''The Moon in the Water: Understanding Tanizaki, Kawabata, and Mishima'' is a 1979 non-fiction book by Gwenn Boardman Petersen, published by
University of Hawaii Press
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. It discusses translated works by
Junichiro Tanizaki,
Yasunari Kawabata
was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal a ...
, and
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...
.
The work was intended for readers in
Western countries
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. who had not studied Japan academically to the degree they were in Japanese studies. It was not to discuss any critical theories.
[Tsuruta, p. 393.]
Thomas Cogan of
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
referred to the work as "a perceptive and critical guide to" these translations.
[Cogan.]
Contents
The initial chapter, which discusses Japanese literature in general, is called "contexts". Each subsequent chapter is about each of the three writers, so there are four total chapters.
[
The author compares and contrasts Japanese works to Western ones. The chapters discuss imagery and symbolism.][Mulhern, p. 759.]
Kinya Tsuruta of the University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
wrote that Peterson wishes to highlight intricacies in Japanese and "fiercely attacks translators' transgressions—real or imagined."[ According to Tsuruta, Petersen "goes out of her way to hunt for "hidden Japanese clues" and, of course, finds them."][
]
Reception
Cogan "highly recommended" the book, and argued that the book was "well researched and crisply written" as well as "useful and stimulating", with special praise for the portion about ''Suigetsu'', a work by Kawabata.[
Chieko Irie Mulhern of the ]University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
stated that the book may be useful for the general public while it may cause controversies among people specializing in Japan.[
Robert Rolf of ]Fukuoka University of Education
(UTEF) is a national university in Munakata, Fukuoka, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1876, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The present name was adopted in 1966.
Associated primary schools
* Fukuoka University o ...
praised the "stimulating" reasoning in the book, and stated they would be the case even for people who disagree with Peterson's reasoning.
Tsuruta criticized the author for having a "less than ideal" understanding of the culture of Japan
The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.
Historical overview
The ances ...
and the Japanese language.[Tsuruta, p. 394.]
References
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Notes
On naming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon in the Water, The
University of Hawaiʻi Press books
1979 non-fiction books