Mishima

[Anonymous No.19663006]

This man is my favorite author. I’d like to read more of the work that influenced him, particularly Japanese literature. His Western influences are clear to me: the Greek playwrights, Mann, Cocteau, Baudelaire, Nietzsche and others. What were his Eastern sources of inspiration, and where can I find the best translations?

[Anonymous No.19663020]

Definitely hideaki anno. The ending of Sailor is pretty NGE.

[Anonymous No.19663102]

>>19663020
Thanks Anon. Will look into.

Also, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a good Mishima thread, so have at it, chaps.

[Anonymous No.19663127]

>>19663006
He references Ihara Saikaku's 1687 text The Great Mirror of Male Love a lot. Some other Western influences on him are Wilde, Bataille, and Walter Pater. I'm sure he read Winckelmann too

[Anonymous No.19663179]

>>19663102
I was kidding btw but there's definitely some Dostoevsky and Kafka in his influences for the western stuff.

Probably Soseki for eastern influences as he likes using really archaic Japanese.

Definitely Gita, Unpanishads, Jataka for eastern stuff.

[Anonymous No.19663198]

>>19663006
All European decadents basically. Be was a sensualist who defined himself by the identity provided by the creation of problems, far more so than by their avoidance or resolution following traditional asiatic precepts.

[Anonymous No.19663226]

>>19663006
That's Pewdiepie's favorite author too

[Anonymous No.19663692]

>>19663226
And BAPs

[Anonymous No.19663711]

Prewar propaganda pamphlets

[Anonymous No.19663722]

>>19663006
He liked Thomas Mann

[Mishima reader No.19663830]

>>19663006
Marquis de Sade

[Anonymous No.19665183]

As a Japanese, I recommend you to read Vita Sexualis by Mori Ōgai (Confessions of a Mask is heavily influenced by this.)

Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo is good to understand Mishima's obsession with death.

[Anonymous No.19665203]

OK so I have a question for Mishima fans.

I read The Sailor Who Fell From Grace and it was great, but I was a bit puzzled when I read about it. Because I had read the story with the kids as incredibly grotesque and psychopathic and it being some kind of horror tale about evil fucking children, but then I read about it and it seems like Mishima actually agrees with them?
Is he playing it straight? Or did he intentionally make the guys who seem to have the same viewpoint as him evil fucking immature jerks? It almost seems like he's satirising his own philosophy but he can't be can he?

I can't work out what this book is meant to mean, or what it means to people.

Either way it was definitely well written and intense so he's definitely an interesting author.

[Anonymous No.19665241]

>>19663006
His mentor yasunari kawabata.
Question for other anons:
I’ve only read snow country and it was good but not brilliant, why did he win the Nobel when there were so many really great authors around who didn’t?

[Anonymous No.19665512]

>>19663006
He liked radiguet, a young writer that died at 20 years old leaving to short novels behind, they’re pretty good. He was also Cocteau’s lover

[Anonymous No.19665528]

>>19665241
Mishima thought that he was going to win the prize the day that Kawabata won, he even organized a party to celebrate himself, but when Kawabata was announced as the winner he faked that the party was for Kawabata. Mishima didn’t get the Nobel because people were afraid of his political ideas, same as borges

[Anonymous No.19665531]

>>19665512
Radiguet is quite poetic, but ultimately overrated.

[Anonymous No.19665609]

>>19663006
Been reading a lot about him since coming to this board. Very fascinating individual. I haven’t read anything by him yet, but I just ordered Confessions of a Mask. I’m very excited to dive into his work.

[Anonymous No.19665633]

>>19663006

I've got some bad news for you OP: you may be a homosexual.

[Anonymous No.19667003]

>>19665633
he cute

[Anonymous No.19667095]

>>19665203
Read up about Japan pre and post Sino-Russo war, WW1, WW2 and post WW2.

[Anonymous No.19667193]

>>19665633
I think anyone who read mishima know that he was gay

[Anonymous No.19667599]

>>19665203
I read it years ago and I don't remember that well, but what I got from the story was that Mishima portrayed the sailor as the epitome of beauty and masculinity, there are a couple of passages where he writes about his tanned skin and muscles, and how the sailor is somewhat a free spirit.
Near the end, when he gets with the mom of the protagonist and the sailor scolds the kid for something he did (he spied on them having sex, I think?), The kid decides to kill him with his friends just like they killed a cat, and he decided to kill him to avoid the sailor the terrible fate of ending like an average guys, with a boring job, with pale skin, flaccid muscles and a spirit tamed by the woman and society.
I think that's why the sailor fell from grace from the sea, he abandoned the sea to settle down and try to live a normal live, but the thing the kid liked about the sailor was exactly that he was from the sea and what he represented, so as to maintain his vision of perfection and beauty he killed him.
I read it 4 years ago so maybe everything I said is bs, but that's kinda what I remember, for me it had a similar message centered about beauty, time and death that you can find in many other of his works such as the temple of the golden pavilion.
ESL here, so sorry if nothing makes sense.

[I hate women No.19667663]

>>19667599
>Near the end, when he gets with the mom of the protagonist and the sailor scolds the kid for something he did (he spied on them having sex, I think?)
Actually the boy wanted to kill him because he didn't scold him and instead tried to go easy on him as if he assumed the role as step-father. This was the tipping point where Noboru knew the man he once admired as a hero had turned into an emasculated cuck, and that to him was unforgivable.

>>19665203
>I can't work out what this book is meant to mean, or what it means to people
Mishima isn't a hack, he doesn't write novels to further his agenda or act as propaganda for his ideology. The story is about a boy who romanticizes masculinity and his heroes to become disappointed by reality; On the flip side the story is also about a sailor who trades his nomadic life for stability and comfort. There is no "right" answer on which is life is preferable but knowing Mishima's ideals, the ending and title implies that he believes radical romantics will come out on top.

[Anonymous No.19668274]

>>19665203
filtered

[I hate women No.19668299]

>>19668274
You add nothing to the discussion and this board would be better without you

[Anonymous No.19669634]

>>19668299
Neither do you since you got filtered by Mishima

[Anonymous No.19669988]

>>19663020
>Not gonna edge

[Anonymous No.19670075]

>>19663711
Dilate