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1poetontheone
Why is Kyoko's House the only novel (as far as I can tell) of Mishima's that has not been translated? Is it due to the poor reception when it was released in Japan? Is it some legal ordeal? I don't understand. I really want to read it since John Nathan said it was such a heavily personal novel for Mishima.
2JoseBuendia
I too have wanted to read it for many years. Don't know why there is no translation. Can anyone help?
3poetontheone
Anybody have information regarding this? I always figured it hasn't been translated due to poor sales upon release in Japan. On the other hand, the international interest in Mishima is significant enough that you'd figure it would have been translated by now, decades later.
4lilisin
There is no way to tell why a book hasn't been translated. I even looked for this one in French but it hasn't been translated in French either. And usually the French are really good about these types of translations. Perhaps someone in the Mishima family refused to have it reprinted, whether in Japanese, or another language. So it might require the death of someone in the Mishima family to have it translated.
5PhoenixTerran
I also would love to read Kyoko's House. Paul Schrader did adapt the story as part of his film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, but there is no English translation that I am aware of.
6poetontheone
I first heard of it in Nathan's biography, Mishima, then I saw it adapted in the Schrader film. I don't think Nathan addresses why it hasn't been translated.
7PhoenixTerran
I took a quick look through my copy of Mishima: A Biography and wasn't able to find mention of why Kyoko's House hasn't been translated. I feel like I've heard mention of a reason somewhere before, though. It's been a while since I've seen the Schrader film, so maybe it was in there?
8GYKM
I'd like to read to an English translation of "Kyoko's House," too.
Yukio Mishima published some 39 novels in his lifetime, only 12 of which were translated in English, the last being "Silk and Insight" in 1998, and, curiously, the French and the Italians translated different novels, e.g. "The Music" and "The Blue Period," sometimes along with the ones translated into English.
According to the various biographies out there by Nathan, Stokes, and Yourcenar, the publication of the English translations were determined by his publisher Knopf and by the availability of a willing translator.
Knopf only published Mishima's best work, but not every year, and not necessarily his most popular and best-selling, e.g. 美徳のよろめき (The Faltering of Virtue). Also, Knopf did not want to publish Mishima's controversial stuff because they thought it would hurt his image abroad. For instance, Knopf wanted to take a pass on "Forbidden Colors" because they were afraid that with "Confessions of a Mask" it would pigeonhole Mishima as strictly a LGBT writer. How Knopf was persuaded otherwise to finally publish it in 1968, I'm not sure, but with "Kyoko's House" the choice to decline was much easier.
I'm speculating, here, but since "Kyoko's House" didn't sell as well as his previous books and with the Japan's critics, I think that Knopf and the other Western publishers saw no reason to publish a translation of it.
Even if they want to do it, I'm not sure who'd they find to translate it into English. Many biographies and book reviews have stated that Mishima was one of the hardest Japanese writers to translate because his vocabulary was extremely broad and rich. In fact, Marleigh Ryan believed that only Seidensticker could do Mishima justice in English (Journal of Japanese Studies, 1.1), but Seidensticker personally disliked Mishima and his work and certainly wasn't going to translate his books, that is, until he was persuaded to translate "The Decay of the Angel" in 1974. John Nathan was terrified of "Kyoko's House" and his relationship with Mishima had soured when he declined to translate "Silk and Insight." And, Ivan Morris was continually busy with other books.
Considering all the translations that came out just before and right after his death, and none of them being "Kyoko's House," I guess I'd return to the fact that the novel didn't do well commercially and it was too controversial, with the S&M and double-suicide, for Knopf or any other publisher to stomach.
With the failure of recently translated works like "Silk and Insight," and stacks of overprints I see a lot in used bookstores, I'd say that the market and interest for English-translated Mishima works is shrinking and the possibility for a translation of "Kyoko's House" is very unlikely. Though minus an effort by major author or a big publisher, possibly to celebrate the centenary of Mishima's birth in Jan. 2025 could change this.
Cheers and Read On!
Yukio Mishima published some 39 novels in his lifetime, only 12 of which were translated in English, the last being "Silk and Insight" in 1998, and, curiously, the French and the Italians translated different novels, e.g. "The Music" and "The Blue Period," sometimes along with the ones translated into English.
According to the various biographies out there by Nathan, Stokes, and Yourcenar, the publication of the English translations were determined by his publisher Knopf and by the availability of a willing translator.
Knopf only published Mishima's best work, but not every year, and not necessarily his most popular and best-selling, e.g. 美徳のよろめき (The Faltering of Virtue). Also, Knopf did not want to publish Mishima's controversial stuff because they thought it would hurt his image abroad. For instance, Knopf wanted to take a pass on "Forbidden Colors" because they were afraid that with "Confessions of a Mask" it would pigeonhole Mishima as strictly a LGBT writer. How Knopf was persuaded otherwise to finally publish it in 1968, I'm not sure, but with "Kyoko's House" the choice to decline was much easier.
I'm speculating, here, but since "Kyoko's House" didn't sell as well as his previous books and with the Japan's critics, I think that Knopf and the other Western publishers saw no reason to publish a translation of it.
Even if they want to do it, I'm not sure who'd they find to translate it into English. Many biographies and book reviews have stated that Mishima was one of the hardest Japanese writers to translate because his vocabulary was extremely broad and rich. In fact, Marleigh Ryan believed that only Seidensticker could do Mishima justice in English (Journal of Japanese Studies, 1.1), but Seidensticker personally disliked Mishima and his work and certainly wasn't going to translate his books, that is, until he was persuaded to translate "The Decay of the Angel" in 1974. John Nathan was terrified of "Kyoko's House" and his relationship with Mishima had soured when he declined to translate "Silk and Insight." And, Ivan Morris was continually busy with other books.
Considering all the translations that came out just before and right after his death, and none of them being "Kyoko's House," I guess I'd return to the fact that the novel didn't do well commercially and it was too controversial, with the S&M and double-suicide, for Knopf or any other publisher to stomach.
With the failure of recently translated works like "Silk and Insight," and stacks of overprints I see a lot in used bookstores, I'd say that the market and interest for English-translated Mishima works is shrinking and the possibility for a translation of "Kyoko's House" is very unlikely. Though minus an effort by major author or a big publisher, possibly to celebrate the centenary of Mishima's birth in Jan. 2025 could change this.
Cheers and Read On!
10poetontheone
That is very enlightening, GYKM. I was either unaware, or simply forgetful, that Mishima's published work was so voluminous, and the translation of his work into English so selective. I wonder if the case is similar with Tanizaki, Kawabata, et. al.? In Tanizaki's case, it seems that the ratio of published works to those translated into English is much greater.
11GYKM
Re: lilisin: No prob.
Re: poetontheone: I'm no expert, but I believe that most of the stories that Tanizaki published have been translated into English. I'm less certain in the case of Kawabata's novels, but I'm sure that just under 80 palm-of-the-hand stories remain untranslated.
On the question of why more of Kawabata and Tanizaki's works seem to have been translated than Mishima's, I believe that there are several possible reasons:
1. It took less time for English translations of most of Kawabata and Tanizaki's oeuvre to be published because those two simply wrote fewer novels and stories than Mishima, who published two novels annually from 1950 to 1970 in addition to numerous short stories and plays.
2. The ups and downs of the market for Japanese novels in English speaking countries—unless the novelist is Haruki Murakami.
3. There is a stigma surrounding Mishima, his coup attempt, and his death. If you read the "Mishima's Sword" by Christopher Ross or read what Western journalists have reported, the public sentiment in Japan is that Mishima was (1) insane and (2) passé. IMHO, "insane author" and old-fashioned are things big publishers typically don't want to hear or publish. As interest in Mishima waned after his death, Western publishers reprinted his work in a marketing campaign that had Mishima as the "last samurai" and, unfortunately, this forced his works into a niche market typified by the writings of the insane, outsider art, and extremist reactionary rightist manifestos. Meanwhile, Tanizaki and Kawabata, being "safe" writers, were being translated and published into English more frequently. (Interestingly, Ross also mentions that in Japan the sales of Mishima reprints and of the new edition of his Collected Works continue to be brisk some four decades after his death.)
4. In the opinion of some translators and Japanologists, Mishima's prose was too challenging and some translators, like Nathan, simply turned down offers to translate particular works—though "challenging" doesn't necessarily mean that Mishima's work was superior to Kawabata or Tanizaki's. The 1998 English translation of "Silk and Insight," which for many was already badly written in Japanese to begin with, and the same that Nathan turned down in the '60s, was a bomb. It was so severely criticized that instead of inspiring a wave of new translations of Mishima's lesser-known works, interest was stifled and the focus of translation was shifted to Mishima's later plays.
5. A sizeable portion of Mishima's work that have not been translated into English were the novels that were serialized in women's magazines and the same that he criticized in public as sensationalist tripe. While many English biographers shared this dismissive view of those novels, the "potboilers," there's actually a lot of hit-and-miss with Mishima's writing. Mishima didn't rate "Forbidden Colors" too highly, but it was nevertheless translated into English. Japanese readers back in the '50s and '60s raved about "The Faltering of Virtue," "Miss," and "Goddess," and those on Amazon.co.jp in the 2000s and the 2010s, do as well. So, I think that there are probably some Mishima novels that ought to be in English, but they there aren't because of the stigma against his lesser works or what Nathan called, "worthless stones skillfully cut and polished" (Mishima: A Biography, 104).
Hopefully, this is has been helpful.
Re: poetontheone: I'm no expert, but I believe that most of the stories that Tanizaki published have been translated into English. I'm less certain in the case of Kawabata's novels, but I'm sure that just under 80 palm-of-the-hand stories remain untranslated.
On the question of why more of Kawabata and Tanizaki's works seem to have been translated than Mishima's, I believe that there are several possible reasons:
1. It took less time for English translations of most of Kawabata and Tanizaki's oeuvre to be published because those two simply wrote fewer novels and stories than Mishima, who published two novels annually from 1950 to 1970 in addition to numerous short stories and plays.
2. The ups and downs of the market for Japanese novels in English speaking countries—unless the novelist is Haruki Murakami.
3. There is a stigma surrounding Mishima, his coup attempt, and his death. If you read the "Mishima's Sword" by Christopher Ross or read what Western journalists have reported, the public sentiment in Japan is that Mishima was (1) insane and (2) passé. IMHO, "insane author" and old-fashioned are things big publishers typically don't want to hear or publish. As interest in Mishima waned after his death, Western publishers reprinted his work in a marketing campaign that had Mishima as the "last samurai" and, unfortunately, this forced his works into a niche market typified by the writings of the insane, outsider art, and extremist reactionary rightist manifestos. Meanwhile, Tanizaki and Kawabata, being "safe" writers, were being translated and published into English more frequently. (Interestingly, Ross also mentions that in Japan the sales of Mishima reprints and of the new edition of his Collected Works continue to be brisk some four decades after his death.)
4. In the opinion of some translators and Japanologists, Mishima's prose was too challenging and some translators, like Nathan, simply turned down offers to translate particular works—though "challenging" doesn't necessarily mean that Mishima's work was superior to Kawabata or Tanizaki's. The 1998 English translation of "Silk and Insight," which for many was already badly written in Japanese to begin with, and the same that Nathan turned down in the '60s, was a bomb. It was so severely criticized that instead of inspiring a wave of new translations of Mishima's lesser-known works, interest was stifled and the focus of translation was shifted to Mishima's later plays.
5. A sizeable portion of Mishima's work that have not been translated into English were the novels that were serialized in women's magazines and the same that he criticized in public as sensationalist tripe. While many English biographers shared this dismissive view of those novels, the "potboilers," there's actually a lot of hit-and-miss with Mishima's writing. Mishima didn't rate "Forbidden Colors" too highly, but it was nevertheless translated into English. Japanese readers back in the '50s and '60s raved about "The Faltering of Virtue," "Miss," and "Goddess," and those on Amazon.co.jp in the 2000s and the 2010s, do as well. So, I think that there are probably some Mishima novels that ought to be in English, but they there aren't because of the stigma against his lesser works or what Nathan called, "worthless stones skillfully cut and polished" (Mishima: A Biography, 104).
Hopefully, this is has been helpful.
12Matt_Rhodes
A very interesting discussion on Kyoko's House; many thanks for all of the comments. I was curious as to whether Nathan's opinion on this matter had changed, and so I've emailed him to ask about this issue. Will be glad to share any response I receive.
13poetontheone
Any word from John Nathan, Matt?
14HugoNogueira
I would love to read a translation. So far there hasn't been one to Portuguese.
15Matt_Rhodes
I am just now revisiting my interest in Kyoko's House, and in coming back to this realized I had never provided my response from Dr. Nathan four years ago; here it is:
Dear Matt,
Excellent question! Kyoko's House is of course an uncannily precise and knowing prefiguring of the manifold delusion Mishima may well have stepped into as he prepared to end his life ten years later. I suppose its highly schematic nature is its major weakness as a novel--it's more a concept than a story. Nonetheless, it certainly should be translated, and I have no idea why no one has stepped up to do it.
Interested?
Best,
John Nathan
Dear Matt,
Excellent question! Kyoko's House is of course an uncannily precise and knowing prefiguring of the manifold delusion Mishima may well have stepped into as he prepared to end his life ten years later. I suppose its highly schematic nature is its major weakness as a novel--it's more a concept than a story. Nonetheless, it certainly should be translated, and I have no idea why no one has stepped up to do it.
Interested?
Best,
John Nathan
17poetontheone
Awesome, Matt. Thanks for posting that!
18GYKM
Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but Penguin/Vintage will publish an English translation of Yukio Mishima's 1961 novel "Kemono no tawamure" as The Frolic of the Beasts this year .
I'm not sure who the translator(s) is/are but I am hopeful that new English translations of Mishima's other novels, especially "Kyoko no Ie," will soon be available in English.
I'm not sure who the translator(s) is/are but I am hopeful that new English translations of Mishima's other novels, especially "Kyoko no Ie," will soon be available in English.
