How Do You Live?

Genzaburo Yoshino

gen. del 2022 · Penguin

Sobre aquest llibre

The inspiration behind the Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli film, The Boy and the Heron — Anime master Hayao Miyazaki's favorite childhood book and a beloved Japanese classic, this uplifting coming-of-age story brings philosophy, history and wonder together, available in English for the first time.

The streets of Tokyo swarm below fifteen-year-old Copper as he gazes out into the city of his childhood. Struck by the thought of the infinite people whose lives play out alongside his own, he begins to wonder, how do you live?

Considering life's biggest questions for the first time after the death of his father, Copper turns to his dear uncle for heart-warming wisdom. As the old man guides the boy on a journey of philosophical discovery, a timeless tale unfolds, offering a poignant reflection on what it means to be human. But when Copper betrays one of his new friends, how will he ask for forgiveness — and how can he forgive himself?

How Do You Live? is the transformative story of a young man who, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars and uses his discoveries to answer the question of what kind of person he will grow up to be—and the inspiration behind Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award-winning film The Boy and the Heron.

Sobre l'autor

GENZABURO YOSHINO was born in 1899 in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) with a degree in philosophy, he served two years in the army, and later took a job at the Library of Tokyo. The government arrested him for attending socialist meetings in 1931, and he was sentenced to prison for four years, experiences that helped develop his sense of pacifism. On his release, he was commissioned to edit a series of sixteen books for young readers, A Library for Young Japanese Nationals, and the initial concept behind How Do You Live? was the last of these. The resulting effort was first published in 1937, then again as a stand-alone novel after World War II, and quickly became a beloved children’s classic in Japan. Genzaburo died in 1981.