Volume 13, Number 12 · January 1, 1970
Saké in a Tumbler
By D.J. Enright
Face at the Bottom of the World and Other Poems
by Hagiwara Sakutaro, translated by Graeme Wilson
Charles E. Tuttle Company, 83 pp., $4.00
Hagiwara Sakutaro (1886-1942) is possibly the most accomplished so far of Japan's Western-style or 'modern' poets, and one can see why he has been called 'the Japanese Baudelaire.' I think one can also see why Baudelaire is never likely to be called 'the French Hagiwara,' even by the Japanese. In introducing his dexterous translations, Graeme Wilson speaks of Hagiwara's having achieved 'universality': if by this he alludes to a successful fusing of native and foreign literary characteristics he is more surely correct than if he is claiming a central human relevance for the poet. Mr. Wilson is of the opinion that the intellectual elements in Hagiwara's later poetry adulterate or even sour his earlier pure lyricism. It may be that the later poetry is weaker or less satisfactory, but if so, this is not to be blamed on intellectualism as such, but (I would venture) on Hagiwara's unsuccessful and perhaps too deliberate attempts at it.
Review, 2179 words
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