Hello. Today, I want to analyze into the literature of Mishima. In high school, when I was a so-called “literature girl”, I read his book of “The Sound of Waves”. I was deeply touched by the beauty of the love story and the lifestyle of the fisherman’s island. The story was so innocent and serene. The book was a masterpiece of Mishima, carved so onto my heart. And for the first time in 25 years, I read it back. I can’t help but feeling some kind of wonder, since for these years I moved a lot. I studied university in Tokyo and came back to Kyushu after graduation, worked and got married and so on. But somehow, the little book was still sitting at the back of my bookshelf.
みなさん、こんにちは。今日は三島由紀夫について考察してみたいと思います。その昔、文学少女なりし高校生の頃に読み、その美しい純愛と海辺の暮らしが織りなす清澄な物語に、これぞ三島文学の金字塔と若い我が胸に刻み込まれていた「潮騒」を約四半世紀ぶりに読み返しました。高校卒業後は上京して東京の大学へ通い、卒業後には九州へ戻り、働いて結婚をして、と幾歳月の間に何度も引越しをしているのに、今だに私の本棚の奥にしっかりとその居場所を確保していたこの小さな文庫を読み返して、不思議な感慨に浸ります。
Mishima was a novelist who sought for negative hidden emotions of humans rather than the virtue. He was extremely patriotic and his vigorous narcissism reached its climax when he meticulously planned and carried out “harakiri” (ritual suicide performed by samurai) . He treasured his own aesthetics more than anything, and he was tortured by his sexual orientation as a gay. Therefore, all among his works, this “The Sound of Waves” is so different and distinctive. This love story between a young fisherman and a young woman diver for abalones is so pure and poetic. I wonder why it attracts so much.
三島は人間の善よりも、陰なる仄暗い情動を深く追求した作家であり、愛国主義と歴史に名を激烈に刻まんが為のナルシシズムが絶頂に達した時点で、綿密に計画を練り上げて「ハラキリ」とされる割腹自殺をやってのけた男です。独自の美学を何よりも愛し、また同時に同性愛者としての苦しみも味わい尽くした男です。そんな三島の書いた作品群の中にあって、この牧歌的とも言える若い男女の愛の物語がどうしてこうも胸に来るのか。
Human nature tends to be evil rather than holy. To be negative and critical is much easier than to do something meaningful. And we are likely to be trapped by that sort of attitude for being more “intelligent”. However, at the same time we have strong craving for goodness and holiness. In this book, a lighthouse keeper says “Bad intentions can’t walk further than good intentions.” The saying is as if from the scriptures or a proverb from an ancient Chinese literature.
人間の本性は聖よりも邪であり、暗きに傾く方が良きことを為すより遥かに易く、またそのような心性が知的であるかのような錯覚を感じさせるのが世の常です。しかしまた同時に、人間の心には善きものに対する飢えにも似た憧憬が強く息づいてもいます。この「潮騒」の中で灯台守の人が言う言葉、「悪意は善意ほど遠路を行くことはできない」はまるで聖典や中国の故事成句にありそうな金言であると思います。
I recommended this book of “The Sound of Waves” to my Icelandic friend’s brother, Haukur Ingvarsson when he was still a high school student. To my surprise, he turned out to be an award winning novelist years later. I reunited with him after 20 years last year, he said “I still like Mishima.” At University of Iceland where he belongs, the book cafe recommended a book of Mishima for a Christmas gift. He shared the page and recommended the author. I was so delighted to see that. Long time ago I shared Mishima with Haukur and now he shared Mishima with Icelanders. It was another sweet moment of my life.
この「潮騒」を、のちに文学賞受賞作家となったアイスランド人の友人の弟、ヘイクル・イングヴァルスソンがまだ高校生の頃に勧めたことがあります。昨年、約20年ぶりに再会した彼は「三島は今でも好きだよ」と言ってくれました。彼が在籍しているアイスランド大学で、ブックカフェがクリスマスプレゼントにと三島作品を紹介している時、ヘイクル本人が三島の良さをシェアしていました。それを見て、ああ、私が彼に昔お勧めした三島を今度は彼がアイスランドの人々に勧めてくれているのだと、嬉しさがこみ上げてきました。これもまた、人生の良き場面の一つと言えるでしょう。
The works of Mishima are not exclusively authentic literature. He also wrote some pop and comical books as well. In this book of “Letter Class”, there come 5 a bit sloppy persons who are all in love of some kind. It is lectured how to write love letters and I chuckled here and there. Surprisingly, the most well written letter was a love letter from a man to a man. The guy never mentioned himself but wrote how wonderful his sweetheart is and he detailed the beauty earnestly. If you receive this kind of letter, I bet you would be touched regardless of your sexuality.
三島作品は実は純文学ばかりでなく、サブカルチャーよりの軽い作品も実は面白いのです。この「レター教室」は色恋に悩むチョイと下世話な五人の登場人物のラブレターの書き方指南書という、クスリと笑える要素が満載の本です。意外にもその中でもっとも秀逸だったのが、男性から男性へのラブレター。自分のことは一切書かず、いかに相手が素晴らしいか、ただ熱心に相手の美しさを褒め称えるというもの。これは男女の別なく、貰った方は感激するだろうなという手紙なのです。
Mishima boldly declared that “Woman is a lovely tiny box filled with vice.” I am neither a wicked woman nor a saint woman, I have both traits in myself. So by reading the love letter, I felt as if I was cleansed by the earnest love. Literature is a field of art that peeling off all superficial factors and stepping into the core being of yourself. There are colorful fruits of feelings whispering one another. You share your own truth with the author with a secret smile. Lately I don’t read much of literature, but the forest of literature that I was so soaked with in my youthful season was standing there surely, with a nostalgic and intellectual manner that I once fell in love with.
三島は「女とは悪徳の詰まった可愛い小箱だ」と喝破していますが、悪女でも聖女でもなく、我が内に邪念と清い思いを同時に抱える身としては、その純粋なるただ相手を一途に慕う思いに心洗われたような気持ちにすらなりました。文学は目に見える表層的なものを取り払い、人間の心の奥深くに踏み込んでゆく芸術です。そこでは鈴なりの感情が色とりどりの実を結んで囁きあい、決して人とは共有しない己の内実を作者と秘密めいた微笑みで了解し合うのです。大人になってからは文学を読むことが少なくなりましたが、若い季節に貪るように読み漁った文学の森は、やはり懐かしい知的な佇まいでそこに立っていました。
That’s all for today. Cheers!
ではまた、お会いしましょう！
