Thread: Yukio Mishima

Since I just mentioned him in the Haruki Murakami thread, I find it fitting to allow him a thread. Here is my post from the Murakami thread:

I recently came across an excellent writer, Yukio Mishima. Aside from some of the best prose ever written (and translated from the original Japanese), his novels are like bite-sized chunks of wisdom.

I'm very impressed with him and recently purchased the first novel of his tetralogy, which was the work in interviews he said would die once he finished. He committed ritual suicide (came from a Samurai family, if I remember correctly) immediately after completing the final work in the tetralogy.

I would suggest "The Sound of Waves" or "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea" as jumping boards into his writing. He's an amazing writer, and in the last two weeks I've read four of his works. I intend to start the tetralogy soon. But I don't want to overdose on him like I did Hemingway, so right now I'm reading "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and after that I'll read "Everything is Illuminated."

Once those two are done I'm jumping right back to Mishima.

So, has anyone else read some of his works? What do you think of him? Alongside the samurai family thing, I read that he was nominated three time for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Originally Posted by SevenWritez

So, has anyone else read some of his works?

I read The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea a few years back (and bought the film adaptation recently) and absolutely loved it, intending to read more - much more - Mishima, which I never did get around to. I recently bought a reissued copy of Forbidden Colours, which looks promising.

Alongside the samurai family thing, I read that he was nominated three time for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

I don't think being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature is such a big thing in and of itself. Sure, that someone put him forward shows that they consider him a literary heavyweight, but the Swedish Academy canvasses opinion from institutions and universities worldwide, not to mention previous Novel laureates. This brings hundreds of nominations, which are then whittled down to a more managable number of consideration, who are again reduced to a managable five candidates, who they then read (sometimes commissioning translations for the sake of reading their work), before awarding, should there be a concensus, a Nobel Laureate in Literature. We may find out soon whether Mishima made it to that last five, given that the Academy only discloses who came close fifty years after the award.

I read The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea a week or so ago, and I was impressed with the style of Mishima's writing. Apparently his Sea of Fertility tetralogy is beautifully written as well, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Mishima was an interesting guy, something of a fascist, even had his own private army for a while, and committed ritual suicide after a failed attempt at a coup. They don't make writers like that any more.

Stewart: That's interesting. I had no idea that many people were selected as nominations for the Nobel; naturally I've never put much interest in the process to begin with, but the information is still interesting to read. Thanks for the lesson.

ejket: Glad you liked him. I am right now on page 240-something of Spring Snow, the first novel of his tetralogy. The writing is impeccable, and there are many excellent passages spread through-out, but so far The Sound of Waves is my favorite book by him. Once I finish Spring Snow I'm going to read Steinbeck's East of Eden then pick up the second novel in the tetralogy, Runaway Horses.


Mike C: I read about the private army, but not the coup.

How accurate do you guys think the translations are? Seems like most japanese movies and cartoons and whatnot don't translate well when dubbed or subbed.

Accuracy of translation is relative, you can do it two ways; either go for the closest word for word translation, which is most accurate, or translate approximately, beautifying language as you go. There are strong arguments for both. The only way you'll ever know for sure is to learn Japanese.

I've read everything by Mishima. The translations of his work are as good as translations get.

Yeah, he was an amazing guy. Like Teddy Roosevelt, he was a sickly kid who overcame his frailty to become a physical superman, an embodiment of everything you think of in terms of ultra-nationalist, samurai, bushido Japanese manhood. His book Sand and Steel records this process.

He was pretty homosexual: not the pansy stereotypes of the west, closer to the Spartan, "women are just too inferior to waste a dick on" type of ultra-macho kind.

An interesting sidelight to that capture/suicide (probably his greatest embarrassment: the garrrison he captured stood snickering as he gave them a speech on being tough, stomach-hard Japanese, then did the traditional seppuku, cutting his guts with a taped sword, then having a trusted friend cut his head off)
Mishima starred in a film about a young officer driven to seppuku by a regimental disgrace. So there is actually a preview film of his suicide. How many suicide authors have a "pre-enactment"?

Speaking of which, at the same time I was heavily into Mishima, I was also very taken by Yasunari Kawabata, a nobelist best known for "Snow Country" and "House of the Sleeping Beauties". Kawabata was one of the gentlest writers I've ever read, and renowed for his empathy and understanding of the female psche--even the REALLY sublte and complex Japanese version.

He also killed himself. So here we have two writers from the same language and area, but as different as two writers can get: yet both arriving at the exact same place at the end of their lives.

I'm definitely going to have to read these guys now.

Sailer Who Fell From Grace With the Sea is a sort of simplistic tale, but about a kid wanting to murder his mother's lover (You'd love it)... made into a dippy movie with Kris Kristoferson of all people.

Forbidden Colors is the big homo opus.

The Sound of Waves is peculiar: a sort of gentle, sweet little fairy tale about two perfect, beatiful kids and love easily conquering all.

Temple of the Golden Pavilion is more obsession with the destruction of beauty.

Sun and Steel is non-fiction, a great manual for anybody who wants to turn themselves into a maniacal, sword-weilding, kungfu panda banzai.

It's funny that you mentioned Snow Country. That was on the "You Should Also Read" list in the back of Spring Snow and it's currently on my reserve list at the library.

Would you say it tops Mishima's "Spring Snow?" I ask because the stories seem similar based on the synopsis I read of Kawabata's book.

I really enjoyed Spring Snow up until the last 100 pages when the girl became pregnant. From then on I felt as if it dragged and with fifty some pages left to go I just skipped to the end and read the concluding scenes.

The Sound of Waves remains my favorite work of his, but I'm going to read Sun and Steel. It sounds interesting.

And yeah, Malone, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea is right up your alley. A kid contemplates how useless life is, idolizes his mother's lover before deciding the guy needs to die, brutally murders a kitten with his friends...your kind of story.

I don't like violence towards animals and children. That's usually why I've avoided most Asian media in the past. I'll still have to read these, though, since I respect y'all's opinions about literature.

Some might say that Mishima, like Hemingway, is more important and enjoyable as a legend/icon/myth than as a writer.

I guess I can see that about Hemmingway to a degree, although Thompson would be a better example.