BotM: May: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM: May: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

So, if this your first time reading Mishima, let me give you a quick glimpse into the themes that appear in all of Mishima's writing.

Theme 1: Beauty

Mishima is obsessed with beauty. Temple of the Golden Pavilion in particular is a meditation on it, and many of his books correlate a sense of beauty with a sense of goodness. This perspective also played heavily into his personal life. Yukio Mishima was obsessed with physical perfection and agelessness. Any picture of Mishima shows him as being in profound physical shape. He was known to meditate naked under freezing cold waterfalls to test his physical endurance. His stated goal was to craft a body that was invulnerable to aging. Some even suspect his suicide was in part spurred by the fact he saw his body as beginning to decline as he hit middle age. This belief is enforced by a passage in the Temple of Dawn in which a utopian society of the young and beautiful was maintained by suicide at the age of 30.

Theme 2: Death

No author has ever committed suicide more spectacularly than Yukio Mishima. Mishima spent his entire life obsessed with the notion of death and of glory. As much as Temple of the Golden Pavilion reflects on beauty, works like The Sailor who Fell From Grace with the Sea and Runaway Horses reflect on death. Unlike many authors who treat death as fearful and tragic, Mishima saw death as being something to be celebrated if done well. This is particularly visible in his obsession with ritual suicide/seppuku. Several characters across several novels die via this method. It should be no surprise this would be the way Mishima himself dies.

Theme 3: Death as Beauty

This is where we get into the real guts of Mishima's themes. Mishima saw death and violence as inherently beautiful. He celebrated violent death not so much as honorable as much as aesthetically pleasing. Mishima famously declared his first sexual experience was masturbating to a painting of St. Sebastian pierced by arrows. Its hard not to notice the particularly erotic fetishism of violent details and imagery in his fiction. This can tend to be both the most off-putting and yet also most intriguing aspect of his fiction. Just as Mishima also saw death itself as beautiful, Mishima also saw death itself as preferable to the loss of beauty. This is a theme that will run throughout Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

Anyways, enjoy this crazy gay samurai masochist and his fiction y'all

# ¿ May 3, 2016 17:43

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 21:55

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

just buy a paper book its the same price as an e-book jesus you guys

# ¿ May 4, 2016 14:01

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

A Life in Four Chapters is really good imho

mcustic posted:

Schrader's movie is pretty much the only thing ever that George Lucas touched and didn't turn to poo poo immediately. That Philip Glass score is pretty sweet too. I think I've seen it at least five times.

George Lucas was somehow able to even make an Akira Kurosawa movie bad

# ¿ May 7, 2016 15:23

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

was gonna start reading it tonight and it turned out I lost my copy in Mexico

Gonna run by a used book store later to pick it up

# ¿ May 10, 2016 17:16

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

I picked up a copy of the book that is so old Mishima is still alive and the intro talks about him as a bright young talent.

# ¿ May 12, 2016 17:11

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Groke posted:

Finished. For now, this fucker will be going on my periodical reread list. What a strange and captivating book.

If you have not done Sea of Fertility get on that poo poo

# ¿ May 18, 2016 17:23

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

quit loving a child and read some physical books also written within a human lifetime

# ¿ May 19, 2016 21:33

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Please tell me he thought they were confusing Mishima with Mizoguchi

# ¿ May 20, 2016 17:35

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Such as

Aquarium by David Vann

The let the Vann Clan grow

# ¿ May 20, 2016 20:29

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Nakar posted:

How about we let Mel set the BsOTM until he fucks up. I mean arguably picking a book that I couldn't buy constitutes loving up, but I had a few days' worth of adventures and ended up reading it eventually so he wins this round.

I appreciate it, but to be fair my general tastes can be kind of narrow when considering the scope of the subforum.

# ¿ May 20, 2016 21:26

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

but let's be real here I do have the best taste out of everyone

# ¿ May 20, 2016 21:37

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I rigged the election this month, all the nominees were from female authors.

Next month we should do LaRose anyways so there that's a twofer

# ¿ May 31, 2016 17:50

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 21:55

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

CestMoi posted:

People reading this book anbd being like "drat mishima does such an interesting depiction of mental illn ess or whatever" you are doing the dullest reading of this book and you should reconsider.

Share with us your reading

# ¿ May 31, 2016 18:38

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM: May: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima