John Bester's translation of 『万延』 differs significantly from the original titles of this work. Below are Bester's translations, the original titles, and notes on those titles. If you wish, you can jump to a title by clicking on one of the below.
1) In the Wake of the Dead
2) Family Reunion
3) Mighty Forest
4) Dreams within Dreams
5) The Emperor of the Supermarkets
6) A Strange Sport
7) Procession from the Past
8) Truth Unspeakable
9) The Freedom of the Ostracized
10) Imagination in Riot
11) The Power of the Flies
12) A Way Beyond Despair
13) Retrial
Bester's English:
In the Wake of the Dead
Original:
死者にみちびかれて
Vocabulary gloss:
死者（ししゃ）
Bester's English:
Family Reunion
Original:
一族再会
Vocabulary gloss:
一族（いちぞく）
再会（さいかい）
Bester's English:
Mighty Forest
Original:
森の力
Bester's English:
Dreams within Dreams
Original:
見たり見えたりする一切有るは夢の夢にすぎませぬか。（ポー、日夏耿之介訳）
Notes:
The translator cited above: 日夏耿之介（ひなつこうのすけ）1890–1971
From Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" (1849) (wiki). Ōe frequently said that Poe has substantial influence on his own writing.
A comment on poets.org reads: "Representative of Poe's later work, 'A Dream Within a Dream' is a revised version of a poem Poe originally composed in the 1820s. It is considered one of the poet's finest shorter poems. In an article published in 1849, Poe wrote, 'It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.'"
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
Bester's English:
The Emperor of the Supermarkets
Original:
スーパー・マーケットの天皇
Bester's English:
A Strange Sport
Original:
百年後のフットボール
Bester's English:
Procession from the Past
Original:
念仏踊りの復興
Vocabulary gloss:
念仏踊り（ねんぶつおどり）Nembutsu dance. To chant "namu amida butsu" while dancing. (wiki: 念仏踊). Pure Land Buddha sects believe that chanting this with faith helps one progress towards enlightenment. By the way, I do not think the YouTube links are representative of what Ōe has in mind.
復興（ふっこう）Return, resurgence.
Bester's English:
Truth Unspeakable
Original:
本当のことを云おうか（谷川俊太郎『鳥羽』）
Notes:
"Tanikawa Shuntarō's (b. 1931) first book of poetry, Two Billion Light Years of Solitude (Nijūoku kōnen no kodoku), was published in 1952. Since then, he has remained one of Japan's most popular and prolific poets, and his poems also are among those most often translated into English. Tanikawa's influence and popularity are enhanced by his ability to engage poetry fans in public sessions." (The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature, Vol. 2, 437)
Tanikawa Shuntarō English wiki: here
The full poem is in a 1968 collection titled 『旅』（求龍堂）. That means, of course, it was just recently published when 『万延』 was written:
何ひとつ書く事はない
私の肉体は陽にさらされている
私の妻は美しい
私の子供たちは健康だ本当の事を云おうか
詩人のふりはしているが
私は詩人ではない私は造られそしてここに放置されている
岩の間にほら太陽があんなに落ちて
海はかえって昏いこの白昼の静寂のほかに
君に告げたい事はない
たとえ君がその国で血を流していようと
ああこの不変の眩しさ！Vocabulary gloss:
放置（ほうち）ほうったままにしておくこと。また、置きっぱなしにしておくこと。 left just as is
造られ（つくられ） to be constructed
昏い（くらい） dark
静寂（せいじゃく）静かなこと。ひっそりとしていること。 stillness, quietness
告げる（つげる）言葉で伝え知らせる。 convery with words
不変（ふへん） unchanging
眩しさ（まぶしさ） blinding brilliance
Bester's English:
The Freedom of the Ostracized
Original:
追放された者の自由
Vocabulary gloss:
追放された（おいはなされた）「追放す」 does not have a particularly negative meaning. It means "to let loose" or "to free" and is often used for animals.
Bester's English:
Imagination in Riot
Original:
想像力の暴動
Vocabulary gloss:
想像力（そうぞうりょく）. This is Ōe's standard way of writing "power of the imagination".
暴動（ぼうどう）徒党（a gang, a group）を組んで社会秩序（ちつじょ、order）を乱すような行動をとること。「—をおこす」「—がおきる」NOTE: 明治期に作られた語。
Bester's English:
The Power of the Flies
Original:
蠅の力。蠅は我々の魂の活動を妨げ、我々の体を食ひ、かくして戦ひに打ち勝つ。（パスカル、由木康訳）
Vocabulary gloss:
蠅（はえ） Flies.
魂（たましい）. Spirit or soul.
妨げ（さまたげ）「妨げる」 is to prevent or hinder.
食ひ（くひ・くい）. To eat.
戦ひ（たたかひ・たたかい）. To fight.
Notes:
The translator cited above: 由木康 （ゆうきこう）(1896–1985) minister and translator of more than 600 hymns including "Silent Night" (the number 600 and not about "Silent Night" is according to a Japanese Christian blog: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/cjc_skj/23516443.html).
Blaise Pascal (mathematician and Christian philosopher, 1623–1662). From Pensées (Thoughts) (wiki). (Online Harvard Classics text via Bartleby go: here; for this particular section go: here; access French via the wiki)
367 — The power of flies: they win battles, hinder our soul from acting, eat our body. (La puissance des mouches, elles gagnent des batailles, empêchent notre âme d'agir, mangent notre corps.)
"they win battles": Montaigne, in his Essais, ii, 12, relates that the Portuguese were compelled to raise the siege of Tamly on account of the number of flies. (Project Gutenberg, Pensées, footnote)
Bester's English:
A Way Beyond Despair
Original:
絶望のうちにあって死ぬ。諸君はいまでも、この言葉の意味を理解することができるであろうか。それは決してたんに死ぬことではない。それは生まれでたことを後悔しつつ恥辱と憎悪と恐怖のうちに死ぬことである、というべきはなかろうか。（J＝P・サルトル、松浪信三郎訳）
Vocabulary gloss:
絶望（ぜつぼう）Despair or hopelessness.
諸君（しょくん）"Gentlemen ..." "My friends ..." a polite way of addressing a large group.
後悔し（こうかいし）「後悔す」 is to regret.
恥辱（ちじょく）Shame.
憎悪（ぞうお）Hate.
恐怖（きょうふ）Fear.
Notes:
The translator mentioned above has translated Sartre extensively.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)(wiki): Extra credit if someone can find this quote in French or English!
Bester's English:
Retrial
Original:
再番