Talk:Yukio Mishima bibliography

Number of works

I've brought the issue up at WP:RSN. wctaiwan (talk) 11:46, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

"Final edition-Yukio Mishima complete works"(No.1 - No.42 plus 2) [1] [2] are classified into Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Criticisms (include Essays etc.). Mishima's all 34 novels are recorded in No.1 - No.14. Please see [3], and please count it.

No.1

• Tōzoku (盗賊 Thieves), 1948
• Kamen no Kokuhaku (仮面の告白 Confessions of a Mask), 1948
• Junpaku no Yoru (純百の夜 Pure White Nights), 1950

No.2

• Ai no Kawaki (愛の渇き Thirst for Love), 1950
• Ao no Jidai (青の時代 The Blue Period), 1950
• Natsuko no Bōken (夏子の冒険 Natsuko's Adventure), 1951

No.3

• Kinijiki (禁色 Forbidden Colors), 1951 - 1953

No.4

• Nippon-sei (につぽん製 Made in Japan), 1952
• Shiosai (潮騷 The Sound of Waves), 1954
• Koi no Miyako (恋の都 The Capital of Love), 1954

No.5

• Megami (女神 Goddess), 1954 （Book Published in 1955）
• Shizumeru Taki (沈める滝 The Sunk Waterfall), 1955
• Kōfukugō Shuppan (幸福号出帆 The S.S. Happiness Sets Sail), 1956

No.6

• Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion), 1956
• Nagasugita Haru (永すぎた春 Too Long a Spring), 1956
• Bitoku no Yoromeki (美徳のよろめき Misstepping of Virtue), 1957

No.7

• Kyōko no Ie (鏡子の家 Kyoko's House), 1959

No.8

• Utage no Ato (宴のあと After the Banquet), 1960
• Ojōsan (お嬢さん The Mademoiselle), 1960
• Kemono no Tawamure (獣の戯れ Beasts' Game), 1961

No.9

• Ai no Shissō (愛の疾走 Stampede of Love), 1963
• Gogo no Eikō (午後の曳航 The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea), 1963
• Nikutai no Gakkō (肉体の学校 School of the Flesh), 1964

No.10

• Utsukushii Hoshi (美しい星 Beautiful Star), 1962
• Kinu to Meisatsu (絹と明察 Silk and Insight), 1964

No.11

• Ongaku (音楽 The Music), 1964
• Mishima Yukio Letter Kyōshitsu (三島由紀夫レター教室 Yukio Mishima's Letter Classroom), 1968
• Yakaifuku (夜会服 Evening Dress), 1967

No.12

• Fukuzatsuna Kare (複雑な彼 That Complicated Guy), 1966
• Inochi Urimasu (命売ります Life for Sale), 1968

No.13

• Haru no Yuki (春の雪 Spring Snow), 1969
• Honba (奔馬 Runaway Horses), 1969

No.14

• Akatsuki no Tera (曉の寺 The Temple of Dawn), 1970
• Tennin Gosui (天人五衰 The Decay of the Angel), 1971)

--みしまるもも (talk) 03:06, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

I received an invitation on my talk page to comment at the reliable source noticeboard.

I know little about Mishima's works. (I've never read any in Japanese, and it's a very long time since I read any in English translation.) I am not remotely an expert. I have limited time available to look into this mystery. Still, perhaps I can be of some small help.

First, the link that みしまるもも has given us is to the list of contents of a "definitive" edition of Mishima's works, published early this century. The "definitive" claim will be more or less a marketing gimmick, but the list should be taken seriously, though informed, intelligent disagreement will be possible.

Secondly, it's not at all surprising that there's a disagreement over the number of novels. "Novel" corresponds pretty well, though perhaps not exactly, to the term used in that web page, 長編小説 (literally something like "long novel"); "short story" likewise to another term used there, 短篇小説 (literally something like short novel). So for a start, what about the intermediate: is what might be called a novella (A) a short "novel", or (B) a long "short story"? And although I haven't (yet) read up on Mishima, I can imagine other possible complications: putative novels that were never published as standalone books, putative novels that might instead be termed memoirs, putative novels that were rejected by their author (and perhaps recycled as other novels), differing titles of different translations of the same novel giving the impression that these were different novels, etc etc.

Below is (again) the list of what that web page calls novels. The number in parentheses merely indicates which volume of this set the novel appears with -- it's here merely for convenience in discussion.

I'm not even sure that these are all novels. (At least one of them has a very strange title for a novel, and I don't see why the publishers wouldn't have tossed in the occasional short story in order to bulk up a volume that otherwise wouldn't have been satisfyingly thick.)

The list is open to annotation by any and all. (Well, vandals and fanatics aside.) I've made a start myself, in order to inspire y'all. Identify its members (and perhaps question the status of some), then see which books listed or mentioned by other credible sources aren't in this list, and then discuss the status of these outsiders.

Perhaps the eventual result will be something along the lines of "Mishima wrote a total of between N₁ and N₂, the precise number depending on [blah blah blah]", plus more discursive footnote.

Incidentally, one aspect of the main article on Mishima that I find very bizarre is its implication that books published as early as the 1950s had ISBNs. I'm glad not to see this in this bibliography article too. -- Hoary (talk) 03:45, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

List for annotation

1. (1) 盗賊, Tōzoku, 1948 (i.e. Thieves; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
2. (1) 仮面の告白, Kamen no kokuhaku, 1948 (i.e. Confessions of a Mask)
3. (1) 純白の夜, Junpaku no yoru, 1950 (i.e. Pure White Nights; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
4. (2) 愛の渇き, Ai no kawaki, 1950 (i.e. Thirst for Love)
5. (2) 青の時代, Ao no jidai, 1950 (i.e. The Blue Period; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP; also, Los años verdes, ES; L'età verde, IT)
6. (2) 夏子の冒険, Natsuko no bōken, 1951 (i.e. Natsuko's Adventure; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
7. (3) 禁色, Kinjiki, 1951–1953 (i.e. Forbidden Colors)
8. (4) につぽん製, Nipponsei, 1952 (i.e. Made in Japan; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
9. (4) 潮騒, Shiosai, 1954 (i.e. The Sound of Waves)
10. (4) 恋の都, Koi no miyako, 1954 (i.e. The Capital of Love; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
11. (5) 女神, Megami, 1954/55 (i.e. Goddess; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
12. (5) 沈める滝, Shizumeru taki, 1955 (i.e. The Sunk Waterfall; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
13. (5) 幸福号出帆, Kōfukugō shuppan, 1956 (i.e. The S.S. Happiness Sets Sail; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
14. (6) 金閣寺, Kinkakuji, 1956 (i.e. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion)
15. (6) 永すぎた春, Nagasugita haru, 1956 (i.e. Too Long a Spring; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
16. (6) 美徳のよろめき, Bitoku no yoromeki, 1957 (i.e. Misstepping of Virtue; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP; also, Una virtù vacillante, IT)
17. (7) 鏡子の家, Kyōko no ie, 1959; title means "Kyōko's house"
18. (8) 宴のあと, Utage no ato, 1960 (i.e. After the Banquet)
19. (8) お嬢さん, Ojōsan, 1960 (i.e. The Mademoiselle, or Young Lady or similar; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
20. (8) 獣の戯れ, Kemono no tawamure, 1961 (i.e. Beasts' Game; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
21. (9) 愛の疾走, Ai no shissō, 1963 (i.e. Stampede of Love; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
22. (9) 午後の曳航, Gogo no eikō, 1963 (i.e. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea)
23. (9) 肉体の学校, Nikutai no gakkō, 1964 (i.e. The School of Flesh)
24. (10) 美しい星, Utsukushii hoshi, 1962 (i.e. Beautiful Star; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
25. (10) 絹と明察, Kinu to meisatsu, 1964 (i.e. Silk and Insight)
26. (11) 音楽, Ongaku, 1964 (i.e. The Music; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP; also, Musica (romanzo), IT)
27. (11) 三島由紀夫レター教室, Mishima Yukio retā-kyōshitsu, 1968 (i.e. Yukio Mishima's Letter Classroom; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
28. (11) 夜会服, Yakaifuku, 1967 (i.e. Evening Dress; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
29. (12) 複雑な彼, Fukuzatsu na kare, 1966 (i.e. That Complicated Guy; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
30. (12) 命売ります, Inochi urimasu, 1968 (i.e. Life for Sale; no article in en:WP; here in ja:WP)
31. (13) 春の雪, Haru no yuki, 1969 (i.e. Spring Snow, the first volume of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility)
32. (13) 奔馬, Honba, 1969 (i.e. Runaway Horses, the second volume of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility)
33. (14) 暁の寺, Akatsuki no tera, 1970 (i.e. The Temple of Dawn, the third volume of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility)
34. (14) 天人五衰, Tennin gosui, 1971 (i.e. The Decay of the Angel, the fourth volume of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility)

Please feel free to add explanation and commentary to the list immediately above. However, please don't augment it. If you know of a book that should be in such a list but isn't in this one, by all means specify the book -- and as clearly and persuasively as possible! -- but don't complicate that list with it. -- Hoary (talk) 03:45, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

According to the en:WP article Forbidden Colors:

禁色 Part 2 秘楽 (Higyō) "Secret Pleasure" was published in 1953

(and therefore two years after the original of Forbidden Colors). Its title doesn't appear in the list above. -- Hoary (talk) 06:11, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you Mr. Hoary. This is Japanese Mishima Template Template:三島由紀夫 --みしまるもも (talk) 13:01, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

And thank you, Sir! If I understand correctly, what is now regarded as the novel 禁色 was published in two parts; first, a part titled simply 禁色; later, a part titled 秘楽. But these really are just two halves of a single novel. ¶ Perhaps somebody who possesses one of the books (etc) that claim that Mishima wrote more than 34 novels could specify what's missing from the list above. (If for example he also wrote six worthless potboilers that he hoped would be forgotten and that aren't included in the 全集, then these novels should be mentioned as should his disowning of them.) -- Hoary (talk) 13:45, 24 January 2013 (UTC)