
In Which We Were Safe with Yukio Mishima (2017) - lermontov
https://thisrecording.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/in-which-we-were-safe-with-yukio-mishima/
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9nGQluzmnq3M
It's a shame that the blog doesn't mention Mishima's most famous work, _The
Temple of the Golden Pavilion_ (a fictionalized account of the real case of a
deranged monk burning down Kyoto's most famous temple), or (IMHO) his magnum
opus, the _Sea of Fertility_ tetralogy, which he finished immediately before
his death. Both showcase Mishima at his finest: intense, dense, obsessed with
sex and death.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temple_of_the_Golden_Pavil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temple_of_the_Golden_Pavilion)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sea_of_Fertility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sea_of_Fertility)

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ArtWomb
Agreed. Many in the West were introduced to Mishima by Paul Schrader's film,
which masterfully realizes that moment of epiphany inside the temple ;)

Soundtrack by Philip Glass

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9rB33JnvyM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9rB33JnvyM)

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leoh
An excellent piece by the late Donald Keene shortly after Mishima's suicide.
The two were good friends in spite of Keene being an American and Mishina
being deeply skeptical of the changes America imposed on Japan after the war.

[https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/03/archives/mishima-
mishima....](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/03/archives/mishima-mishima.html)

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uxp100
It's kind of odd to see profiles of Mishima without the word fascist. That
doesn't discount his work, but he's a figure like D'Annunzio, a fascist sense
of aesthetics that drove idiosyncratic politics, maybe more truly fascist than
any 20th century butcher. It seems cute in retrospect since they were so
unsuccessful (in politics.)

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greenie_beans
love his work but, yeah

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greenie_beans
well, idk about love, but enjoy

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jhanschoo
20th century Japanese literature is very interesting. Its authors are people
who are living through, or have lived through a society growing from a fairly
rational and proud Westernized and modernized society into an increasingly
desperate, fanatical, and repressive one, before having their entire society
and common values do an about turn and figuring out how to live in a new,
contradictory world beyond their wildest expectations. Among their most
celebrated are authors who think of themselves as very broken people.

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Overtonwindow
Absolutely fantastic essay. Mishima’s death is one of legend, albeit sad and a
great loss. His story Patriotism encapsulated true honor and tradition
perfectly.

