From Publishers Weekly
Motives for Mishima's ritual suicide in 1970 at age 45 have been interpreted as esthetic, erotic, exhibitionistic, political and desperate (the waning talent syndrome). In this essay, novelist Yourcenar (The Abyss, Fires shows convincinglyvia an examination of Mishima's novels, plays and other writings, as well as the movie, Patriotism, in which Mishima plays the role of a suicidethat his life was "an exhausting climb . . . to his proper end," proper in his own view, at least, his seppuku carefully premeditated. Although Yourcenar's study helps one to appreciate the strength of Western influence on Mishima and trace his obsession with death as it appeared in what he wrote, it is marred by fuzzy thinking dressed in pretentious or merely vapid language"that powerful plexus which controls in us all our actions and emotions"; "Confessions of a Mask . . . fits all young people between 1945 and 1950"; "the ozone odor of pure energy." She has, in effect, done little more than show us that the best interpreter of Mishima is Mishima. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In a subtly reasoned, immensely absorbing, and indispensable essay, Yourcenar rejects familiar accounts of Mishima as psychotic or fascistic. Instead, she carves an image of a visionary whose sensibility transcended love, politics, and even art. Without attempting a detailed analysis of his life or art, she focuses tellingly on their interplay and ultimate fusion. In The Sea of Fertility , his final tetralogy, Mishima developed the Buddhist notions of "detachment, impermanence, and void" crucial to his determination to achieve the ultimate fullness in lifedeath. Simultaneously, he disciplined his body ruthlessly, seeking to move through visceral to spiritual knowledge. That the final outcome was violent suicide, Yourcenar argues, inspires awe rather horror. The mystery lies beyond our understanding. Arthur Waldhorn, English Dept., City Coll., CUNYCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


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.





Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)


From the Inside Flap
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 career and death.



About the Author
Marguerite Yourcenar's (1903-1987) many works include A Coin in Nine Hands, Fires, Two Lives and a Dream, and A Blue Tale, all available from the University of Chicago Press.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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 career and death.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Motives for Mishima's ritual suicide in 1970 at age 45 have been interpreted as esthetic, erotic, exhibitionistic, political and desperate (the waning talent syndrome). In this essay, novelist Yourcenar (The Abyss, Fires shows convincinglyvia an examination of Mishima's novels, plays and other writings, as well as the movie, Patriotism, in which Mishima plays the role of a suicidethat his life was ``an exhausting climb . . . to his proper end,'' proper in his own view, at least, his seppuku carefully premeditated. Although Yourcenar's study helps one to appreciate the strength of Western influence on Mishima and trace his obsession with death as it appeared in what he wrote, it is marred by fuzzy thinking dressed in pretentious or merely vapid language``that powerful plexus which controls in us all our actions and emotions''; ``Confessions of a Mask . . . fits all young people between 1945 and 1950''; ``the ozone odor of pure energy.'' She has, in effect, done little more than show us that the best interpreter of Mishima is Mishima. (November)

Library Journal