Narrative
Night on the Galactic Railroad
銀河鉄道の夜
Kenji Miyazawa · 1934
Opening lines
「ではみなさんは、そういうふうに川だと言われたり、乳の流れたあとだと言われたりしていた、このぼんやりと白いものがほんとうは何かご承知ですか」
“Now, everyone, do you know what this hazy white thing, which has been called a river or the trail left by flowing milk, really is?”
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from aozora.gr.jp
Synopsis
Giovanni, mocked by his classmates, works after school in a printing shop to help his bedridden mother, while his father is far away, perhaps fishing in the north, perhaps in prison, according to Kirkus magazine. Campanella is his only friend. On the night of the star festival, he runs off into the dark hills, lies down at the foot of a weather mast and finds himself aboard a steam train travelling through the Milky Way; Campanella is already there.
Context
The author began the text in 1924, after the loss of his sister Toshi and a train journey to Karafuto, and kept returning to it until his own death without ever finishing the central part; four versions are known, and the last is the most widely read in Japan. The narrative appeared in October 1934 from Bunpodō, in the third volume of his complete works. Its characters have Italian names, and the text mixes Esperanto and allusions to America, notes a review of the new English translation of 2026.
Who it is for
A short, unfinished narrative, to be read in one sitting, for those who like cosmic tales and dreamed journeys.
Prizes and reception
Adapted as a manga in 1983, then as an animated film by Sugii Gisaburō in 1985, known in France under the same title.