New Writing in Japan

by Yukio Mishima (Editor), Geoffrey Bownas (Editor)

English, Japanese (translation)

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Short Stories

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

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

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction by Yukio Mishima: "Another basic rule [for inclusion in the collection] was to pay no regard to a novelist's or poet's standing within Japan. For in Japan, as anywhere else in the world, an author can make a name for himself through political or similar extraneous influence, and this may well conceal the inherent lack of worth in his writing." Isn't he sweet? Don’t worry, Yukio! No one will ever hate you as much as you hate yourself. I promise.

That said, I was a bit disappointed by the stories. Perhaps he didn't want the setting to distract from his "Patriotism". Kobo Abe had some nice ideas, it's just a shame you have to read the stories ("Stick" and "Red Cocoon") and I was disappointed with Shintaro Ishihara ("Ambush").

I enjoyed "Sudden Shower" by Junnosuke Yoshiyuki (a young man thinks he's cheated love with a relationship with a prostitute) and "The Pawnbroker’s Wife" (a young man doesn't know what he's doing and then it's too late).

There's a very tame translation of Kenzaburo Oe's "Shiiku". John Bester (using the title "The Catch") has taken all the freaky stuff out! He's turned one of those mad Japanese "giraffes" into a Shetland pony! John Nathan's translation ("Prize Stock") is all you need.

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction reveals that big Yukio had just finished working on compiling this when he launched Japan's least successful fascist putsch. Some gems but extremely heavy on a) war and b) misogyny.

[Lenady · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part about this book is perhaps the large range of works, from abstract to realistic, from fiction to poetry, from traditional forms to modern. There's a piece for everyone in this text.