Mishima's Sword

Book Description

In the tradition of Pico Iyer, a witty and revealing insider's journey through a modern Japan that outsiders seldom glimpse

In 1970, the world-famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima plunged a knife into his belly and was decapitated using his own antique sword. In the decades since, people have asked endless far-ranging questions about this spectacular suicide.

Christopher Ross wondered, What on earth happened to Mishima's sword?

And so Ross sets off for Tokyo on a journey into the heart of the Mishima legend---the very heart of Japan. It was a country Ross knew well after nearly five years of living there--but nothing could have prepared him for this. While searching for the fabled sword, Ross encounters the rather startling range of those who knew Mishima...a world, or perhaps more accurately a demimonde, of craftsmen and critics, soldiers and swordsmen, boyfriends and biographers (even the man who taught Mishima hara-kiri). The trail Ross follows inspires a travelogue of the most eye-opening--and occasionally bizarre--sort, a window into the real Japan that is never seen by tourists and the occasion for digressions on, among other things, socks and the code of the samurai, nosebleeds and metallurgy... even how to dress for suicide.

Mishima's Sword is a dazzling read--the perfect book for all those intrigued by things Japanese, from gangsters to Genji, from manga to Mishima.

Customer Reviews:

Mostly just fascinating.......2007-06-27

I found this book by accident while waiting for someone, and I was enthralled by it. Ross uses the sensational circumstances of Mishima's very public and gruesome suicide to explore Japanese martial culture in general and tries to explain his own fascination with it along the way.
While he keeps tracking Mishima's life and death as a guide to his narrative, it becomes clearer and clearer that Mishima is conceivably of no importance outside his role as a popular author of nationalist appeal, and that his very theatrical life and death actually stand for very little. His careful reconstruction of himself and his image is not so uncommon, and in the end there is just another guy coming to terms with the very big chips on his shoulder, although he does so in a spectacular way.
But along this way Ross manages by description of his travels and interviews to highlight and clarify Japanese history and fascination with death in a highly insightful way.
Sometimes this book is just about Christopher Ross: For instance there is a whole section, where he describes feeling unwell and having to interrupt his stay in Japan to return to the UK. One can't help wondering if his editor slept through that part, since it seems to have very little to do with the rest of the story.
Fortunately these deviations are relatively brief, as is the whole book, and you have basically read past them before they really trouble you. The rest of the ride is wonderful for people who share Ross' fascination with the martial aspects of Japan.

Interesting history lesson mixed with a travel diary.......2007-01-02

Christopher Ross goes on a quest for the sword used to assist in the suicide of Yushio Mishima, one of Japan's most famous authors. Along the way, the reader is treated to a history of Japan, lessons on Kendo, and insight into Mishima himself, and icon (or iconoclast?) of Japanese literature. In essence, the quest for the physical sword takes secondary importance, behind Ross's quest to understand the man, the times, and the context of his suicide.

For those that read Twigger's Angry White Pajamas, this book is a more serious, and more culturally detailed view of the same genre. Perhaps the connection comes as Christopher Ross was the uber-guru that Twigger wrote about...

If there's one issue I have with the book, it's that the writer at times talks down to the reader. For example, most anyone reading this has experienced international travel - the audience is a cosmopolitan set. Explaining the details of an inflight entertainment system detracts from the overall story.

That said, the book is still concise and well written, and worthy of a read from any afficianado of Japan. It certainly earns a prominent place on my bookshelf!

Average customer rating:

Probably not for the general reader.
Props to Mishima, a philosopher who walked his talk
Please, people, PLEASE!
Mishima turns Mishima inside out
Fascinating insights into a mysterious character

Sun and Steel
Yukio Mishima
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 4770029039

Book Description

In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known-and controversial-writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end fits into none of them.

At one level, it may be read as an account of how a puny, bookish boy discovered the importance of his own physical being; the "sun and steel" of the title are themselves symbols respectively of the cult of the open air and the weights used in bodybuilding. At another level, it is a discussion by a
major novelist of the relation between action and art, and his own highly polished art in particular. More personally, it is an account of one individual's search for identity and self-integration. Or again, the work could be seen as a demonstration of how an intensely individual preoccupation can
be developed into a profound philosophy of life.

All these elements are woven together by Mishima's complex yet polished and supple style. The confession and the self-analysis, the philosophy and the poetry combine in the end to create something that is in itself perfect and self-sufficient. It is a piece of literature that is as carefully
fashioned as Mishima's novels, and at the same time provides an indispensable key to the understanding of them as art.

The road Mishima took to salvation is a highly personal one. Yet here, ultimately, one detects the unmistakable tones of a self transcending the particular and attaining to a poetic vision of the universal. The book is therefore a moving document, and is highly significant as a pointer to the future
development of one of the most interesting novelists of modern times.

Customer Reviews:

Probably not for the general reader........2006-07-09

Sun and Steel is a book-length essay which describes Mishima's effort to recover himself from the "corrosive" nature of words through developing his physical beauty and prowess. On the most superficial level it is about bodybuilding. On another level, it is about a man attempting to reclaim his identity later in life, and doing so with discipline and knowledge of the nature of time.

I am honestly not sure that this book is worth reading unless you are generally familiar with Mishima's biography and work. I would recommend that people interested in this book first read Confessions of a Mask and at least one of the novels.

The exception to this recommendation would be readers looking for specific work on bodybuilding in literature. As I side note, I found it interesting to note the similarities between what Kathy Acker and Mishima had to say on the subject. (Wouldn't Mishima have been horrified by the comparison?)

The essay seems written more quickly than other works in the Mishima canon. I had trouble engaging with it at times, and found it more interesting biographically than as a work in its own right.

The book is bound with an Epilogue called F104 and a poem called Icarus. The Best translation felt competent, although there were some noticable typographic errors which I hope were corrected in later editions of the book.

Props to Mishima, a philosopher who walked his talk.......2005-09-21

This book is a literary type that was once common in Japan, the self-obsessive partial memoir. But Mishima's style, tone, and content are absolutely unique.

He writes about the relation between world and word, body and mind or spirit. But to me, the most interesting aspect of this book, and Mishima's whole outlook is something that's often overlooked. It is this, he could not stand ugliness. He shrank from (his own perception of) ugliness as we would from a rabid rat. So then, how did he define beauty and ugliness? You may call it shallow but no matter, this book makes no apologies: beauty or ugliness lie in physical appearance, body and face.

To most of us there are many kinds of beauty, and maybe that multi-perception keeps us going - we see or imagine the beauty of inner virtue, selfless giving, artistic projection, humility or humor and so on. A wide expansive definition.

But there's room on your bookshelf for somebody who takes an uncompromising view: beauty is the beauty of your body and your appearance. While it can be crafted and guided by external method (who knows what Mishima would have thought of the cosmetic surgery craze now sweeping China), ultimately physical beauty to him is the only important projection of the soul.

The insanely monomaniacal American football coach Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't everything - it's the only thing". This book, despite all its meandering and subtle threads, is really saying just that, about beauty - it's the only thing. And Mishima, at mid-life, was losing all illusions about attaining or retaining any personal beauty.

Of course what sheds the interesting backlight on this book for most readers is Mishima's dramatic seppuku at Ichigaya Japan self-defense force headquarters. (Reminds me of the wit who stated, when informed of Sylvia Plath's suicide, "Good career move".) People read this book to try to unravel the mystery of it.

But in light of what I've said above, about beauty and Mishima's uniquely narrow definition of it, this book leaves no mystery to his action. Just as Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray slashed the ugliness accumulated on his horribly aging portrait, Mishima, lacking a magic painting, did just the same to his own body - sentenced it to death for the crimes of aging and ugliness.

It is entirely summed up by the following single line from 'Sun and Steel':

"I had already lost the morning face that belongs to youth alone."

Please, people, PLEASE!.......2005-01-27

So Mishima finds out through exercise that he's been wasting his time with the writing. He writes all about that. Attention liberal: this review is helpful.

Mishima turns Mishima inside out.......2005-01-15

This isn't Mishima's best work. Mostly because he is too close to the subject. At once a guide book on his beliefs and how he transformed himself from "bookish" into a physical specimen. But you can see his troubled focus shift from the internal Mishima to the external Mishima.

To me this is an explanation of something even Mishima doesnt understand. More of a catharsis of the self than a clearly defined work.

Many of the descriptions of Mishima's internal evaluations sound almost as if he was dealing with aspects of Borderline Personality Disorder. Which would make his style of death even more ironic and symbolic.

Don't get me wrong, this is true Mishima -- makes us think and examine ourselves even as he talks of himself.

Any work by Mishima is worth reading and adding to your collection. It took me years to find a copy, now it is available for everyone -- I wouldn't hesitate to buy or read.

-Mike

Fascinating insights into a mysterious character.......2001-05-09

Every author should write at least one of these books of personal reflection. This is not the only place you can get a glimpse of the inner workings of Mishima's mind ("Confessions of a Mask" and "Patriotism" are good examples).

Of course, this is assuming the book accurately reflects the author's views. If you have read Mishima biographies such as Stokes' "Life and Death of Yukio Mishima" you might agree that "Sun and Steel" is a true reflection of the author's feelings. Otherwise, you might not have a good frame of reference.

It's a good idea not to make this the first of Mishima's works that you read (the aforementioned biography and "Confessions of A Mask" are suitable prerequisites). However, it is an interesting work in its own right.

Book Description

At forty-five, Yukio Mishima was the outstanding Japanese writer of his generation, celebrated both at home and abroad for The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. In 1970 he startled the world by stepping out onto a balcony in Tokyo before an assembly of troops and plunging a sword into his abdomen; a disciple then beheaded him, completing the ritual of hara-kiri. John Nathan's riveting biography traces the life of this tortured, nearly superhuman personality. Mishima survived a grotesque childhood, and subsequently his sadomasochistic impulses became manifest-as did an increasing obsession with death as the supreme beauty. Nathan, who knew Mishima professionally and personally, interviewed family, colleagues, and friends to unmask the various-often seemingly contradictory-personae of the genius who felt called by "a glittering destiny no ordinary man would be permitted."

Customer Reviews:

A relatively satisfying biography with some gaps.......2004-09-07

John Nathan's MISHIMA: A BIOGRAPHY was the first biography in English of the Japanese novelist, whose 1970 death by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat is just as much a part of his legacy as his works.

In an introduction Nathan briefly summarizes the circumstances of Mishima's death and lists the numerous people interviewed, and then he begins with a history of Mishima's family. From the very start Nathan tries his hand at psychological analysis, feeling that the center of Mishima's being was masochism, and his entire life right up to his suicide itself was a search for pain. Consistent with the early 70's date of Nathan biography is the perspective that Mishima's homosexuality was an expression of mental illness.

Nathan knew Mishima well as a graduate student in Tokyo in the early-to-mid 1960's, and was entrusted by the writer with translating two of his works. There is a lot of rich information from this period. However, Mishima broke contact with Nathan after he refused to translate the second work given to him. From this point, when Mishima became increasingly political, essentially a different person, and Nathan could no longer rely on reminisces of the simple writer he knew, the details become sparser and sparser. Another biography in English, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF YUKIO MISHIMA, by Henry Scott-Stokes offers a better, first-hand perspective on Mishima's final years.

There is a wealth of information about Yukio's early books, and it can be depressing for the English reader to hear about so many novels and plays which will probably never be translated out of Japanese. A grievous omission, however, is that of The Sea of Fertility. Mishima's masterpiece, and to a certain extent a literary manifesto of the ideas that lead to his coup, this tetrology deserved greater attention and analysis.

A curious matter about the life and death of Yukio Mishima is that the more one learns, the more questions one has. And nothing suffices to explain the way he chose to end his life. Nonetheless, John Nathan tries his best in MISHIMA: A BIOGRAPHY, and I would recommend it to fans of Mishima's work.

Personal, informative, penetrating.......2004-04-11

In his introduction, Nathan admits that Mishima would probably be furious that these facts regarding his life had been brought to light. Though it is debtable whether he was arrogant or only proud, sensitive to other people or contemptous of them, Mishima certainly seemed to have very little interest in being understood, and had a carefully crafted public image. I think, though, that if there has to be a biography, we could hardly hope for a better one.

Nathan knew Mishima personally, and his occasional self-referencing serves to make the account more relatable, instead of stealing attention from Mishima. He approaches the subject as humbly as possible, both in regard to Japanese culture, as a westerner, and in regard to Mishima, in trying to reserve judgment. Mishima's actions may be difficult to understand, and it would be all too tempting to describe them as bizzare or wrong, but Nathan slips up on very few occasions (near the end, he does say something in reference to Mishima's suicide along the lines of, 'otherwise, it must seem a terrible waste' -bleah). His sincere desire to understand is evident. Of course, intention alone doesn't make a good biography; 'Mishima' is also liberally packed with information, highlighting incidents which must have had an influence on Mishima's work, reproduced passages from his earliest, unpublished stories, and the views of family members and friends. His occasional attempts to analyze Mishima's work are also interesting, and he never seems to overstep his bounds (as, say, Walter Kauffman does with Nietzsche); his verdict is always tentative and presented as only one man's opinion. 'Mishima' succeeds as both a straightforward biography for anyone who wants the facts, and a sensitive commentary from someone who had the right to comment.

Great Biography of a Fascinating, Beautiful Man.......2003-08-30

The moment that convinced me to buy this biography was in the introduction when John Nathan mentions that he not only translated one of Mishima's novels and knew his works better than most non-Japanese, but that he also spent time with Mishima in such pursuits as arm wrestling and running huge bills at posh restaurants. Here is a biography written with subjective experience and great attempt at historical objectivity. A year after Mishima's suicide, John Nathan received passive permission from his widow to write a biography. Allowed access to his parents and friends, Nathan tells a story of a very curious and passionate man from a very personal perspective.

But, with the case of a man who not only founded his own private army and obsessively bulked up his skinny body, but also wrote thirty-five novels, a dozen plays, and over four hundred essays and short stories, it is hard to write about such a visible life that was based on such deep thoughts and ideas. Nathan uses copious excerpts from Mishima's writings, sometimes translated by himself, that the biography leaves the reader satisfied that Mishima the author, the man who sought to resolve his contradictions of life with words, is given justice in his frequent quoting.

It is a great summary of Mishima's life. Though admittedly the best way to get into the mind of Mishima is to read his own works, and this biography knows it. The story of his suicide and reasons for it is told exceedingly well and adds great insight into the mentality of Mishima and how it changed over the decades. Though Nathan tries to postulate theories about Mishima and Japanese society like many authors seem obsessed to do when writing about Japan, it does not weigh down the story of Mishima's life, and the shining enigma it was.

The perfect place to start........2002-10-12

Once you've read a couple of books by Yukio Mishima, it is inevitable that you will be filled with an insatiable desire to learn about the man and try to understand what on earth possessed him to write the way he did. Well, no one knows for sure, but John Nathan has a pretty good idea, and so Mishima: A Biography is the perfect place to start. Be advised that answers don't come easily. Nathan is a Westerner, after all, trying to research a uniquely Japanese and particularly complicated figure, and so some important things will clearly elude him, either lost in some forsaken archive or concealed from him by Mishima's family. However, among Westerners, Nathan is probably the most qualified of all of them to undertake this sort of task - he was a friend of Mishima's for a time, and actually translated some of his works. He doesn't undermine his credibility with gushing praise or half-baked theorizing - for the most part, he does stick to the facts, and the facts do seem to illustrate the conclusions he draws. And what a slew of facts there is! I tore through this book, hungrily devouring episode after episode of the life of an exceptional, charismatic man who, at least for a time, lived life exactly the way he wanted to.

However, I wanted to gain insight into the relevance Mishima's works had to his life, and while I gained some, it wasn't as much as I had hoped to gain. Nathan's reluctance to waste his and your time with unsubstantiated notions is admirable, but unfortunately he often neglects Mishima's literature in his biography. This is a shame, since when he does talk about the books, he provides invaluable insight - for example, in an excellent section, he identifies Mishima's novel Kyoko's House as one of his key works, making me howl with rage at the fact that this novel is just about the only one of his key works to stay untranslated (even Mishima's flawed bid for the Nobel Prize, Silk and Insight, has been released in English!). His discussion of Mishima's very early (also untranslated) work is equally useful, and from him I learned of the existence of such works by Mishima as Death of a Man and the critically acclaimed filmed version of "Patriotism". However, just when it really counts, he stops talking about literature altogether - though he correctly identifies the Sea of Fertility tetralogy as Mishima's masterpiece, he doesn't talk about it at all! There's not even the briefest of plot summaries, just a quick mention that the last volume of the tetralogy was "rushed." I found myself pining for Henri Troyat's frighteningly extensive biographies of great writers, with their equal emphasis on both life and works.

But there's not much of a market for Mishima biographies in the West, and Nathan's book remains a very good effort. If you're as intrigued by Mishima as I am, I urge you to purchase this book. Just don't expect all your questions to be answered.

Excellent.......2002-07-01

A wonderful, detailed, intimate look at Mishima. This biography made me want to reread his books so I could get another angle on them.

Average customer rating:

A Standard Biography
A fine biography complementary to another
A Westerner's understanding of Japanese militance
Pretty good, I'd say.
An intriguing life

The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima
Henry Scott Stokes
Manufacturer: Cooper Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0815410743

Book Description

This incisive biography begins with the spectacularly tragic last day of the militant Japanese novelist, perhaps best known for his monumental four-book masterpiece The Sea of Fertility.

Customer Reviews:

A Standard Biography.......2004-11-20

The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima is, simply put, a definitive biography. Henry Scott Stokes knew the author about as well as anyone could. He accompanied Mishima and the members of the Shield Society to cover exercises the military group (formed by Mishima) carried out at Mt. Fuji in 1969 and knew him from 1966 until his suicide by hara-kiri in November 1970. Mr. Stokes includes a lot of detail concerning this training exercise, during which he met Mishima's disciple Morita, who committed hara-kiri with him just over a year later.

Mr. Stokes, being a noted journalist, provides an excellent approach to Mishima's life. At the outset, the sensational death of the artist is related in detail. I liked this approach because Mishima's life and work has been overshadowed by his death, so taking us through the ordeal allows us to concentrate on his life and learn soothing about what made him seek the death he did.

Also valuable is Mr. Stokes' residence in Japan, which gives him invaluable knowledge on Japanese society, giving us a background for many of Mishima's attitudes. The major literary works are explained in excellent detail with what Mr. Stokes considers minor works (such as "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea") being only briefly mentioned. This fits well with the aim of the book: to provide an in-depth look at the forces that influenced Mishima. The Sea of Fertility cycle receives a great deal of attention. The book also has a chapter that discusses Mishima's reputation since his death. In this section Mr. Stokes draws some interesting conclusions about the relationship between Mishima and Morita.

I have also read John Nathan's biography of Yukio Mishima, which presents an excellent portrait of the writer, particularly in describing his literary career. However, I find it is Mr. Stokes' book that provides a more in-depth portrait of Mishima. I would still recommend Mr. Nathan's book as a highly readable biography. Mr. Stokes' book is very well written with great attention to detail and should not be missed by anyone seriously interested in who Yukio Mishima was and what drove him.

There is a useful glossary and a chronology of Mishima's life, and is illustrated with photographs and drawings.

A fine biography complementary to another.......2004-09-09

Henry Scott Stokes' THE LIFE AND DEATH OF YUKIO MISHIMA is one of the few biographies in English of the Japanese novelist, whose 1970 death by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat is just as much a part of his legacy as his works.

Scott Stokes understands how Mishima's death overshadows all else, and he begins the work with a very detailed description of Mishima's failed coup and suicide, before going back to his birth and beginning his life stories. His book is based on few interviews; Scott Stokes feels that everything is already out there in written form and can be compacted for English readers. The description of Mishima's unsuccessful coup, for example, is based on records of the trial of the survivors.

Scott Stokes knew Mishima himself in the late 1960's, and was a keen observer of his political activity. He was even the only journalist to view training exercises of Mishima's private army. Because of this first-hand perspective, the latter portion of Mishima's life is told in great detail. Much less, satisfying, however, is his coverage of Mishima's earlier years, in which a large amount of detail is "reconstructed" from Mishima's semi-autobiographical work CONFESSIONS OF A MASK, a dubious approach. For a better view of Mishima's life prior to 1964, I'd recommend John Nathan's MISHIMA: A BIOGRAPHY, written by one of his translators who knew him early on, and to which Mishima's family contributed through personal interviews.

There is a wealth of information about Mishima's books, especially about his masterpiece "The Sea of Fertility" for which detailed summaries are given. I found this had a downside in that it spoiled the surprise ending of THE DECAY OF THE ANGEL for me, and I'd recommend reading that entire cycle, as well as other works which interest you, before coming to this biography.

While Scott Stokes autobiography has not been changed since the first edition in 1974, he has contributed an epilogue to the new Cooper Square Press edition which I feel is actually the strongest part of the book. Certainly necessary reading for Mishima fans. It shows how the perspective on Mishima's work has changed in the last quarter-century, and how many still consider him a fine writer, but fewer and fewer would actually consider him a genius. He also explains how the Japanese now perceive him, complaining that it is sad that Japan's post-literary culture of movies and manga has resulted in Mishima and his mentor Kawabata being nearly forgotten.

A curious matter about the life and death of Yukio Mishima is that the more one learns, the more questions one has. And nothing entirely suffices to explain the way he chose to end his life. Still, Scott Stokes does give some helpful clues. I'd recommend THE LIFE AND DEATH OF YUKIO MISHIMA to fans of the writer's work, as well as those who just marvel at the novelist's bizarre death. Pick up Nathan's biography at the same time, though.

A Westerner's understanding of Japanese militance.......2003-08-31

I was a boy when the report came through on NBC Nightly News that Yukio Mishima had committed sepukku after a failed attempt to take control of Japan. They briefly described the mode of death, & how his second-in-command had also died.

This event was far outside the understanding of anyone in rural Minnesota, so my questions hung in the air. The best I could do was a short report & some big photos in LIFE. I found that Mishima had been considered a young literary lion, bringing Japan to a fascinating new fiction that impossibly synthesised classical writing with modern style.

The whole thing didn't make sense. It was like hearing that Jack Kerouac had also been a Brown Shirt -- nobody could reconcile for me Mishima the uniformed revolutionary with Mishima the sensitive author.

This book has helped bring me to a new conclusion: reconciliation is impossible. The author was a friend of Mishima, & possibly the only Westerner allowed into the funeral; he goes into great depth as only a friend (though somewhat baffled himself) could to show the paradoxes embodied, sometimes quite intentionally, within Mishima.

I appreciate that the story has been brought full circle, at least for me.

Pretty good, I'd say........2002-10-26

The major point of discussion for reviewers of this book and of John Nathan's biography of Mishima seems to be "Which one is better?" Personally, I'd say neither. For those who were somewhat dissatisfied with the way Nathan glossed over certain things (like, oh, The Sea of Fertility), Scott-Stokes' book has a greater volume of information and a more consistent analysis of Mishima's literature. For instance, I don't recall Nathan having even mentioned Ba-ra-kei (which I intend to procure sometime in the future, now that I know of its existence) in passing; Scott-Stokes, on the other hand, includes it in the appropriate section of Mishima's life (there are four: Literature, Drama, Body and Action). Scott-Stokes also has the better analysis of Mishima's plays, with more quotes and a lengthier discussion.

However, as a whole I think I liked Nathan's work more. I really did not get why Scott-Stokes included the "dramatization" of the Mishima Incident (as the first scene, no less); it's bewilderingly out of place, though I admit that it does provide a good hook to lead into the rest of the book with. But that's emblematic of a larger problem; Scott-Stokes gives himself much greater license than Nathan did to theorize about Mishima's motivations and inner thoughts, and like all canonical examples of dubious reportage, his theories cite anonymous sources. Nor did I particularly appreciate his cavalier dismissal of a rather large part of Mishima's literature as subpar - in fact, unlike Nathan, he really doesn't even come across as an avid reader of Mishima, which would be fine if not for the fact that he decided to be the man's biographer.

If you're interested in Mishima, you're inevitably going to read this, but I recommend reading Nathan's biography first. This will arm you with a good bit of knowledge in advance, and will help you navigate through Scott-Stokes' "original" structure (his book starts with the last day of Mishima's life, then covers his childhood and then branches out into four directions). Scott-Stokes' book, then, will serve as a complement, filling in certain gaps.

An intriguing life.......2002-10-06

Earlier this year, I came across works of Mishima in the used book section of my local book store. When I read that Mishima had committed seppuku and had an "army of young men," I became intrigued about him. I purchased this book and the biography written by John Nathan. I found both books informative and while both covered essentially the same ground, each had items missing in the other. I do not consider one superior to the other, although Scott-Stokes' opening chapter, which details the day of Mishima's death, is riveting stuff. Scott-Stokes, as a journalist, is better at representing Mishima's life in the context of the Japan he lived in, while Nathan, a teacher/writer, is better at interpreting the author's works. Neither can fully explain why Mishima did what he did at the end of his life, but each does his best to give insight into this complex man. It is gracious of Nathan to admit, in the foreword to the newest printing of his biography, that he now understands Mishima better than he did when he wrote the book. Having read both biographies, I know what he means.

Average customer rating:

Strange and quite pointless
I should have listened to the previous two reviewers
A tepid effort yet covers the basic facts
Not very good.

Mishima: A Vision of the Void
Marguerite Yourcenar
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sun and Steel

ASIN: 0226965325

Book Description

On November 25, 1970, Japan's most renowned postwar novelist, Yukio Mishima, stunned the world by committing ritual suicide. Here, Marguerite Yourcenar, a brilliant reader of Mishima and a scholar with an eye for the cultural roles of fiction, unravels the author's life and politics: his affection for Western culture, his family and his homosexuality, his brilliant writings, and his carefully premeditated death.

Customer Reviews:

Strange and quite pointless.......2006-08-04

MISHIMA: A VISION OF THE VOID is a peculiar essay on the life and work of the Japanese writer by Marguerite Yourcenar, a French author best known for her "Memoires d'Hadrien". The book consists of 151 pages in which Yourcenar waxes lyrically about Mishima's growth as an author, some of the themes of his books, and the persistent pessimism that seems to have led to his suicide.

This book is very weird, I can only marvel that a publisher initially accepted it, nevermind that it has been translated into at least English and Romanian. It offers no surprising perspective on Mishima's work, and cannot be used to get a brief plot summary of an unknown work, since it assumes that one has read Mishima's oeuvre (at least those works translated into foreign languages). One cannot gain from it any interesting facts about Mishima's life, and in fact Yourcenar assumes that one has already read the biographies of Scott-Stokes and Nathan.

MISHIMA: A VISION OF THE VOID may have value as a tribute by one author to another, but it should have been published in limited quantities as a pamphlet, instead of being pitched as a meaningful contribution to Mishima criticism. If you love Mishima, delight in his works and enjoy the two major biographies. Give Yourcenar's work a pass.

I should have listened to the previous two reviewers.......2004-05-25

As a fan of Mishima Yukiyos work, I hoped that the other two reviwers of this book were mistaken, perhaps close minded, or otherwise wrong. However, they are right on target. Part biography and part "literary analysis", the book does neither well. The first half of the book is almost exclusively summaries of Mishima's major novels, with lengthy qoutes and plot summaries with no serious analysis. As a reader I get the feeling that Yourcenar wishes to bath in the literary sucess of Mishima by retelling his novels. I would be willing to forgive the first half of the book if the second had contained sharp, clear analysis. Instead the book makes wild claims with no support (I particularly enjoyed the line to the effect of "Confessions of a Mask describes all young people in Japan between 15 and 25 after world war 2"). The Sea of Fertility - Mishima's masterpiece - recieved a page of discussion after a length plot summary.

Since I didn't listen to the other reviewers, I hope others will.

A tepid effort yet covers the basic facts.......2003-08-07

Yukio Mishima is clearly an enigmatic, unique, bizarre, and interesting artist. I read many of his novels years ago but little of his personal history. This brief biography by Marguerite Yourcenor gives the basics of the author's life. Yourcenor's occasional self-referential comments do not really detract from this biography but neither do they add to it. Reading this biography certainly doesn't make me want to run out and buy any of Yourcenor's novels. In any case, the pace of the biography builds up nicely to the finale of Mishima's ritual suicide in an almost comic close to his life. The beauty and symbolism of Mishima's final act are layed bare in visceral physicality by Yourcenor. While the overall writing style of the biographer is tepid, the brief duration and fact filled chronology of this biography make it a fair source for those wanting exposure to the esential biographical facts of Yukio Mishima's life.

Not very good........2003-03-25

This book is of little value to both Mishima fans and novices. The novices will want biographical information, of which Yourcenar gives precious little - sure, all the really important stuff is there, but it's outlined in a very sketchy, couldn't-be-bothered way - and certainly far less than either John Nathan or Henry Scott-Stokes. The fans will want information that isn't available anywhere else, of which there is none whatsoever in this book. So what does Yourcenar talk about? The literature, primarily. That would be good, if not for one thing - Yourcenar is an author herself, and she seems to be out to prove her own literary worth. Thus, the book is made of torturedly "sophisticated" sentences, bizarre assertions of the nature of "those who love life love death the most" (not an exact quote, but a very accurate paraphrase), and of course, some namedropping. Yourcenar mentions D'Annunzio, Cocteau, Lautreamont, and others, with very little cause. She also knocks down a few straw men here and there (randomly, in one footnote, she spontaneously accuses nameless people of accusing Mishima of being a snob, and proceeds to prove them wrong), and once proudly proclaims that Mishima was a reader of her own literary work. Bully for her, I guess.

The literary analysis really isn't that good, either. Admittedly, a cursory read may have the effect of helping people see why they like or dislike Mishima's writing, even if Yourcenar's own musings on the matter aren't very inspiring, but it really doesn't say anything. Some of the man's works are barely given a mention - the "discussions" of After the Banquet and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea take up about a page, combined. Others are given whole chapters, but even then, there is little serious attempt at character analysis - for instance, Ying Chan, the doomed beauty of The Temple of Dawn, is described as "careless" or "thoughtless" or something to that effect, with no justification for this whatsoever, and no further attempt is made to understand her. The part dealing with The Decay of the Angel is effective, but only because it makes the reader remember that incredible novel - it is Mishima who is responsible for the effectiveness, and not Yourcenar.

So what's Yourcenar's point? Apparently, that Mishima had a special vision of a "Buddhist Void" unique to him that inscrutably exhorted him to commit suicide. That's about it. To this end, she gives probably a lot more attention than is necessary to some of Mishima's lesser, later political works - but almost none, paradoxically, to his essay Sun and Steel. This is why she glosses over biographical details - because in her opinion, they have little to no bearing on Mishima's life. A few anecdotes, such as the "green snake" incident, are related with much self-conscious weightiness, as if they held some kind of magical key to Mishima's work. All of these anecdotes are also related by either Nathan or Scott-Stokes in their respective biographies with much less sophomoric interpretations. Yourcenar continues with a rhapsodic summary of the story "Patriotism," which has no value to any reader who has read the source material, and only ends up conveying the impression that Yourcenar is far more fond of blood and death than Mishima ever was. She ends with a poetization of Mishima's last day, in which she waxes eloquent and ecstatic on the subject of ritual disembowelment and decapitation. This culminates in the last paragraph of the book, a completely unnecessary and grotesque extended metaphor that says nothing and isn't even worth reading.

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