Comments on: Kawabata, Mishima & the Nobel Prize

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:45:01 +0000

Nah, Mishima’s still one of those classic mid-century lit giants in the US. Talk to any “smart person”, and chances are Mishima is in their favorite author list; he’s even referenced on TV shows and all that.

I’m curious to why Mishima is popular and respected in America, even compared to foreign authors in general. Murakami, now that guy’s becoming a joke.

By: Lee Miller

Lee Miller — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:54:17 +0000

Mishima is a fascinating character, it is a shame that in America one must go out of their way to even discover him

By: patrick

patrick — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:01:11 +0000

Yeah I heard Mishima had a revolver loaded with Ich Lüge bullets on the side in case the whole ritual suicide thing didn’t work out…and then there was that hullabaloo about him and Masa calling each other “クルトちゃん” and “ラムちゃん” in public…

By: W. David MARX

W. David MARX — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:32:53 +0000

“Writer Suicide (Don’t Do It)”

By: Aceface

Aceface — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:21:48 +0000

And “the British” were including Aussies and Kiwis and Indians.
Brits had no idea of what to do with post war Japan because London had to consider the interest of colonies and the members of commonwealth which were basically all against bringing Japan back to life again.

I was reading Keene’s memoir and he was saying some of the member of Swedish academy had voted against Mishima because he judged based on a rumour that Mishima is too much a left wing!

Any of you read this?

The writer,Grigory Chkhartishvili(also known as the mystery writer Boris Akunin) is literary critic and the first translator of Mishima Yukio in Russian.
Anyway in this “literary history of suicide”contains suicide case of writers from all over the world,but I was shocked with the abundance of Japanese among the data.(The author had written in the forword that this was partially due to his expertise,but also a tradition in a J-lit world.)Needless to say,Mishima and Kawabata’s cases are also included along with the other J-lit giants.

By: M-Bone

M-Bone — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:37:47 +0000

Virtually all historians accept “US Occupation”. Most of the major scholarship on the British presence is devoted to figuring out why they had no appreciable impact on anything of importance to do with the occupation.

By: british nitpicker

british nitpicker — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:17:55 +0000

“US occupation”? Sigh. Not only were there British officials and troops involved on the ground (in and around Hiroshima, for example), but the occupation was both formally and in practice a multinational effort – dominated of course by the US, but not to the point of excluding everybody else. “Allied Occupation” (with capital initials), please!
That said, I have nothing else to add, as this was a fascinating article, for which many thanks.

By: The Task of this Translator. « Wordthief

The Task of this Translator. « Wordthief — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:37:55 +0000

[...] Matt at No-sword, where you can see an actual geta symbol; his Néojaponisme article “Kawabata, Mishima & the Nobel Prize” is also well worth your [...]

By: Matt TREYVAUD

Matt TREYVAUD — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:36:02 +0000

Thanks LH, I’ve gone ahead and fixed that!

Chuckles: Yeah, the gossip is as rewarding as you’d expect, especially when the “and what if Tanizaki had still been alive?” angle is thrown in. To add to your info: Even in the discussion between Saeki Shoichi and Kawabata Kaori at the end of the correspondence, Saeki says “[三島の] 最後の行為の引金とまでは言わないけれど、繋がる何かを感ぜざるをえないなぁ。” They also discuss a “final letter” from Mishima that Kawabata burned shortly after he received, allegedly for Mishima’s family’s sake.

Seidensticker in Tokyo Central specifically rejects the theory of a direct link, but does claim that Mishima’s hunger for the prize “helps a good deal to explain his cosmopolitanism during those years”. He also quotes a diary entry of his from 1964 stating that Kawabata “does not admire Mishima’s recent work any more than I do, but considers the plays perhaps a little superior to the novels.” (Definition of “recent” is certainly relevant there…)

There was clearly a lot more going on than anyone has yet cared to straighten out on the record.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:17:24 +0000

Thanks.
There is so much juicy gossip surrounding this matter. I have heard it said in some circles that Mishima was actually the favorite for the Nobel but that he yielded to Kawabata out of the same deference to Japanese culture that led him to commit suicide. Said circles also suggest that the reason Kawabata killed himself was because he was tormented by this act on Mishima’s part – he certainly felt that the more brilliant Mishima had in effect patronized him (possibly the same sentiment revealed in his statement to the effect that he will be best remembered as Mishima’s discoverer). Kawabata certainly felt deficient alongside Mishima and Mishima I have heard was tormented by the fact that *he* didnt win the Nobel, perhaps another factor leading to his suicide.
I believe there is a digression to this effect in one of Shuichi Kato’s works – I have seen it attested to by Keene briefly elsewhere. This was certainly a sordid affair on all accounts, as there is nothing more painful than being a figurehead – as Kawabata certainly felt he was – when a younger, more handsome, dashing, brilliant and certainly more deserving colleague is the dispenser of said noblesse oblige. Mishima in loyalty to Japanese culture, in effect, acting as the prince of said culture, yielded to Kawabata – against his own personal ambition. Catastrophe was the ensuing result. Oh, Quelle Horreur!!! Perfide Nature Humaine!!!