Customer Reviews

The Tales of the Heike (Translations from the Asian Classics)

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3 star:		(1)
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Burton Watson comes through with another great translation of East Asian texts, in his abridged work of the Tales of the Heike. The translations are superb, and have a wonderful feel to them. I find myself comparing the Tales of the Heike with the Iliad and Odyssey as I read it; the book definitely feels like a Greek tragedy.

Another feature I like of the book is the dramatis personae listed at the beginning of each chapter. This helps to keep track of who's who in each chapter, and the map at the beginning of the book is helpful as well, as many place names are somewhat obscure.

I had to take off one star for this book though because I felt that it was a bit too abridged. I noticed some chapters were completely abridged to just one paragraph. Instead of helping the flow, I think it caused a kind of stop/start feel to those parts of the book.

I definitely think this is a good first-time introduction to the Tales of the Heike, and I certainly enjoyed reading.

[...]

This book is an excellent introduction to the classic Tales of the Heike.

It has an informative prologue on the culture of the period and history of the tale. Its maps, period illustrations, detailed glossary of characters and in-depth bibliography greatly enhance the scope and historical importance of the work. Evil and good, life and death, victors and losers are all examined in this classic warrior tale, and its many heroes and villains are brought back to life with immediacy and insight.

However. Regardless of the excellent translation and scholarship of this version, it is SO abridged. Granted, the non-abridged tale can be a challenging tome, but the text of the original has been edited with too sharp a scalpel. Nuances of character, intense action, painful and poignant acceptance of total defeat have been lost, which lessens the impact and emotional depth of this classic work.

But the fact remains: if this abridged version sparks an interest in anyone who is not committed to reading the original work, all the better. It quickly brings readers into the Heike world and history, and offers them a compelling and satisfying read.

Quite simply put, this book lacks the narrative power of "The Aeneid", "The Iliad, or "The Odyssey." In overall quality, it would be more accurate to compare it to somewhat contemporary medieval tales of Europe like "The Nibelungenlied" or "The Song of Roland." Perhaps, there is some merit in them, but the average modern day Western reader will likely as not find them very boring.

To start, there's no unifying character like Aeneas, or Achilles, or Odysseus. In fact, there's no memorable character, at all. There is no Brunhilda, Grendel, or Merlin. There's also little suspense and no cause for which you can root. None of the characters are important, so the story ends up being dehumanized. It is really just one side seizing power over another. No city, home, or family is at stake. There is no struggle between good and evil.

The Japanese gods do not make any direct or compelling appearances. There is really no journey or climax. Mostly, the language is not enticing and the poetry feels cliche and melancholy. So few phrases catch into the memory that one wonders if it is too difficult to translate eastern languages or if the old theory is correct and that, by chance, the East was held back in science, art, and literature because they did not stumble upon a simple alphabet. There's a great deal of variety in Homer (such as the use of Archaic spellings) that simply would not be possible with a much more complicated writing system.

The only good thing about "The Tales" at all is that it gives you some sense of medieval Japan, but one element that is missing from this book is a comparison with the true history. In "The Song of Roland" the singers had Roland fighting the Moors but in reality, as the written history of the period tells us, the Basques were the ones who ambushed the Franks.

Of course, there are heavy undertones of the Buddhist idea of impermanence, but if you have ever read James Clavell's "Shogun" or read almost any Japanese literature before, then it will seem like this philosophical idea has already been done to death. The fact that "The Tales" is earlier doesn't make it more original. It is about as fun and uplifting as reading "The Book of Ecclesiastes." Japanese court poetry will give you the same experience without the tangled story.

Do yourself a favor and read the Aeneid instead. When Virgil kills a man, there is the love of life present even as he dies.