Death in Midsummer - and Other Stories

Yukio Mishima

New Directions

1966

192 páginas

6h 24m

ISBN-13: 9780811201179

Recognized throughout the world for his brilliance as a novelist and playwright, Yukio Mishima is also noted as a master of the short story in his native Japan, where the form is practiced as a major art. Nine of his finest stories were selected by Mishima himself for translation in this book; they represent his extraordinary ability to depict, with deftness and penetration, a wide variety of human beings in moments of significance. Often his characters are sophisticated modern Japanese who turn out to be not so liberated from the past as they had thought.

In the title story, "Death in Midsummer," which is set at a beach resort, a triple tragedy becomes a cloud of doom that requires exorcising. In another, "Patriotism," a young army officer and his wife choose a way of vindicating their belief in ancient values that is as violent as it is traditional; it prefigured his own death by seppuku in November 1970. There is a story in which the sad truth of the relationship between a businessman and his former mistress is revealed through a suggestion of the unknown, and another in which a working-class couple, touching in their simple love for each other, pursue financial security by rather shocking means.

Also included is one of Mishima's "modern Nō plays," remarkable for the impact which its brevity and uncanny intensity achieve. The English versions have been done by four outstanding translators: Donald Keene, Ivan Morris, Geoffrey Sargent, and Edward Seidensticker.

Resenhas (1)

5 (Perfeito)

Contraste doloroso

Mishima é um daqueles escritores que, independentemente do que esteja falando ou de quem esteja contando a história, parece sempre deixar-se refletir em cada linha, em cada traço, em cada pensamento desconexo, em cada atitude inesperada aos quais dá vida.

Em cada um dos contos deste livro, dá pra ver a figura complexa, indecifrável, sem sentido e por vezes até risível de Mishima – às vezes ao fundo, às vezes em primeiro plano. Principalmente em 'Onnagata', o conto que mais me marcou, é possível perceber esse contraste doloroso que talvez tenha marcado toda a vida dele.

Destaco, também, o conto que dá nome ao livro, por navegar de forma tão acurada e tão fácil – mas não menos dolorosa – por entre emoções tão difíceis de serem descritas; e 'The pearl', por me introduzir à narrativa majestosa de diferentes pontos de vista e diferentes versões, sejam elas mentiras ou verdades, sobre um mesmo acontecimento tão banal.

Amei. Amei.