As my daughter was reading loudly textbook of Japanese literature, I sensed somehow I had heard the story once somewhere… In the story, main character told to a friend about his childhood, days of making specimens of butterflies and moths. And the boy who lived next door was “Emil”. Yes! I got it. It was Japanese translation of “Jugendgedenken”, written by German writer Hermann Hesse (1877–1962). I read the story in the textbook of middle high school at the age of 13 or 14, just as my daughter.
According to Wikipedia, this story was first adapted to Japanese literature textbook in 1947. Since then, Japanese students have read it for almost 70 years. During the period, some stories were deleted and replaced with new ones. It is interesting that such a negative story stays in the textbook. In the end, the boy was totally defeated by Emil and the memory last so long in his heart.
I asked my daughter her impression of the story.
“Well, Emil cannot be popular among girls.”
