John Nathan
Auteur de La vie de Mishima
A propos de l'auteur
John Nathan is the author of the definitive biography of the novelist Yukio Mishima & has translated the novels of both Mishima & the Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe into English. He is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker & lives in Santa Barbara, California. (Bowker Author Biography)
Œuvres de John Nathan
Daimyo 2 exemplaires
Oeuvres associées
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1965) — Traducteur, quelques éditions — 2,997 exemplaires
Dites-nous comment survivre à notre folie (1969) — Introduction, quelques éditions — 591 exemplaires
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea / The Temple of the Golden Pavilion / Confessions of a Mask (1985) — Traducteur — 79 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Nathan, John Well
- Autres noms
- Nathan, John
- Date de naissance
- 1940
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Tokyo, Japan
California, USA - Études
- University of Tokyo
- Professions
- translator
writer
director
Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies - Relations
- Mishima, Yukio (friend)
Ōe, Kenzaburō (friend) - Organisations
- University of California, Santa Barbara
Membres
Critiques
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Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 7
- Aussi par
- 5
- Membres
- 394
- Popularité
- #61,534
- Évaluation
- 3.8
- Critiques
- 3
- ISBN
- 26
- Langues
- 4
Yukio Mishima, born as Kimitake Hiraoka in 1925, stunned the world in 1970 when he and his follower Masakatsu Morita committed seppuku after addressing Japan's Self-Defense Forces in Ichigaya. Most of his friends and family were caught unawares. Mishima was a tremendous personality: author, playwright, poet, stage director, actor, body builder, lecturer, and ultimately, political activist. These are only a few aspects of a very complex and charismatic man. Nathan examines Mishima's life and works from his precocious youth until his death, delving into his writings and speaking with those closest to him throughout his tumultuous life. Mishima baffled many but he was respected for his work both in Japan and worldwide, even being considered for a Nobel on multiple occasions.
Nathan frequently includes excerpts of Mishima's published works and surviving personal papers in Mishima: A Biography, often translating the materials himself. Although Nathan offers context and interpretation of the passages, to some extent he allows Mishima to speak for himself. Regrettably, the works quoted are not always cited as clearly as they could be. Granted, some of this material has never been published before, let alone been translated into English. Throughout Mishima: A Biography, Nathan explores the concepts of Beauty, Ecstasy, and Death--elements that permeate Mishima's work--and Mishima's pursuit of these, his ideals.
Mishima: A Biography reads very easily and at times even seems novel-like; I never once found it to be dry and it held my attention throughout. Although technically a biography about Yukio Mishima, the book understandably has quite a bit to say about the state of Japanese literature during his lifetime, too. Nathan makes extensive use and interpretations of Mishima's work within the biography. Occasionally Nathan seemed more concerned with the writings than with the man himself, but Mishima often included autobiographical elements in his writing. In addition to a very useful index and a nice selection of photographs, the book also includes a list of Mishima's major novels and plays, indicating which have also been translated into English. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a more complete bibliography or at least the inclusion of all the works mentioned by Nathan and/or all of Mishima's materials available in English. Overall, I think Nathan's biography of Yukio Mishima is very successful--he remains as objective as he can and shows respect for all those involved. Mishima: A Biography was a fine place to start learning about Yukio Mishima and is particularly valuable for its insights into his writings.
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