(Original Review, 1981-04-24)





“They performed in silence. He trembled a little out of vanity, as when he had first scaled the mast. The woman’s lower body, like a hibernating animal half asleep, moved lethargically under the quilts; he sensed the stars of night tilting dangerously at the top of the mast. The stars slanted into the south, swung to the north, wheeled, whirled into the east, and seemed finally to be impaled on the tip of the mast. By the time he realized this was a woman, it was done...”

In “The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea” by Yukio Mishima.



I've read many scary books with frightening stories before and since, but they don't disturbed me the way this book did. The book was disturbing in a completely different way - it felt as if it was talking about me, saying something that's scary yet true about me.

 

 

 

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

This is my second book by Mishima. My first was the Sound of the Waves which is a simple love story, and basically a Novella. This is very different. The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is transgressive literature and very good. It is apparently based on real events. The story concerns a young Buddhist priest in training who becomes obsessed with The Golden Temple where he is partially raised and trained. The story is clearly brilliant and I preferred it to The Sound of the Waves. I struggled with it a bit, in part because of the cultural gap and in part because my knowledge of Zen Buddhism's nuances is not nearly complete enough. However, I think that the meaning of the story is probably pretty elusive, even for those without those difficulties. Much of the story deals with arguments and philosophical points that are perversions of Zen Buddhism. However, the story is much more than an account of a disturbed individual. It has a great deal to say about beauty and purpose. It also is constantly disconcerting surprising and strange. The story telling is very matter of fact and less poetical than some Japanese novels, including Mishima's The Sound of the Waves. It's pretty clearly a masterpiece, although much of it is quite baffling and it is often hard to develop a stance and an attitude toward reading it. That's clearly on purpose. A very good book.

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This is a collection of stories by Yukio Mishima, showcasing stories such as 'Onnagata', 'A List of Bridges', 'The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love', 'Patriotism', 'Death in Midsummer', 'Sunday', 'Fountains in the Rain' and 'Pearl'.

The aim was to show Mishima's versatility, but I must say it was an interesting test for me as a reader.

I felt drawn to more philosophical stories, such as 'A List of Bridges' (an atmospheric and dark story of determination and sense of superiority, and of how what we consider our dreams turn out to be merely cliches), or 'The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love' (a story Paulo Coelho should read each morning and evening, and then weep).

I quite liked the 'lighter' stories in the collection: satirical 'Sunday' bored me a little, but I liked the subversiveness of 'Fountains in the rain' and the way "Pearl' represented the concept of saving face. But I had a huge problem with what supposedly was the core of the collection: 'Patriotism' (the single story Mishima believed should be read as representative of his style and concerns), 'Onnagata', and 'Death in Midsummer'.

The latter combines oppressiveness and detachment, and features quite a lot of telling in relation to showing (an important feature of Mishima's writing technique, I presume). 'Onnagata' is intelligent, written with perceptiveness and a degree of sympathy; characters come alive, there is still much telling to aid the showing, but I accept it as a part of the convention.

'Patriotism' - I had mixed feelings, to put it mildly. It is almost too pretty, and authentically gruesome at once. It is kitchy and propagandistic; saccharine in its idealised portrayal of female focaliser, and yet at least to some degree realistic. Not to mention ominous.

Like most of the Japanese fiction that I have read this is delicate and precise.  As such you have to read it slowly and absorb it carefully.

It is really a very simple love story and basically a novella rather than a  novel, at least in form if not technically.  The characterization is extremely well done and the language is very beautiful.  There are many lovely scenes, including a wonderful erotic scene by a fireplace.  It's title suits it perfectly because the sight and sounds of the sea infuse the novel from cover to cover.

I rate books harshly, so that is part of the reason that I am rating this book so low.  However, the main reason is that I just cannot see this book staying with me. It is beautiful, but in the end slight.

Worth reading, but not a must read by any stretch of the imagination.