夏子の冒険

by Yukio Mishima

Natsuko Matsuura is headstrong, beautiful and determined to live a life beyond the ordinary. Disappointed again and again by the drearily conventional men on the Tokyo dating scene, she decides to renounce marriage altogether and join a convent in faraway Hokkaido. Setting off with her grandmother, mother and aunt, she readies herself for a nun’s life. But her journey is derailed when she meets Tsuyoshi Ida, a fiery young man with sparkling eyes and a score to settle; with a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder, he’s tracking a bear through the forests of Hokkaido, seeking vengeance for the death of his former girlfriend. Thinking she may at last have met a man who shares her sense of adventure, Natsuko flees her anxious guardians and joins the hunt, with more than a bear in her sights . . .

Written in 1951 and translated into English for the very first time, The Adventures of Natsuko shows Mishima at his comic best, in an anti-fairy tale for the modern era.

Genres: Japan, Fiction

216 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published December 5, 1951

About the author

Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, the Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.

Reviews

[Ally Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

[2024.05.05_53]

認真的三島，想要寫一部爆笑的作品時，就會超級認真，方方面面都顧全的極盡諷刺惡搞之能事，真的是太厲害了。

全書各處安插著「那是有名的ＮＹ。他畫出嶄新又美妙的畫作，所以最近，就算畫出平底鍋裡有幾場那樣的畫也被大家視為理所當然了。」（第一章 熱情家在哪裡？）、「雖然沒有展示的對象，三人還是仔細化妝打扮，哀嘆帶來替換的衣服太少。尤其是祖母，無奈之下連脖子都開始塗白粉。」（第二十二章 狩獵家氣質）、「三人如果繼續這種論調，會陷入夏子不是被人誘惑而是主動誘惑別人的自打臉窘境，因此說話時很小心」（第二十六章 道歉也是一種奇妙的發展）這種任何細節都可以修飾（機車）一句的活潑。

雖然故事的主角是追尋熱情的松浦夏子跟著獵熊的井田毅，但嘴硬的祖母、漫不經心的母親、愛哭的姑姑所組成的八卦三人組，是全書靈動鮮活，令人無奈又好笑的泉源。不合時宜的奇怪言論、驚嚇時灑在膝上的海帶絲湯、霸王硬上車的理所當然，還有追蹤到夏子的聰明，讓這三個婆婆媽媽深具魅力。

光是會搞笑，無法讓一部作品成為傑作，就是因為三島是以「一旦去了就無法回頭，才是美妙的冒險。」（第二章 這正是熱情的證明）、「就像夫妻依樣，即使是清純的小情侶，也有所謂的倦怠期」（第十七章 親切的種類）、「對兩人而言，那頭熊是仇敵還是理想，已經難以分辨。」（第二十五章 登場人物齊聚一堂）這樣洞悉人性理解世情的精準的底蘊著筆，所以諷刺才能到位、胡鬧才會好笑，本書才會如此精彩。

最後，我很高興夏子沒打算嫁給井田，就算是在危急時刻，但會打人頭的男人，還是能避則避比較安全。

大牌的日本文學經典，真的一上市趕快領起來就對了。



【24 April 2024 / readmoo / 領書】

[Bookish Tokyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Natsuko's cheeks suddenly reddened when she recalled the dream she had during the night. She dreamed that the young man she glimpsed at the station with a hunting gun slung over his shoulder had mistaken his own berth for hers, and climbed in.”
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I’m not sure where to really begin with this review. I went into this book knowing very little and expecting all the themes that Mishima enthuses in his writing. This is where I often struggle with his writing, or more precisely, with his political stance. For Mishima’s gift with writing is obvious, but often that beauty is suffused with an underlying darkness of nationalism. His political views often come through in various themes that occasionally make for an uncomfortable read. Even more so when you think about his unfortunate and very public death.
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So I went into this with some trepidation. What I soon realized was that this feels very, very different from all of his other books. You can see in this early Mishima novel, like the budding of tulips breaking through the soil, his themes that would come to the fore in his later books: repression, eroticism and beauty. You get the hint of these themes, especially eroticism, with much polishing of gun barrels and stolen looks at a heaving bosom. There is also, to my surprise, much humour. It feels absurd, almost a slapstick caper.
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Natsuko wants to live life her own way. Frustrated that society expects her to settle down with men, Natsuko views them as soulless, dead behind the eyes, boring men who want nothing more than a staid life with a wife at home. Natsuko wants a man who has a passion beyond work, who isn’t boring, who can challenge her. It is the hunt of a man-eating bear that brings Natsuko to a man she believes will live up to her desires. It is a faintly ridiculous plot, and while it is an adventure in a way, I much prefer the Japanese title 愛の渇き – Thirst for Love.
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Natsuko almost felt a bit unbelievable, not in the sense of her desire to break free from the social norms, but that she felt a touch one-dimensional. Her focus on living a life true to herself led her to some odd and difficult decisions. I think a later Mishima would probably have rounded her out a bit more, but you can’t help feeling some admiration for Natsuko getting to grips with the absurdity of her existence. Then I do wonder about whether she really thirsted for love or more just a thirst for a fulfilled life. She didn’t strike me as a character who fell in love easily, and in fact, the lack of any suitable options led her on a wild bear hunt, both figuratively and literally. Throughout the book, there’s an undertone of repressed desires; it runs through the book like a seam of eroticism, from the nighttime fumbles to the stolen glances. I think I was expecting something to happen, or a bit more depth, that in the end wasn’t there.
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There’s a lot to like about this. I liked it, but perhaps wasn’t entirely taken by it. Thanks to Penguin for the advanced copy.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

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