and takes what he wants. Then we follow one who would avenge himself upon the Ronin for his cruelty. I cannot talk more of the story, for it would be but my poor retelling of a zen story. It is a short novel, with large print and it was swiftly finished. Fascinating.… (meer)