she never mentions a faet that mustrnstrike anyone who knew that world: forrnsomeone in her situation to make a writingrncareer in postwar London was so diffieultrnas to be virtually impossible. Shernexperienced some appalling times in thernnext 12 vcars, struggling to make a livingrnon the fringes of the literary world, writingrnpoems, essays, reviews, and biographies.rnIler experience with the PoetryrnSoeietv seems to have been one of arnnumber of traumatic encounters. Sherntook up with some odd birds, includingrnDerek Stanford, with whom she publishedrna couple of books (he cashed in onrntheir friendship by writing an offensivernbooklet about her and selling her lettersrnto a shady dealer who later stole her earliestrnmanuscripts). She was so poor thatrnshe just about starved, a process sherncompounded by taking appetite suppressantsrnthat eventually caused collapsernand hallucinations.rnYet eventually she enjoyed the luckrnthat seems to visit gifted people whornwork unremittingly, hi 1954 she wasrnreceived into the Catholic Church andrnbv that means evidently acquired thernfriends who came to her rescue whenrnshe was overtaken bv illness. Anotherrnfriend seems to have passed her name tornan enterprising young editor at Macmillan’s,rnthus producing a commission forrnher first novel. Perhaps her most extraordinaryrnstroke of luck occurred whenrnFA’CKU Wiugh, “someone cjuite out ofrnmy orbit,” who had also been turningrnhallucinations into a novel, saw her bookrnin proof, praised it warmly, and reviewedrnit in the Spectator.rnAs one might expect from a womanrnwho has amassed an archive to ward offrnuninformed gossip and hypothesis, Mrs.rnSpark maintains a strict control over thernmaterials of her life. She likes to be thernheroine of her stories, and she choosesrncarefully the stories she tells. In a wayrnthat strikes me as very Scottish, she is reticentrnabout just the things her readersrnwill be curious about: her religion, herrnart, and her private life. The result is arnmemoir that faidv begs to be read betweenrnthe lines; yet it also tells unsentimentallv,rnand with strict discipline andrnreserve, a genuinely heroic and romanticrnstor-. As one leaves this neat-minded,rntough, intensely ambitious, and combati’rne little Scotswoman in safe harborrnwith a new publisher, a cat, and a landladyrnwho sounds like a fairy godmother,rnone has no doubt that she has earned thernright to end her book with a sentencernborrowed from another great, highspiritedrnartist: “I went on my wayrnrejoicing.”rnAnd now we can look forward to herrnnext volume.rnFrank Brownlow is a professor of Englishrnat Mount Holyoke College. His mostrnrecent book is Shakespeare, Ilarsnett,rnand the Devils of Denham.rnDiscovering Japanrnby Gregory McNameernPacific Risingrnby Simon WinchesterrnNew York: Simon & Schuster;rnS12 pp., $14.00rnLearning to Bow: Inside thernHeart of Japanrnby Bruce S. FeilerrnNew York: ‘I’icknor & Fields;rn321 pp., $10.95rnThe Japanese Chroniclesrnby Nicholas BouvierrnSan Francisco: Mercury House;rn240 pp., $11.95rnFollowing the Brushrnby John ElderrnBoston: Beacon Press;rn176 pp., $12.00rnAway on the western brink of the PacificrnRim lies a land so mysteriousrnto most Americans that it might as wellrnbe mythical. There, according to popularrnunderstanding, thrives a breed of 122rnmillion fantastically rich people whornthrough black magic have siphoned offrnthe wealth of the Western world. Theyrnneed no sleep. They work 24-hour daysrnthe week long. They have masteredrntechnologies wc may never see. They replacerntheir stereo systems and televisionsrnonce a year. They are the shortest andrnmost dangerous people on earth.rnThe trouble with mysterious places is,rnof course, that most mysteries dissolvernwhen someone bothers to look at themrnup close. In the case of Japan, closer looksrnare exactly what is most needed.rnThe literature, from Ruth Benedict’srnbizarre (if useful) The Chrysanthemumrnand the Sword to James Clavell’s potboilingrnnovel Shogun and Michael Crichton’srnxenophobic thriller Rising Sun, isrnhopelessly fabulistic, part of a great disinformationrncampaign waged by bothrnnations. For whatever reason, very fewrnAmericans have taken the trouble to lookrncarefully at the land whose economy andrnindustry is bound up with our own,rnwhose future will inescapably shape ours.rnWith the Atlantic century drawing to arnclose and the Pacific century just dawning,rna better understanding of Japanesernculture—and of the ideas that lie behindrnJapanese actions—is essential.rnFour years ago, the Dutch journalistrnKarel van Wolferen gave interested readersrna fine start at such an understanding;rnhis Ihe Enigma of Japanese Power isrnstill the best book on Japan in recentrnliterature. In it. Van Wolferen revealed arnJapan alternately awed and disgusted byrnthe wodd beyond its shores and governedrnby a puppet emperor in the service of thernzaikaijin, a gerontocracy of businessmenrn(women do not figure in the scheme ofrnJapanese power) who control the nationalrneconomy and maintain an inflexiblernhierarchy that embraces every citizenrnfrom cradle to grave. Despite itsrnpresent democratic facade, Van Wolferenrnargued, Japan’s power structure wasrnscarcely altered by the Second WorldrnWar; while the state’s religion remainsrnShintoism, its de facto ideology is an offshootrnof the same Nichiren Buddhismrnthat propelled the martial caste towardrnthe conquest of Asia, a war that proceedsrntoday by economic means.rnSimon Winchester, a British journalistrnand longtime correspondent for thernManchester Guardian, continues VanrnWolferen’s alarum. In his Pacific Rising,rnWinchester argues that the Atlantic centuryrnis truly finished, basing his conclusionrnon such facts as: that since 1985 thernPacific powers have constituted ourrnlargest trading bloc, exceeding Europernby billions of dollars; that Los Angelesrnwill soon become the world’s busiestrnport, taking the lead from New York,rnwhile Rotterdam has given way to I longrnKong as the world’s busiest containerrnport; that Taiwan’s economy is growingrnat a rate hve times faster than Germany’srnand many more times faster than ourrnown; and that while the United Statesrnhas become the wodd’s leading debtorrnnation, Japan is its leading creditor.rnThough Winchester surveys thernwhole of the Pacific Rim, his gaze restsrnlUNE 1994/31rnrnrn