The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
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| The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea | |
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 Cover of the 1994 First Vintage International English Edition paperback |
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| Author(s) | Yukio Mishima |
| Original title | 午後の曳航 (Gogo no Eiko — Eng trans. Afternoon Shiptowing) |
| Translator | John Nathan |
| Cover artist | Susan Mitchell |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre(s) | Philosophical, Psychological |
| Publisher | Kodansha Alfred A. Knopf (U.S.) |
| Publication date | 1963 |
| Published in English |
1965 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 181 pp (1994 First Vintage International Edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-75015-0 (1994 First Vintage International Edition, paperback) |
| OCLC Number | 29389499 |
| Dewey Decimal | 895.6/35 20 |
| LC Classification | PL833.I7 G613 1994 |
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (Japanese: 午後の曳航, meaning The Afternoon Towing), is a novel written by Yukio Mishima, published in Japanese in 1963 and translated into English by John Nathan in 1965.
[edit] Plot
The novel chronicles the story of Ryuji, a sailor with vague notions of a special honor awaiting him at sea. He meets a woman called Fusako with whom he falls deeply in love, and he ultimately decides to marry her. Fusako's 13-year-old son, Noboru, is in a band of savage boys who believe in "objectivity", rejecting the adult world as illusory, hypocritical and sentimental.
As Ryuji begins to draw close to Fusako, a woman of the shore, he is eventually torn away from the dreams he's pursued his entire life. Fusako's son, Noboru, who shares an especially close bond with his mother through a voyeuristic ritual, hates the idea of losing his mother to a man who has let his hope and freedom die. This anger and fear of loneliness translates into terrible, savage acts performed by Noboru and the gang of which he is a part.
[edit] Adaptations
The novel was adapted into a the film The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea starring Kris Kristofferson and Sarah Miles in 1976 by Lewis John Carlino. The setting was changed from Japan to England.
An opera by Hans Werner Henze, Das verratene Meer, is based on the novel; it was premiered in Berlin in 1990.
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