#61 三島由紀夫『複雑な彼』
ステュワードのスタイルでは、しかし、何がいちばん大切かといえば、それは背中だ。
酒のワゴンを押して歩いて、せまい通路を遠ざかるときに、この制服の背中がカッコいいかどうかで、ステュワードの値打が決ると云ってもいい。
[…]
とにかく酒をすすめた日本語も正確なきれいな発音だったし、日本人にはまちがいがないのだが、日本の男であんなに優雅で巨大で、しかも精悍な背中を持った人はめずらしい。
Vocabulary:
三島由紀夫 みしまゆきお Mishima Yukio (author, 1925-1970)
スタイル physique, build
背中 せなか back
通路 つうろ aisle
遠ざかる とおざかる to move away
制服 せいふく uniform
値打 ねうち worth, value (usually 値打ち)
決る きまる to be determined (usually 決まる)
正確 せいかく accurate
発音 はつおん pronunciation
優雅 ゆうが refined, elegant
巨大 きょだい enormous, gigantic
精悍 せいかん virile, masculine
Translation:
What is most important about a steward's physique, however, is his back.
You could go so far as to say that a steward's worth is determined by whether his back looks good in uniform when he moves away walking down the narrow aisle, pushing the cart with alcoholic beverages.
[…]
In any case, his Japanse pronunciation when he offered me a drink was accurate and polished, so there is no doubt that he is Japanese, but it's rare for a Japanese man to have such a refined, yet enormous and masculine back.
Amazon.jp link for the book I used:
Hi Bunsuke! Very thankful for the piecemeal yet informative read that this newsletter provides.
For the translation of 通路, I noticed you put ‘isle’ instead of ‘aisle’ as I would have expected. Just popped in to give you a quick heads-up.
Always looking forward to the next excerpt.
When I was a university student I tried reading Mishima since everyone who was into Japanese literature was automatically into Mishima. But the text always felt too melancholically depressed, though I tried both English and Russian translations. So I never understood why everyone loved Mishima so much. But now I kind of get it ^^ Maybe it's the original style that makes it special.