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A review by pscamp01
The Izu Dancer and Other Stories by Yasushi Inoue, Yasunari Kawabata
4.0
A lot of the reviews here are written for the wrong book. (As it turns out, the truth is more complicated. See the update at the end of the review.) There is a book called The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories that consists of nothing but stories by Yasunari Kawabata, that are translated by J. Martin Holman. That is not this book. This book is called The Izu Dancer and Other Stories. (Note the slight difference in the title.) This book consists of one story by Kawabata, and three stories by Yasushi Inoue. Why this configuration? Why just one story by Kawabata? Why not just stories by one author or the other? You won't find the answer to these questions anywhere in the book. There is no editor listed and no introduction to the book. There is an introduction to the Inoue stories, but Kawabata is completely ignored in it.
So, how are the stories? The title story is a classic and is the best one in the book. This version of the story was translated by Edward Seidensticker, and was the first translation into English. I enjoyed it very much but was annoyed when afterwards I learned that Seidensticker had truncated the story. I then read the Holman translation for comparison's sake. The cuts didn't seem to me to be significant (although an incident involving an old man in an inn was completely removed) but on the whole I think I preferred Holman's prose.
I enjoyed the Inoue stories (well, two of them anyway) but they were written much later than the Kawabata stories and they don't seem to have much in common other than the fact that two of them have a connection to the Izu peninsula.
The book overall is an enjoyable read, especially if you stumble across it on a library shelf like I did. But if you're interested in the title story, I would recommended seeking out the Holman book.
Update: I just read the Holman book, but when I tried to post a review of it, I discovered that Good Reads is cramming the reviews of both books together. Anyway, the version of the title story is better in the Holman book, but the rest of the stories (all of which are by Kawabata) left me cold. So, three stars for that edition.
So, how are the stories? The title story is a classic and is the best one in the book. This version of the story was translated by Edward Seidensticker, and was the first translation into English. I enjoyed it very much but was annoyed when afterwards I learned that Seidensticker had truncated the story. I then read the Holman translation for comparison's sake. The cuts didn't seem to me to be significant (although an incident involving an old man in an inn was completely removed) but on the whole I think I preferred Holman's prose.
I enjoyed the Inoue stories (well, two of them anyway) but they were written much later than the Kawabata stories and they don't seem to have much in common other than the fact that two of them have a connection to the Izu peninsula.
The book overall is an enjoyable read, especially if you stumble across it on a library shelf like I did. But if you're interested in the title story, I would recommended seeking out the Holman book.
Update: I just read the Holman book, but when I tried to post a review of it, I discovered that Good Reads is cramming the reviews of both books together. Anyway, the version of the title story is better in the Holman book, but the rest of the stories (all of which are by Kawabata) left me cold. So, three stars for that edition.