Mishima - Biography

It is possible to read and appreciate Mishima's work without knowing his unusual life story, but, as is often the case, this author's life informs his work. In some ways Mishima's text is a reflection of his life, his values and the political climate in which he lived. Check out the following links and identify a couple new sources to learn about Mishima's extreme nationalism and his fears for post-war Japan. Get some idea of the passion that lurks behind this peaceful, almost fable-like story of Hatsue and Shinji. How does this information enrich your understanding of the story? Does it change your feelings about the text to learn that it is actually quite polemical?

Mishima discusses his values
Mishima's Ultra-Nationalism - See email attachment
Brief Biographical and Critical Overview

The Word

Whatever the language, literature is necessarily about words. In this paean to language, Pablo Neruda, the Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet whom Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language," celebrates the word- its beginning, its evolution and its purpose.

Read Neruda's poem in English (and in Spanish, if you can). Consider the implications this poem might have for the study of world literature, works in translation? How will our work in this class be different than that of other English courses? How will it be the same?


**For those of you who are able to read both the English and the Spanish, let the rest of us know what we miss by only being able to read the translation. Are there places where you feel that Mitchell (the translator) is "interpreting" rather than simply translating? If so, could it be helped? Has he left out or added anything in the process?

The Word by Pablo Neruda