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A review by spacestationtrustfund
Patriotism by Yukio Mishima
5.0
This is, of course, Mishima's masterpiece; I've read the short story in several languages, and the writing is stunning no matter which. The chosen title for most translations appears to be some variant of "patriotism," whether that's the French "Patriotisme," Danish "Fædrelandskærlighed" (fatherland-love), Russian "Патриотизм," German "Patriotismus," or Polish "Umiłowanie Ojczyzny" (love of the homeland). Dutch swings in the opposite extreme with "Rouw om het vaderland" (mourning for the fatherland). But none of those is quite correct.
The original title is 憂国 (pronounced yûkoku), which doesn't really have a single-word equivalent in any language of which I can think. Roughly translated, the kanji refer to the state or condition of worrying about or being concerned for one's country: the first character 憂 means anxiety or mourning (as does its Chinese progenitor), and the second 国 means land, country, homeland, place of birth (which, again, is more or less analogous to the simplified Chinese version of 國). The concept of patriotism, on the other hand, carries a definition of loving and serving one's country. The double meaning of anxiety and mourning is paralleled in the juxtaposition throughout the story: both characters are young, and have only been married for under a year when they commit suicide together in an incredibly gruesome manner. Mishima doesn't shy away from describing sex and death in the same sharp, lyrical prose.
The original title is 憂国 (pronounced yûkoku), which doesn't really have a single-word equivalent in any language of which I can think. Roughly translated, the kanji refer to the state or condition of worrying about or being concerned for one's country: the first character 憂 means anxiety or mourning (as does its Chinese progenitor), and the second 国 means land, country, homeland, place of birth (which, again, is more or less analogous to the simplified Chinese version of 國). The concept of patriotism, on the other hand, carries a definition of loving and serving one's country. The double meaning of anxiety and mourning is paralleled in the juxtaposition throughout the story: both characters are young, and have only been married for under a year when they commit suicide together in an incredibly gruesome manner. Mishima doesn't shy away from describing sex and death in the same sharp, lyrical prose.