Product Description

A band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disallusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111626 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-11
• Original language: Japanese
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
Mishima's greatest novel, and one of the greatest of the past century The Times Explores the viciousness that lies beneath what we imagine to be innocence Independent Told with Mishima's fierce attention to naturalistic detail, the grisly tale becomes painfully convincing and yields a richness of psychological and mythic truth Sunday Times Coolly exact with his characters and their honourable motives. His aim is to make the destruction of the sailor by his love seem as inevitable as the ocean Guardian Mishima's imagery is as artful as a Japanese flower arrangement New York Times

From the Publisher
One of the nine titles in the Vintage East promotion.

About the Author
Yukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide) at the age of forty-five.

Customer Reviews

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea
Yukio Mishima's 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea' is a short novel but, due to its tight plot, brevity is not an issue. Published in 1963, seven years before he committed ritual suicide, the novel explores motivation and the factors that can cause someone to abandon their passions and resume their life embracing the dreams of another.

Noboru Kuroda, a thirteen year old on the cusp of an adult world, is part of a savage gang whose members, despite their exemplary grades at school, have rebelled against the adult world they deem hypocritical. Under the tutelage of Noboru's friend, also thirteen, they condition themselves against sentimental feelings - a goal they call `objectivity' - by killing stray cats.

Ryuji Tsukazaki, a merchant seaman, has been granted two days' shore leave and has spent the time romancing Noboru's widowed mother, Fusako. Noboru likes the sailor at first, his commitment to the sea and all the manly stories he has to tell. But, as Ryuji falls for Fusako, Noboru feels betrayed by the man's burgeoning romanticism and, with the help of his gang, feels that action should be taken against the man who has replaced his father.

The first thing I noticed while reading this novel was that the characters are rich with life and history. Noboru, at thirteen, has strong feelings for his mother that manifest through voyeuristic sessions at night when, peeking into her room through a spy-hole, he watches her undress, entertain, and sleep. Ryuji, the sailor, knows he has some purpose at sea and continues his life off the land in the hope that one day he will learn his place in life. And Fusako, five years widowed, displays certain strength as she runs her own business, mixes with a richer class of citizen, while trying to raise he son as best she can.

The way the characters develop from this introduction is fast yet believable - the book, in fact, is split into two sections, 'Summer' and 'Winter', to show that enough time has passed to be plausible. Noboru's respect for Ryuji wanes as he becomes the worst thing, based on his gang's beliefs, a man can be in this world: a father. Ryuji's abandonment of his life's passion is, of course, the main thread of the novel and it is a tragic decision he makes to give up the destiny waiting for him at sea in order to embrace the world of Fusako and the new direction she has planned for him.

The best thing about this novel is the language. The translator, John Nathan, has done a wonderful job and not a page passes without hitting you with a warm wash of sea-spray. Metaphors and similes are drenched with watery goodness as they add to the novel's appeal. The prose is warm during the 'Summer' section but as the book turns to 'Winter' the turns of phrase become icier and tend to sting more. The dialogue is nice and realistic and doesn't smart of stereotypical Japanese honour; the way the characters interact completely plausible.

I hadn't heard of Mishima until I picked up this novel and, given that he had three Nobel nominations in his lifetime, I will certainly look out for more of his work. His concise prose, realistic characters, and the way his voice carries the sea makes him a rare find. If books were shells, I would hope to hear Mishima in every one.

On the border between potency and preposterousness
Essence of Mishima in one very artful, very imaginative short novel, published in 1963, about a boy who observes a handsome young sailor's relationship with his widowed mother as a betrayal of a vision of man's mystical connection with the infinite mystery of the sea. As a member of a group of nihilistic delinquents, young Noboru plots a terrible revenge when the sailor does something as banal and "unmanly" as settling down and getting married. Mishima's homo-erotic and convoluted philosophy about man's duty to the heroic absolute is at root amoral and anti-humanist, and at times not far from a kind of fascism (and let's face it, Mishima's kinky militarism had fascist overtones). Combined with some porno-standard purple prose, and unflinching sadism - notably the scene where the boys skin a kitten - it makes the book difficult to accept. Somehow, however it avoids being ridiculous, instead achieving an eccentric integrity. Mishima compels because of his sensitive observation of human relations, his ingenuity of design, and his sly and morbid humour, none of which are to be found in purely fascist art.

Mishima's Best
A humble and much contested opinion - but to me this is Mishima's best. Delicately written, swimming in feeling and a hazy atmosphere of remembrance. The story is simple and consise and can be read by anyone. This book, along with Cofessions of a Mask will provide the perfect introduction to this writers work, arguably the most important modern Japanese writer, along with Endo and Soseki.