Fractured soul :Translation of "Âme brisée"

by Akira Mizubayashi  (Japanese writer and translator°) 

 Akira Mizubayashi was born in 1951. He  first visited France in 1973 for pedagogical training in Montpellier, where he became certified to teach French as a second language. Since 1983, Mizubayashi has taught French in Tokyo, where he currently is professor emeritus at Sophia University. His work has been critically acclaimed in France; in 2020," Âme brisée "won the Prix des libraires among other awards. Mizubayashi resides in Tokyo and writes in French. He said in an interview that “he was born again at the age of 18, when discovered French” and dedicated himself to its study, to end up writing in French himself, starting with essays.

" Âme brisée" or its translation"The Fractured Soul" is his first novel.

A universal story about music and restoring one’s faith in others amid the aftermath of tremendous loss, a story of reconstructing the past (in Tokyo 1938) and connecting it to the present (in Paris 2023), in which all the pieces of the puzzle finally lead to a completed picture. The title refers to the real “hero” of the story, a violin, first destroyed by a racially motivated act of violence and in the end restored to life by the son of the original owner, Rei/Jaques, prompted by series of purposeful or accidental meetings with the Japanese/Chinese members or their descendants of the erstwhile amateur string quartet.

Also a poetic attempt to remind the world of the horrors the WWII, and to contrast the prevailing evil with the goodness of individuals, with the help of music, a common denominator; an accusation as well as an apology.

Overall, the book got a mixed appreciation by our group – liked for its expert passages on music and violin making, disliked for its many repetitions, and by those, who read it in French, for the somewhat contrived and stilted use of the language. 

Also somewhat lost in translation, was the title: in French, l´âme of a violin has also a physical meaning, described in the book:

(Larousse illustré: les parties du violin: „……le chevalet, qui supporte les cordes, et qui soutient l´âme entre les deux tables…..“)

And in English: (Internet): parts of violin: ……..Sound posts /tablets inside the violin  - no mention of the soul, though, of course, the idea is there – that´s where the „soul“ of the violin resides and trampling on it equalls killing it…

Blanka