Acts of Worship: Seven Stories [Paperback]

Yukio Mishima (Author), John Bester (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2002

When Mishima committed ritual suicide in November 1970, he was only forty-five. He had written over thirty novels, eighteen plays, and twenty volumes of short stories. During his lifetime, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times and had seen almost all of his major novels appear in English. While the flamboyance of his life and the apparent fanaticism of his death have dominated the public's perception of his achievement, Japanese and Western critics alike are in agreement that his literary gifts were prodigious.

Mishima is arguably at his best in the shorter forms, and it is the flower of these that appears here for the first time in English. Each story has its own distinctive atmosphere and each is brilliantly organized, yielding deeper layers of meaning with repeated readings. The psychological observation, particularly in what it reveals of the turmoil of adolescence, is meticulous.

The style, with its skillful blending of colors and surfaces, shows Mishima in top form, and no further proof is needed to remind us that he was a consummate writer whose work is an irreplaceable part of world literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This beautifully translated collection contains some Mishima's finest stories, none of them previously collected in an English edition. In the moving title story, the loyal, self-effacing housemaid of a solitary professor-poet ferrets out the secret of his lifelong sadness. Jack, in "Raisin Bread," a pill-popping failed suicide at 22, his "sole aim to become quite invisible," is a 1950s anti-hero who seems very contemporary. A proud youth in "Fountains in the Rain," breaking up with his girlfriend, becomes captivated by a splashing fountain, which we see as a symbol of his own flamboyant egotism. "Sword," a sweaty plunge into the world of college fencing, pits youth vs. age, animal pleasure vs. mental rigor, muscular prowess vs. meditative rapture. The seven stories vary in tone and subject matter, yet each reveals Mishima's total control, his gift for striking imagery and psychological insight.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The acclaimed Mishima (1925-1970) is the best-known Japanese novelist of the post-war period. Reflecting Mishima's fascination with power through hermetic displays of egotism and machismo, the tightly crafted stories in this collection--published to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death--appear here for the first time in English. The protagonists are callous adolescent males compelled to dominate their schoolmates and girlfriends. A poignant variation on this theme is played out in the title story, where a plain, middle-aged woman slavishly devotes herself to the whims of her employer, a cold and pretentious literary scholar. This capable translation captures Mishima's strengths and weaknesses as a writer. For collections strong in international or Asian fiction.
- Christine Stenstrom, New York Law Sch. Lib.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA (September 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770028938
• ISBN-13: 978-4770028938
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #233,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Asian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bespeak the author's rigid mentality, November 14, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acts of Worship: Seven Stories (Paperback)

Acts Of Worship: Seven Stories is an anthology of short stories by the internationally famous Japanese author Yukio Mishima, who is perhaps most notorious for his dramatic ritual suicide in 1970. Flawlessly translated into English by John Bester, the short stories include: Fountains in the Rain; Raisin Bread; Sword; Sea and Sunset; Cigarette; Martyrdom; and the title piece, Act of Worship, and bespeak the rigid mentality of one born and rigorously raised in the traditions of the samurai caste, long after the era of the samurai. Written with biting insight, sharp ruthlessness and a keen eye for just how much (or how little) human life is worth, Acts Of Worship documents Yukio Mishima as having been an undeniably strong and articulate voice in Japan's modern literary tradition.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories by a master of repression & madness, March 31, 2009

By 

T. Burrows (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acts of Worship: Seven Stories (Paperback)

This is a group of Mishima's stories, written between 1946 and 1965, and collected in 1989. He primarily wrote novels, but these stories demonstrate that he could write great short pieces too. I once loved his writing, but I now find a lot of it disturbing. Perhaps this is due to me finding his life and death disturbing - his intense narcissism, his political extremism, and his closeted bi or homosexuality. In his writing he seemed to be after some sort of purity and beauty, but he associated these things with violence and suicide. He lived a life of great success and achievement, but was never satisfied, and began to come unglued toward the end of his life. Still, there is no denying his power as a writer. He could write lines of perfect, radiant prose. He portrayed the subtle inner lives of repressed characters with great power and feeling.

A couple of these are early stories and not especially interesting, altho they do show the young writer beginning to exercise his talent. "Sword" is well written, and it showcases Mishima's fascination with kendo and youthful masculinity. "Sea and Sunset" is proof that Mishima had a great sense of humor, one that he did not show often enough. "Act of Worship" is the real masterpiece of the book, and shows Mishima at the height of his powers, doing what he does best - describing an uptight, repressed woman with the hots for a man who is out of her reach. In this case, an old maid becomes the housekeeper for a brilliant, wall-eyed old poetry professor, a man who commands great respect, but is deeply lonely. He describes their subtle communications and interactions brilliantly. This is worthwhile reading for fans, and a good place to start if you have never Mishima's stuff before.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Collection of Writing, August 2, 2004

By 

RLS (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acts of Worship: Seven Stories (Paperback)

Contrary to what the translator claims in the introduction, based on this collection of short stories, Mishima Yukio's work as a novelist far exceeds in quality that of the short story writer. While some stories are quite good - "Acts of Worship," "Cigarette," and "Sword" come to mind - and demonstrate not only the thought but also the large amounts of research Mishima put into his writing, others only evince lukewarm sentiments or insights into the author's aesthetic tastes. While this in itself is certainly not enough to merit a "low rating," these same sentiments are more effectively conveyed in his novels.
Another complaint is that these stories are presented largely in an ahistorical way. That is, there is little reference to when Mishima wrote them, what he was experiencing at the time, and what the situation of Japan was like, socioeconomically. Understanding these concepts is crucial to understanding Mishima's motives and writing.