I read Yukio Mishima’s ‘Thirst For Love‘ sometime back. I thought I should read my next Mishima now.
In ‘The Sound of Waves‘, there is a young man called Shinji who works in a fishing boat. He is from a poor family, he has a simple heart, and he works hard. His father died during the war. Shinji lives with his mother, who works as a diver during the diving season, and his younger brother, who is in school. Things are going nicely for Shinji, when one day he meets a beautiful girl who is helping out on another fishing boat. He discovers that she is the daughter of a rich man. He can’t stop thinking about her. Something like this has never happened to Shinji before. Soon, while he is on an errand helping out his mother, he meets this girl again, and this time they are alone. Sparks fly between them and one thing leads to another – well, you have to read the book to find out more.
In ‘The Sound of Waves‘, Yukio Mishima takes the classic love story – boy meets girl and they fall in love, girl’s father hates boy, girl gets a rich suitor etc. – puts it in a fishing village in Japan and lets the events unfold and gives us a fascinating front-seat view. It is as if one day Mishima-San got up on the right side of his bed and told himself –
“Okay, I have written about a monk who burns down a temple. I have written about the woman who kills the man she loves. What about a simple story with a ray of sunshine? What about a story in which two young people meet and fall in love? Why not write that? St.Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light from a single candle.” Why not light that candle here and see whether it dispels some of the darkness?”
And then Mishima-San went and locked himself inside his room and wrote this book in one breath and completed it in the wee hours of the morning, before he could change his mind. And that is how we got ‘The Sound of Waves‘. Atleast that is the story I tell myself. That is the story I want to believe.
‘The Sound of Waves‘ is a beautiful celebration of young love. It is so famous that it has been made into many movies. I have seen atleast one of those movies. It is very different from the regular dark, intense fare we expect from Mishima. I loved it.
Have you read ‘The Sound of Waves‘? What do you think about it?
Another enjoyable Mishima, and very creepy in parts 🙂 I’ve just ordered one of the ‘new’ releases, ‘The Frolic of the Beasts’, so I’m hoping to get to that soon.
So nice to know that you got a new Mishima! It is translated for the first time or they discovered a lost manuscript? Happy reading!
Vishy – Not really sure… Even though there’s a lot of his work available in English, there’s heaps more that’s not as he wrote tons of books (not all of which are actually gems – I’ve heard that he simply scribbled for money at times!).
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