deLille's review
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea
by Yukio Mishima
so what translation would you suggest?
Well, this is embarrassing. I just realized that I have confused the ending of two different Mishima books! I guess that's what happens when you review something you read years ago (and have read a lot of books by the same author). I think I confused the two endings because in both books something similar happens in the very last scene. It is the protagonist in Mishima’s "Runaway Horses" who has the vision, not the "Sailor". And the translation I most prefer is the more dramatic one, translated by Michael Gallagher. I don't own the other translation, so I don't know who translated it. But when I read the other version I was struck by just how different the two interpretations were, and the difference in the reaction it elicited from me as I read it. The version of "The Sailor..." that I own is translated by John Nathan. Again, I have no idea how true it is to the original Japanese text, but I thought it was well written.
deLille's review
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
deLille's review
rating:
It was this book that got me turned onto the writings of Yukio Mishima. I've since read - what, maybe a dozen of his books? Mishima is slightly off kilter with the way he views the world, but somehow he can draw you into his twisted thought process so that you think his ideas makes perfect sense. (And then you feel like you are going slightly mad....)
CORRECTION, 4-26-08
THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH DOES NOT APPLY TO "THE SAILOR..."; RATHER, IT'S ABOUT THE MISHIMA'S BOOK, "RUNAWAY HORSES". I CONFUSED THE TWO ENDINGS, SORRY.
It's important to make sure to find the best English translation of this book. I've read several translations and it's amazing how the last line of the book can leave you with a disturbingly serene vs. outright stunned feeling, depending on the adjectives the translator uses to describe the last vision the "Sailor" sees behind his closed eyelids. I've often wondered what feeling it was that Mishima really meant to convey.
CORRECTION, 4-26-08
THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH DOES NOT APPLY TO "THE SAILOR..."; RATHER, IT'S ABOUT THE MISHIMA'S BOOK, "RUNAWAY HORSES". I CONFUSED THE TWO ENDINGS, SORRY.
It's important to make sure to find the best English translation of this book. I've read several translations and it's amazing how the last line of the book can leave you with a disturbingly serene vs. outright stunned feeling, depending on the adjectives the translator uses to describe the last vision the "Sailor" sees behind his closed eyelids. I've often wondered what feeling it was that Mishima really meant to convey.
so what translation would you suggest?
Well, this is embarrassing. I just realized that I have confused the ending of two different Mishima books! I guess that's what happens when you review something you read years ago (and have read a lot of books by the same author). I think I confused the two endings because in both books something similar happens in the very last scene. It is the protagonist in Mishima’s "Runaway Horses" who has the vision, not the "Sailor". And the translation I most prefer is the more dramatic one, translated by Michael Gallagher. I don't own the other translation, so I don't know who translated it. But when I read the other version I was struck by just how different the two interpretations were, and the difference in the reaction it elicited from me as I read it. The version of "The Sailor..." that I own is translated by John Nathan. Again, I have no idea how true it is to the original Japanese text, but I thought it was well written.
