This feature began with the overview article and read, in order, Chapter 1, Chapter 4, Chapters 5 and 6, Chapter 8, and the appendix. Here we look back over the range read.
Note that Chapters 2, 3, and 7 will be read in detail in the features that follow in this group. What we say in this article concerns the range read so far.
What still reads
Within the range read, the ideas that can be read across time are these.
- The power to read is the starting point of writing. The aim of Chapter 1, to lead readers to be attentive readers (the Chapter 1 article), is an idea that holds today.
- Prose needs different techniques by purpose. As the story of the speech draft at the Ministry of Finance shows, even the same Japanese has different methods by use.
- Not making one type supreme. The attitude of wanting to be sensitive to the beauty of every style is still valid for reading prose.
- An eye for the difference of functions of dialogue. The point that dialogue in fiction is supported by the narrative while dialogue in drama carries even the explanation of the situation (the Chapter 4 article) is a clue for analyzing prose.
- The relation of density and speed in prose. The idea that writing fast makes density coarse can be read as a writer’s felt experience.
What is of its time
On the other hand, the following should be distinguished as the view of one novelist in 1959.
- The view that “Japanese is thin in logic.” In Chapter 5, Mishima gives the illogical nature of Japanese as a reason for the difficulty of critical prose. In general, linguistics is cautious about the view that one language is more logical than another. This view is best read as Mishima’s impression.
- The situation around translation. Chapter 6 says there are almost no famous translations of Japanese literature. The situation has since changed greatly (we have not checked the substance of the change in this feature).
- Tastes of writing. Chapter 8’s tastes — avoiding “kanojo,” not using “boku” in essays, not naming actors — are Mishima’s personal ones. It is not that other writers of the time thought the same.
- “Dignity and grace.” The final ideal at the close of Chapter 8 is not defined, and is best read as a profession of Mishima’s belief.
Noticing how the examples are chosen
Within the range read, one notices something. The examples Mishima cites are chosen by his taste. Writers Mishima honors — Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Shiga Naoya, Ōgai, Cocteau, Valéry — appear again and again. Limited to the chapters read, the writers cited seem, for the most part, to be men. Whether the same holds in the chapters from Chapter 2 on we will check in the features that follow.
Mishima himself says in Chapter 1 that he wants to set aside his own tastes and prejudices (the overview article). The relation between those words and the actual choice of examples is one question to ask in reading this book.
What to check against the works
Another way to read this book is to check it against Mishima’s own works. Chapter 8 and the appendix speak of Mishima’s practice quite concretely. In the features on the works in the second half, we want to check the following points in actual works.
| Claim in the book | What to check in the works |
|---|---|
| No later correction. A match per sheet | (This is a working method, hard to confirm from the works. Treated as Mishima’s word) |
| Melt mediocrity; knots in flat prose | Whether the actual prose has flat parts and sensory knots |
| No repeated words. Fondness for parallelism | Whether word repetition is avoided; whether parallel expressions occur |
| Insert the present tense among past tenses | Whether present-tense insertions actually occur |
| Avoid “kanojo,” repeat the name | How female characters are referred to |
| Dialogue as spray on the wave | The balance of narrative and dialogue |
This check is done not to believe Mishima’s words, but to confirm the distance between word and practice.
Limits of this feature
One, what we read was by OCR, with checks by image. Quotations were checked against images of the original, but the read-through relied on the text extracted by OCR. OCR has misspellings and repetitions, and misreadings in detail may remain.
Two, quotations are kept short. Because the book is in copyright, quotations in each article were limited to a few short ones. Of the works Mishima cites, those still in copyright are not quoted.
Three, Noguchi Takehiko’s afterword is not treated. The afterword is another author’s work, and in this feature it was used only to confirm the dates of publication.
Four, Chapters 2, 3, and 7 are not yet read. They make up about sixty percent of the book. The “whole shape of the book” stated in this feature may be revised in the features that follow.
Summary
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| What still reads | The power to read is the start / technique differs by purpose / no supreme type / the difference in dialogue’s function |
| What is of its time | The view of Japanese logic / the translation situation / writing tastes / “dignity and grace” |
| Choice of examples | Strongly Mishima’s taste. In the range read, the writers cited seem mostly men |
| Check against works | Knots, avoiding repetition, present-tense insertion, treatment of “kanojo,” balance of dialogue |
| Limits | OCR plus image checks. Short quotations. Afterword not treated. Chapters 2, 3, 7 unread |
In a nutshell — Bunshō Tokuhon is a book in which readable ideas and the taste of its time are mixed. To check that distance, next we read the three largest chapters in detail.