My complicated thoughts on Yukio Mishima

[@morganhay3968]

I feel like Mishima was ultimately driven by aesthetics more than anything else, in his politics as much as his art - it was all in service of a vision of Japan that was at heart an adolescent fantasy. Also there's a BBC documentary from '85 called 'The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima' that's worth watching, I think it's on KZbin still. They interview one of Mishima's lovers, who clearly didn't take his masculine posturing all that seriously.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Oh that documentary sounds fascinating, thank you!

[@milascave2]

One of his books (the name escapes me) seems to draw inspiration from fellow ascetic Oscar Wilde, who preached artistic beauty for its own sake, but actually put a moral message in many of his works. It is about an exceptionally good-looking young man who is gay but can perform with women. He is hired by an elderly writer to help him to destroy the lives of three women he has grudges against. And he does. The guy starts out as conflicted and closeted, but the writer helps turn him into a narcissistic monster who causes havoc wherever he goes in the lives of all the men and women that he enchants. Clearly, this is based partially on "Dorian Grey." But the ending is startlingly different. The young man is not punished, attend. He does not suffer at all from his wrong doings. In fact, he becomes highly wealthy. The massage, as I understood it, seems to be that beauty is its own form of good. He out Wilde's wild by suggesting the that truly beautiful are exempt from ordinary morality. The physically attractive deserve all good things, regardless of their bad actions. Perhaps I understood it wrongly, because that is a strange message, but that is how it seemed to me.

[@glizzymcguire7]

I look forward to every upload! Your honesty and transparency about growth, change, the inevitability of learning and forming new opinions based on understanding is so utterly human. I really value what you have to say - you offer a tremendous amount of insight to the literary community!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Wow, this is a really incredible compliment, thank you!

[@alexe2255]

I'm no expert either but I've seen most of Mishima's surviving interviews and it seems he was fixated on this traditional Japanese idea of 'The Honorable Death'. Mishima, like many Japanese during WW2, assumed that if they lost they would fight to the last man and be destroyed. This would be a horrific outcome but at least it would have been an honorable death. Instead, the west castrated and consumed Japan. It seems Mishima saw this as a worse and more humiliating form of defeat and spent the rest of his life trying to live up to the culture that was in the process of being lost. While I think the specific things he was fighting to restore are largely repulsive, I find him to be a sympathetic and tragic figure. I love reading about him and his works because there really are no easy answers on how to feel about him. Great video and discussion!

[@milascave2]

He also had a sense of lingering shame because, when Japan was at war, he was too ill to join the military. He had survivors guilt. And his final act, I think, was his way of finally proving that he was willing to die for the values of Imperial Japan. However, this message was muddled by his own narcissistic vanity. At forty, he could not stand the idea that no matter what he did, age would take away his strength, energy, and good looks. So he made sure that he did while he was still more or less beautiful.

[@marina-qt4qh]

I read confessions of a mask without knowing anything about him, and as a lesbian, i really really related to some of the experiences he talked about in the book, specially his relationship with Sonoko. It really was such an instrospective look into my compulsory relationships with men throughout my whole life and it was the first book i annotated properly bc there were just so many reflections that i needed to keep track of and re read again to fully comprehend and learn from them. To this day, i still havent found another queer book that speaks to my queer experience quite like confessions of a mask does. After reading it, i learnt about mishimas past and ideas and was so extremely conflicted, but i also couldnt find anyone that dealt with his fascist past in an honest way and didnt let it slide. Tysm for the video, bc i feel it accomplishes many of the things i feel are lacking in the discussion around mishima!

[@milascave2]

That book and that relationship makes me think that he was not bi, he was straight up gay. Yes, he had a wife, and he chose to have one. But was he ever really into her, physically, I see no evidence that being the case. Ironically, the book "confessions of a mask" was him taking off his mask, of coming out. He could not have gone back in after that was published.

[@j0nnyism]

You had compulsory relationships? Wow. I’m 50 and had only one relationship in my life. We don’t live together but we still love each other just in a platonic way. I can’t imagine being forced to have a relationship with someone I don’t want. Terrible thing I’m so sorry

[@kelleninalink]

I grew up in Japan and your analysis of post war Japan - economically, socially - is spot on. I also appreciate your honesty towards Mishima 🤠

[@literallyricky]

Thank you for doing this video. Interesting points and ideas all around. I love Mishima as a writer and I am aware that this is definitely a red flag lol. I just think he is (like you said) an incredibly fascinating human and I love his writing. He seemed very interested in the human psyche and wrote interiority in a way that I have never encountered before. That said, he had problematic ideas and fixations with death and imperialism that I don't agree with. I think that just makes me more interested in how a person (especially a queer person) comes to those ideas and what led such a talented and intelligent person to a self-inflicted and tragic ending like his. I don't really like viewing people through a monolithic lens like fascist or socialist because I feel like (especially given the context of history and culture) those terms can cause us to unfairly write people off instead of engaging with their perspective in a genuinely curious, nuanced or meaningful way. That's how I approach Mishima and it seems like your approach as well. He was a flawed and complex person with an amazing gift. I appreciate your willingness to look into all the aspects of the artist through his art. Again, thanks so much for putting this together and for being such an open and considerate person. I love getting your thoughts on literature precisely because of your thoughtful and inquisitive perspective. Great job!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Seems like you come at him in the same way that I do! Here’s a beautiful, flawed, romantic artist with some dangerous ideas. That by itself makes for someone very tantalising! Thanks for such a lovely comment and for enjoying the video!

[@catsandsound]

Great comment. I totally agree with you :)

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

Love this discussion. I'd been putting off reading Yukio Mishima for a while and that was purely based on the book descriptions. I didn't know anything about him as an author but his books kept popping up in my recommendations online. This video's so useful' I will definitely be trying Thirst for Love.

[@06Yvonne06]

I read Confessions of a mask and The frolic of the beasts by Mishima (Life for sale and Spring snow still on my shelf unread). I never really had a problem with his political view since, as you said, people are complicated and the fact that he was queer already made his life experience much more difficult than he led us to believe or maybe wanted to asmit to himself. His admiration for the male form/ traditional strong masculinity seems to show in a lot if books. However he never makes his characters simple or "prefers" male perspectives. No matter what he might have aspired to become politically for his country - a savior, new leader, re-inventor of Japanese society - he was a bodybuilding queer artist , who did not shy away to write about sex, strange desires or thoughts and horrible mistakes made because of passion. He was not our perfect author but he was human like everyone of us - which is what I'd rather search for in a writer and find most valuable.

[@procrastireader6435]

I just want to tell you that as a Korean, I have always appreciated you trying to honestly deal with Mishima. Art and politics is a complicated knot, and I certainly do not think one way or another about people who idolize Mishima. That being said, the fact that his fascist past gets entirely elided in book spaces has unnerved me, especially since there is a still a very powerful ultra nationalist right wing in Japan. Again, Mishima is an incredibly complicated character, and there is no facile way to define or judge his politics, but I deeply appreciate it when people try to at least consider his and imperial Japan's fascist past. Much respect as always xxx

[@ghanshyamsingh3653]

Yeah, I noticed that too with respect to the book space!!! Not much comprehenssion around Mishima, just basic Fandom shhtick...this video is quite comprehensive tho, for sure!👍💙

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I find it so baffling that people can read a figure like Mishima and just ignore his imperialistic and fascistic ideas. He used fiction to espouse and explore them. But people lack critical and nuanced thought too much of the time. Thanks for watching and enjoying 💜

[@ghanshyamsingh3653]

@@WillowTalksBooks True!!! To be honest...on booktube in general, it's about loving books and that to me, being a booktube viewer for over half a decade now, feels like an old, done, frustrating trope!?!?!?! Lolzzzz We have had soooo many problematic authors at this point and everytime people will distance themselves from them and hardly seem to advocate or rationalise on the distancing!!! Just feels trendy to abandon authors rather than comprehend their ideologies and how some can be harmful and fatal for certain communities!?! I've seen it too much on booktube and being a reader, the way we understand characters and worlds...it feels superficial and performative! It's ofc more complicated than that but I guess...I'm asking for comprehensive activism soooo every one gets it, rather than performative activism one where the backstory is totally lost on me and it's easy to stay ignorant about it!!!! This channel never disappoints on that part tho, and there are some other few as well like Jen Campbell and BookishRealm...to name a few!!! Also SupposedlyFun!!! Very wholesome and comprehensive videos...fav channels ofc!!!

[@ghanshyamsingh3653]

@@Itjustbegan All soldiers are patriots but some have committed genocide in the name of "patriotism"...it's a very subjective concept!!! Fascism or Nazism is mostly based on action and consequences...no ideology is perfect but when your patriotic bias becomes the reason for the death of innocent people knowingly...well it should be condemned!! There is no bigger ideology that should allow for that, not even freedom struggle...every life matters, especially the kids who are often discounted from the strife of violence when they are omnipresent in the society's reality!!! Patriotism should mean development and peaceful negotiations, it's not always possible but that should be the approach or else, every psychopath can come up with a patriotic reason to commit crimes, it's nothing new!!! History is evidence to this understanding of mine and thus I rest my case! Love ya buddy...🤗💙🤗

[@ghost_of_taliesin]

@@Itjustbegan the japanese imperial army during ww2 WAS the Nazi of the pacific. Just own up to it. You guys don't even know your own history. Everyone else knows but you. It's not even about western propaganda, it happened. Communist China, Capitalist South Korea, much of SEA with many different political leanings KNOWS. Only the Japanese doesn't know what their country did in WW2. It's pathetic frankly.

[@rubyjreads7503]

Please read "Confessions of a Mask, "Forbidden Colours" The Sound of Waves", "The Frolic of the Beasts" and "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" I would like to know your thoughts. I'm working my way through his works.

[@saulcraft200]

Well I won't read Mein Kampf because a straight fascist wrote it, but if it was written by Ernst Rohm I'd give it a shot" what is this logic?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

idk what this means. This video only ever attracts the weirdest comments. Maybe I should delete it and get some peace

[@saulcraft200]

​@@WillowTalksBooks 02:50 you refuse to engage with his literature due to his ideological beliefs, but with the context of him being gay, just spontaneously decide fascism isn't as bad as it seemed and decide to continue to read his books. Like what's the logic? If Ernst Rohm (notorious gay natsoc) wrote Mein Kampf would you be more willing to engage with it?

[@mongolianfishingvillages1371]

@@WillowTalksBooksnah just ignore them

[@jamesanthony9316]

​@WillowTalksBooks don't delete this as you are the first video I have found addressing Mishima from an angle that isn't at least nominally right wing. I am not sure what this comment meant although I suspect the commenter misunderstood your decision to explore more of Mishima as being solely down to the fact he was queer..as if that by default makes him interesting. I don't think you meant it that way of course. Rather it was just one of many other factors that make him an intriguing historical figure given the context he emerges from.

[@P.EnglishLiterature]

Yukio Mishima is a great Japanese author, of his works, my most admirable was Sun and Steel which I did enjoyed. Thanks for this video.

[@sylviakanel9766]

It is very interesting to listen to you finding your way through this author's works. I appreciate your letting us in on that process. Someone below spoke of your opinions being nuanced in a way that simply expects them to be so. I expect that from you, too, but in this video we see the work it takes for you to get to that point and why we have come to expect this level of careful consideration from you. Very gratifying, Willow.💜🙏💜

[@damianlojedabasco1003]

I’ve only read Life for Sale which is one of Yukio Mishima’s take on wicked dark comedy, and based on the things that I’ve heard about him, it’s clear that he has this fascination about Death. I won’t say it showcases his political ideals but I think the book really differs from the rest of his works and perhaps the constant need of how the protagonist wants to die is a metaphor of escaping the current time in Japan? I’m really not sure, and it’s not his well known book, but I liked it because some of the main character’s experience adds an empathy why he really wants to die, particularly his encounter with a vampire.

[@brandonprice7451]

Excellent analysis, I appreciate your open mind and curiosity in understanding him wholly

[@joydevivre7946]

I come from a country that was invaded by Japan in WWII, where Japanese soldiers committed horrific acts that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. I have complicated feelings about Japanese culture--I love so many aspects of it, especially art and literature--but I'm also hyperaware of how many in Japan are still in denial about the reality of Japanese war crimes, such as the Nanking massacre and comfort women. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of 'resurrecting' Mishima as some sort of misunderstood literary figure, and this renewed attention to his works bugs me. I'm not referring to your take, of course, because yours is nuanced as always, but there are far too many people out there who'd grab any excuse to glorify and expound the ideas of fascists like Mishima. Are we really okay with publishing/reprinting the works of someone whose extremist ideas could feed the ever-growing horde of rightwing nationalists?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

This is EXACTLY how I’ve felt about Mishima for years. And I remain very critical and suspicious of the idea that we start celebrating a nationalistic fascist. This video doesn’t come to any conclusion simply because I haven’t reached one. Fascism is on the rise in so many places, including my home country. I should not waste my time on a fascistic writer.

[@joydevivre7946]

@@WillowTalksBooks I live in the UK now, so I absolutely agree with you there. And my home country has just elected a dictator's son who spent years and a whole load of money his father stole from us to revise history and his family's image. I guess this is why I'm firm on my stance on not giving space to fascists, no matter how brilliant they were as artists. Thanks for being so thoughtful, as always, Willow. We need more people like you who take the time to think this sort of things through.

[@joydevivre7946]

@@Itjustbegan Thank you so much for proving my point, haha. Just to be clear, I'm not being flippant about colonialism. One of my issues with right-wing nationalists in Japan is that you think that colonialism, or what you prefer to call 'white slavery', is a uniquely Japanese experience. It's not. What post-war Japan went through under the West is something that countries like mine had gone through for hundreds of years. Decolonisation is a long and painful process, and not something you achieve through ethnic cleansing and a return to your imperial glory days. Also, look around and see who's adopting Mishima as some sort of aesthetic these days--far-right extremist white dudes who wouldn't hesitate to commit violent acts against your 'brave men.' Just to be clear again, I say these things as someone who loves Japanese culture and whose home country is on very friendly terms with Japan now, despite our fractured past.

[@joydevivre7946]

@@Itjustbegan I read and reread your comments just to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting what you said, but I will not engage in a protracted conversation with someone who's obviously debating in bad faith. (Starting your comment with 'You are wrong at so many degree [sic]' is a clear indication of your intention.) I hope you're happy with the attention that you got. Bye.

[@blue---monday]

Same. I did not appreciate that in the video it was said that the Japanese Empire was horrible "as all Empires were". Because it was not. It was truly truly unspeakably horrible. Very uniquely and distinctly inhumane and fascist. Only comparable to Nazis. What happened in the Nanking Massacre was something that I don't think can even be compared to any other event in history, ever. It was just, different.

[@cixxcviicxi]

i loved this, we share the exact same sentiments for mishima

[@SupposedlyFun]

I've been curious about Mishima for a while but hesitant to dive in because of his politics, so I really appreciated your journey with him and your thoughts on his politics and his work.

[@user-yg6ft1iu1i]

Very good insight. I’ve only read The Sailor and I also saw it as a metaphor for Japan I may need to revisit it to see what I think about it now. I think the difficulty reading literature from the past is we see it though our 2022 eyes and have the ability to see how things that were acceptable are now toxic ( as they should be ). But like you , I can be torn when as literature it can still be a beautiful read. But the elephant in the room is there are a lot of great books written at the same time frame by nice people that never got noticed or “considered important.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I love your last point. Why read Mishima when there are so many authors who aren’t problematic, who are read and discussed less often, and who deserve just as much love and celebration!

[@teodoratodorovic2516]

I've been binge watching your videos for the past week! Thank you for always being so honest and real and talking so good about books and authors. You helped me get motivated and start reading again!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

This is all very flattering, thank you!

[@MarivoneAraujo]

It is always very complicated when I say one of my favorite books is “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”. The whole political confusion come along and the work dissolve in that, and I think it’s extremely complicated to judge him without considering how Japan was castrated after World War II, and all the topics you pointed out. Nothing is black and white! I know I can change my mind as well and hate him in the future, but that novel is great.

[@PitchBlackForge]

It’s hard to imagine trying to form a real opinion of Mishima without reading Sun and Steel. Of note - it’s been reprinted finally, so it’s much more affordable to find a copy.

[@Retrostar619]

Seconded.

[@ThePsycoDolphin]

I never know what to make of him. I'm an avowed communist, and I'm reading Life for Sale, and I'm absolutely loving it. I see him as part of that utterly bizzare and totally contradictionary strain of art that I can only describe as a kind of avarte garde reactionary modernism (Pound, Elliot, le Corbeusier, Lovecraft (in his own way), Robert E. Howard, Chandler, Borges, ee Cummings, Wyndham Lewis, Ernest Junger, Waugh, and definitely Mishima). For me, modernist reactionaries are unique in that they take the kind of extreme transgressive experimentation associated with dadaists, surrealists & constructivists, but also thematically with the themes of existentialist and absurdist literature. In many ways that gives them a distinctively revolutionary feel, something vital and dangerous, ferociously obsessed with smashing the old order of form and theme, pushing the boundaries of taste against a conservative moral culture, delighting in breaking up establishes literary norms. Most of these movements were left wing, or at least heavily on that side. Yet all their politics were for objectively reactionary causes (fascism, militarism, racism, empire, myth, religious superstition, mythic cycles, cults of personality, an obssesion with esoteria, rabid anti socialism and anti communism). So we have these weird cases of modernist art forms being used to support reactionary goals (in philosphy, Nietzsche is the ur example of this). I think the reason why I don't seem to mind Mishima, even in his worst moments, is that the sheer batshittery of his work, the sense of really bleak exhausted nihillism, the scsthing cynical humour, the weirdness in content in form, seem less to do with veneration of the past and more with total alienation with the present. The doomed, worthless creatures he creates seem to be incapable of doing anything particularly alpha at all. Life for Sale is literally about a guy who puts his life up for sale in the hopes of being killed for money. Its a bizzare, weird, depressing premise, but in its hostility to modern life, sense of utter defeated alienation and the comic darkness of the entire tone of the books makes it recall that Kafka or Beckett, or even a postmodern work by Pynchon, than a work of fusty conservatism. All the artists mentioned, I think, end up managing to transcend the limits of their politics precisely because, and probably unknowingly to them, they elevated the petty grievances of miserable conservative throwback to weird, surrealistic art forms that end up universalising the subject matter. Their own sense of *specific* alienation towards the modern world (casual sex, women's rights, loss of national/imperial/racial pride, terror of weakened masculinity, despair at loss pf traditional authority blah blah) was transmognified through modernist literature techniques into a *general* alienation towards the modern world (capitalism, globalisation, endless war, climate change, pandemics, rampant started authoritarianism, TINA, surveillance, social media etc.) No work of sincere, genuine art is ever just a blueprint for someone's politics. Fashionable as that opinion now is in the literature studies departments, most works of art are a seriese of contradictionary, tortured and conflicted series of encounters between artistic intention and the art they produce. Right on political works can be dogshit art, and dogshit politics can be phenomenal art. I think to look at a work by Mishima, and say, by contrast the Turner Diaries or Camp of the Saints, it'd be pretty obvious without much discussion which one is obvious, genuine art. And to my mind it all comes down to artistic intent in the work (Mishima wants to express his Japanese hard right views through bizzare and disturbing escapes that seem to exist in a kind of nightmare world, whereas the latter two are just vulgar propaganda of the foulest kind. It's be very hard to see the pathetic, sex addicted, nihilistic misanthrope dropout loser protagonist of Life for Sale as an ubernensch alpha whose behaviour is to be copied, whereas the latter two have *literally* been used as programmes for far right terrorists).

[@Master_of_Critique]

Lmao just like an online leftist leaving self important wall text no one cares about

[@monikanazer7242]

I would like to hear out your opinion on spring snow from the sea of fertility

[@j0nnyism]

I personally think it’s absurd to refuse to read some writer because of personal views. It’s also an act of self limitation. Separate the art from the artist.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

That’s not what separating the art from the artist means. I did a video on it. And you know as well as I do that the kinds of people who make this argument are mostly white men who would never dream of reading books by more diverse and marginalised voices.

[@123maxfighter123]

Yukio Mishima was my gateway to Japanese literature, and while I do agree with you that his politics can be problematic, I have learned to abstract myself from his politics and enjoy the beauty of his writing. "Thirst for Love" was so tragically beautiful that I almost could not put it down; the first book of the "Sea of Fertility"- "Spring Snow", is one of the best books I have ever read! I think that if one were truly to appreciate Mishima as an artist, one should read French poetry - Charles Baudelaire, Theophille Gautier, etc... . He is a tragic character but he got what he wanted at the end - a noble, samurai death. That to me is to live a fulfilling life, to live by an idea and to die with that idea in mind! Great discussion and video! Looking forward to seeing the next one😄

[@WM-lj2ok]

When I first bought my first Yukio Mishima's book (I am not ashamed that I got it because of its cover )which was the spring snow .I adore Japanese culture and the cover just got into me. However I stopped from reading it cuz even though I was reading it translated to my language (Arabic)it was to hard to understand it while studying so I waited until this summer vacation and started agine. It took me 1 month to read the whole quadruple( the sea of fertility, which I deeply encourage you to read it) each book is roughly 500 bages. But I just could not stop.after he wrote the last book of the quadruple which was angel fall ,he took his own life the way you minshiond. I read his books with complete neutrality. I did not try to take a glimpse of any of the views that seemed political and which he alludes to in his writings in any way. Even though he was mentioning many political terms that I did not understand, but I confronted the unbridled desire to know his opinion of them, away from what he draws in our imagination to build his characters extraordinary personalities. I was content to read the general definition of the term and thats it (so i can understand what he means) . And believe me in this way, after I finished the quartet, I Read more about the author. And everything I had built in my head by tracing those characters and choosing the character in which Mishima sowed the seeds of himself, I had a complete (except to some extent) view of what was in this man's soul. You will have the great feeling that I got during my reading of that quartet. Great sense of death ecstasy! Which i did not understand from anyone else. He makes me imagine that I iam able to breath, to feel, to see and to think his way .yokio is brilliant writer. I would love to read the books you've minshiond and I wish you read those and talk about them later. My (my ⭕⭕English is not so good and that makes me feel so bad cuz the things I want to say and the way I want to express it is much more deeper. You may not even understand what I am trying to say 😔 😟 😔 .

[@depotemkin]

Your story looks cool. I read Mishima in Russian and French (I know French pretty good) and learn English too

[@lawrencejohnson6957]

Andrew Rankin's Mishima: Aesthetic Terrorist is the best book about Mishima ever written. If one is really interested in this author, one should read it. Also, I would recommend to the author of this video that he read more of Mishima's books.

[@femke5161]

I got two books by Mishima from my father in law: The Golden Pavilion and Confessions of a Mask. Which one is good to start with? I’m finding it hard to start although I really want to read them…

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I actually haven’t read those two! And I’m eager to read both. Confessions of a Mask is supposed to be autobiographical and about his queerness so I’m more interested in that one

[@river3516]

I read Confessions of a Mask twice and liked it quite a bit. I also started The Golden Pavilion, got about half way through and couldn't finish it (couldn't tell you why at this point, but it's still on my shelves). Depends on what you're interested in; I'd (obviously) recommend you start with Confessions.

[@sjain8111]

I believe GP has a scene of animal torture so be careful if like me you want to skip that part

[@river3516]

@@sjain8111 ohh, thanks for the warning, I'll def skip that!

[@rubyjreads7503]

@@WillowTalksBooks Please read it.

[@Firmus777]

My thoughts and taste in Mishima is completely different, but that aside, I am surprised that you didn't once mention the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it, it is a brilliant film.

[@robmann400]

I, with very little info on Mishima, never having heard of him until about eight hours ago, have been doing a wee bit of digging. I spent five minutes or so with his Wikipedia page and the outstanding detail that to me would be one of the keys, one of the most formative things to happen in his life would have been the death from typhus of his younger, seventeen year old sister after she drank tainted water. Romanticism, Nationalism, Escapism, Infantilism, Fascism, can all overlap in a myriad of different ways. If any of them are indulged in to too far of a degree they all can be quite dangerous and completely indistinguishable from “lunacy.” He likely went a little mad in 1945 and latched on to ideas of power that would enable him to be in control of his own fate and ideas of fantasy that would allow him to not think about the immediacy of his ever changing world. Thanks for making videos eh.

[@dex7615]

really good video willow ❤️

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Aw thank you!

[@editsamv7197]

Hi, My name's Xoel. I've just finished watching this video, and I wanted to tell you that I truly enjoyed your opinion and everything you told about your journey through the evolution of your thoughts about Mishima. I am so glad that you finally could start to appreciate the good things he had to share, despite all the bad things he had, that never has to be forgotten. I also appreciate your capacity for change, and the love you have for it. Just brilliant! Sending big hugs from Galicia, Spain. Keep being yourself and shine bright 🥰

[@ghanshyamsingh3653]

Brilliant Video as Always!!!💙🙀👍🔥🔥🔥 I myself came across him becoz he is the favorite author of the biggest youtuber on here!!! I saw that video and understood that he committed suicide and was a very well known author!!! And also I wasted to read his books that he died writing...the quartet!?! I did read a few pages of TSWFFGWTS...but it was too weird for me at the time, but now ofc I wanna go back and read more of him! He's to me fascinating as well...especially in the sense that he is bisexual and committed the ritual after failing the coup and finishing (?) his quartet series!!! Now after watching this video, I'm more intrigued ofc! Let's see how I understand his authorship wrt his quite tumultuous personality and life... Thanks for such honest, real and comprehensive videos! It's brilliant and refreshing to see someone be soooo genuine with critiquing text that is sexual/gory/political/uncomfortable/problematic in sooo many ways!!! Looking forward to more vids...👍💙👍

[@k.s.k.7721]

Yukio Mishima is an author I read during my 20's and became quite impressed with his work. I am especially fond of his "Sea of Fertility" series, that he finished the day of his death. I highly recommend it. "Thirst for Love" is probably my next favorite book of his, for many of the reasons you mentioned. As I'm fortunate to have a Japanese friend, I was able to ask about some of the scenes in the book, which to me had little importance, but to a native Japanese person, were very pivotal to the story. I was also told by my friend how embarrassed the Japanese people were by his failed coup and suicide, and generally were reluctant to talk about it.

[@PrinceOfMatcha]

I'm queer and I don't think he's all that bad, he almost goes against the narrative? To each their own? Maybe how he viewed politics/running a country had nothing do to do with his "morals", bisexuality, or imagination when creating art. Big fan of his work and a big fan of your channel!

[@calypso3928]

I’d love to see a video of your favorite satires! I’ve noticed many Goodreads reviews don’t even understand satire, so I’m always lost on what to read🤔. Lapnova and Earthlings are both satires, but Goodreads doesn’t have them labeled as such (and both have a lot of bad reviews because people don’t understand that they’re satire!)

[@onoud9417]

I also believe that he was naive, it's hard not to be naive when you look towards the past while dreaming of a better future. It never occurred to him that maybe Japan wasn't perfect or that the emperor wasn't the demi god. He seemed to be obsessed with something that never existed. Its common for nationalists to use emotion and nostalgia rather than reason. I however don't feel conflicted towards him bc naivety isn't a good defense against promoting facist ideals. It's been 50 years since his death and the alt-right from various countries are still motivated by him. I appreciate this video and how you always look at things from multiple perspectives. Unfortunately I am a black and white type of thinker lol

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I completely understand how you feel! It’s exactly how I felt about him for years. Fascists are dangerous; their ideas spread like a virus and lead to only more nationalism, bigotry, and fascism. I have enjoyed exploring him as an artist but I will remain guilty and uncomfortable every time I think about him. I love the points that you made, thank you

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

I’m just attempting to read/reread The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. He certainly appears to have been a very complex individual. Watching the BBC documentary mentioned elsewhere, he seemed a bit of an oddball, with some strange ideas by our modern western standards. I read The Sailor previously. Much of the earlier part was ponderous but it ended very darkly, and left an impression. I develop bonsai, have an interest in Zen, eastern philosophy and Japanese aesthetics and gardens so am getting a lot from this book so far. I’m even about to start constructing a model kit of the golden pavilion… Not sure if that is a good or bad sign given the reading matter, the ideas of beauty and obsession, and the somewhat problematic author 😂 But we can separate the author from their works. I don’t know about the political views of Da Vinci, Botticelli or Hokusai but I can appreciate the artistry of their work and see that they were masters of their craft. I also love the horror writing of H P Lovecraft but understand that his views on racism and ethnicity are problematic today - but a result of his upbringing and times he lived in. It doesn’t diminish his works - even though it gives some context. The same is true of Mishima - we can appreciate his writing without having to get into his personal politics or foolish ideas he held.

[@curioushmm9027]

i haven't read anything by yukio michima but it do appreciate your nuanced look at him and his work.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thanks :)

[@dominiqueeslabra]

I recently watched Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Kyoko's House was one of his books that was dramatized got me wanting to read the book. Sadly, I don't think it will be translated to english anytime soon. 😢

[@blue---monday]

Saying that the Japanese Empire did really really bad things "as all Empires did" is really disingenuous. The Japanese Empire in WW2 was especially and outrageously horrible, very uniquely and distinctly fascist, in a manner only comparable to (if not worse than) the Nazis. Wearing the Japanese Rising Sun symbol until today, in most East & Southeast Asian countries (except the younger generation who is mostly oblivious to these things at this point), is still equivalent to wearing Nazi Swastikas. I would like to recommend you to watch a video on this from a channel called "Knowing Better", as I personally think that no other historian youtubers have elucidated it as well as he has. That being said, Mishima's "anti capitalist" tendencies were not at all rooted in any meaningful theory of labor exploitation or solidarity with workers even. What happenned was that he was outraged by Japan changing, and getting invaded as well as manipulated by things that were "alien" to Japan. That "aliens" being Westerners, Americans, as well as Capitalism for that matter, as Japan did not have that before. By the same token, he was simply xenophobic. To say that he was an anti-capitalist was not it. He was a xenophobe. If anything, I recall that the biggest opposition to his fame back then were Japanese student leftists and communists in universities. I even remember there was a clip of a debate recorded between Mishima and Japanese leftists in a University or something. Listen, I have complicated relationship with Mishima too. The reasons are also the same with yours. But he was not a complicated man because his "fascism" was weirdly "anti capitalist" or whatever. His fascism was perfectly fascist the way it was. He even had once said that the one thing that distraught him the most was the fact that Japan lost all of its subjects and colonies all over Asia. That is the least anti-imperialist opinion to have, if anything. What made his fascism more nuanced was only the fact that he was openly queer and bisexual. But then again, Japanese culture pre-Meiji Restoration was in fact originally already relatively open-minded and lenient to homosexual tendencies (as opposed to Western societies). So it was not odd that someone who had great pride in Japan's supremecy, had a very Japanese way of looking at sexualities (as opposed to the Western/Abrahamic ones). But he was still fascist through and through. And he got condemned by his leftist counterparts for it, even back then.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yes

[@Kati3-kat]

I love Mishima's books (started with Spring Snow) and I don't disagree with what you've said here. I'm always drawn to tragic figures and tortured artists anyway, so loving his work was inevitable for me. Lol Not sure if you've read spring snow yet, but its the first of a tetralogy and it's beautiful. I also liked Temple of the Golden Pavilion. After hearing your review I think I'm going to have to pick up thirst for love!

[@stephenp1461]

I think Mishima's writing is beautiful (especially his homoerotic take on men's bodies. It's just so accurate and straightforward. Pure lust.I kinda want to live in a universe where he was a smut writer lololol) But his views are def quite awful and people need to be aware of that before they read his books so to avoid romanticising his ideas. Like I knew Mishima was sus when PewDiePie said that this is his fav author lol

[@azhairving]

Subscribe for damn good sleepless nights!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

You’re very sweet, thank you!

[@disconnected22]

The Sound Of Waves, beautiful book Honestly, I would recommend reading one of his biographies

[@nl3064]

I also have a mixed view of Mishima. I actually first learned of him because of the 1985 Paul Schrader biopic (Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters) that I saw several years ago. He’s certainly both fascinating & puzzling. As for his writing though… the thing is, I read Mishima sorta regularly, but find him often boring af. Of The Sea of Fertility series (often seen as his ‘masterpiece’ - 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die includes The Sea of Fertility, and The Sound of Waves), I read Runaway Horses (boring), The Decay of the Angel (mostly boring, but when you reach the end, it gives the whole journey this Zen finality - Mishima, as everyone knows, finished writing the Decay of the Angel the day he killed himself, and there’s something bittersweet about those being the final paragraphs that he would ever write) and The Temple of Dawn (yes, I read the series out of order). I quit halfway through Sound of Waves. Most recently I read Life For Sale, which is often seen as one of his lesser novels, but I actually found it the most enjoyable - a pure pulp novel where Mishima drops the stuffy literary pretentiousness and cuts loose and clearly had fun writing that one - Life for Sale was written in a more direct, clean manner; as opposed to his regular try-hard word salad, self-mastrbating approach to prose.

[@sjain8111]

so important in the case of Mishima, his writing was known to be breathtakingly beautiful always felt I was missing that reading the translations

[@aurvnxia3644]

I don't know if you still read the comments under this video, but it was very interesting to hear your opinion. I often see people just blindly praising him because, well, he is a great author, isn't he, or at least so says the wikipedia, so it often seems that people don't actually have an opinion of their own about him. I wanted to point out one thing in your video, that might be interesting for you to think about. You mention how it is, in a way, understandable why he would have been a nationlist and in general, it's nice to point out that nationalism isn't necesserily evil. But, in case of Japan after WW2, I have a different idea. I'm a Ukrainian and the way I see the misfortunes of former empires is quite simple - you get what you deserve and you pay for your sins. It is true that Japan changed, that some of it's spirit was stripped away by the occupation forces and that it was a tragedy for many Japanese people (as higlighted both in literature and historical records) and it may seem all too sad. However when I think of millions of dead Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians and other Asians, I understand that the price Japan paid was more than justified. You have to pay for your crimes. Sometimes you pay with people, and sometimes you pay with culture. Because of this, I do not view post WW2 Japanese nationalist as justified, for as sad as it was for the Japanese, they had to pay for the crimes of the empire they created. In any case, thank you for your thoughts, sorry for a bit of rumbling, would love to hear your opinion on this :)

[@MrGorobu]

If you haven't yet, I think you might find The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict insightful reading regarding Mishima's contradictory nature.

[@jagodesune6894]

Thirst for Love was the first book of his I read about 15 years ago and I thought it was a beautiful novel. I read one or two others after that but didn't like them as much. I've been curious about what's apparently his big work, the four book series Sea of Fertility. I never got to reading it though, after reading up on him a little, I was definitely thinking yeah maybe I don't want to read the big work by the fascist who attempted a military coup, might be a bit much. But it also might be really great... but yeah, maybe one day, maybe not. But if you read them I'll definitely watch the video.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Haha this is exactly how my mind works when it comes to him. Do I want to read this? Kind of but also maybe not but maybe one day…

[@melissahouse1296]

My thoughts exactly! 🙂

[@coconutmilch2351]

The premise of “beautiful star” is so my thing ❤ I love your selection (and I know that you are not too impressed with this book and I’ve never read it - I will now because I’m intrigued - but the reason I’m interested is that the semi-sci-fi, absurd, comedic, people feeling like aliens, rich people having nothing to do thing is very much my thing 😂 and personally I have utterly given up on politics)

[@PurpleRainbow91]

Mishima reminds me of Salvador Dali somewhat in that it's hard to parse what exactly was his earnest political views were versus his twisted aesthetic appreciation for nationalism. Ultimately I think they're both talented but crappy people, and in Mishima's case probably tragically self-hating, but not every tragic person needs to be redeemed. I don't blame anyone for skipping Mishima's works, especially if they're people from one of the many countries impacted by Japanese nationalism and imperialism. I still like some of his novels but anyone who completely handwaves his views are as naive as Mishima himself imo.

[@colinhiggins4779]

I gave this the thumbs up, even though I disagreed with some of the lefty talking points and shallow analysis. Mishima isn't a Fascist--he isn't anything other than himself. The author is extremely complex, even to himself, full of contradiction. He is IMHO the best author of the 20th century--absolutely compelling and fascinating. Challenging. His prose is deep and poetic, economical, and explosive. Don't try to put Yukio in a box, because he won't stay there,.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

lol that’s a bit much

[@Retrostar619]

Agreed.

[@paulrowe2615]

The Sound of Waves might be my favorite because it’s arguably stripped of all his ideas. Just a tightly written love story.

[@swathivivek2424]

Really love your book recommendation - I read few of them and enjoyed it thoroughly . Keep posting . 🙏🏼if you like Indian mythology then there is a book “kaikeyi “ written by vaishnavi Patel - it has magic love and betrayal - not love story . But it’s Ramayana from women’s perspective .

[@celinaishikawa3284]

the main books written by Mishima: Confessions of a mask, Forbidden colors, The golden pavilion, Sun and steel.

[@melissahouse1296]

Well now.. this is the sort of video that makes bt a truly special & interesting place. I've only ever read half (😕) of a Mishima book (TFLove) ridiculous considering its length so this was apt; i found the aesthetic overly austere 'dull depressing' bleak (?) & im not averse to that sort of thing in classic lit but there was something about this that left me cold but not in a good way. I found The Makioka Sisters (despite being gorgeous stylistically) similarly frustrating. Your political ethical (?) thoughts around Mishima are so well communicated (objective, contextually measured & honest) that i feel compelled to give it another a go.. also have Spring Snow.. fingers crossed for that one. Discovered your channel as i wanted to delve into Japanese lit.. hopefully there's something out there for me lol🤞💙😊

[@amandar3467]

Love this! I definitely need to read some Mishima, he's a fascinating person. I'm glad you could appreciate his art despite some of his horrible political stances. His "biopic" by Paul Schraeder was interesting

[@Ali94749]

I have only read Forbidden Colors which I found a bit long and tedious but maybe I should give him another try.

[@xiiir838]

It's extremely funny and, honestly, difficult to understand, how Ief† wingers can be so righteous to be the most extremists against everything that is outside of the boundaries your intellectual elite has created, and at the same time, you guys are the biggest fans and consumers of artists from those same foreign and forbidden lands that y'all criticise so harshly. Lovecraft and Mishima are the biggest examples of the inherent lack of solid morals in your side of the line, the hypocr¡Cy and the Iies.

[@1siddynickhead]

I tried reading Confessions of a Mask but I got to about 30% before giving up. While there were beautiful passages, I just found myself detached from the characters. I didn't know he was a Fascist!

[@Hailtheall]

“He believed that Destruction was the utmost beauty” absolutely chilling.

[@thomasbarber7739]

I don't feel that the writer's attitudes requires a question of fascism; it is indubitable.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

‘Tis, ‘tis, ‘tis indeed indubitable mmmyes

[@kaptnstrumpfus6759]

Literature is certainly political. But why do we use it as a means of exegesis of an author's politics and not let their art talk for itself? For me, Mishima's books have always been both fascinating and alien. The way the characters feel, think and act is often strange and feels like a kind of look into a different world, different value systems, modes of relationships, desiring produciton, libidinous economies which I can dislike and still acknowledge the work as great literature. It can tell us more than to accept or "cancel" its author retroactively. He is dead, figuratively and literally.

[@tastethecock5203]

"Literature is certainly political" Please leave ideology out of art

[@hrithikjoshi6918]

It's certainly weird to deal with Mishima, on one hand his books are absolutely beautiful and the stories he chooses to tell are absolutely mesmerizing. His politics will always be something that's certainly disgusting. But it feels like he somehow chose to ignore the horrific aspect of Japan's war, there was an ideal beauty in his head ..about his country, as to how it should be in the eyes of the world. A truly beautiful place and where where art and reality become one. And that's something i feel like everyone feels for their Country. In India for example, there has been a sudden rise in the idea of making India reclaim its former glory and expand its borders to how they were and to me this right wing extremism is disturbing. But it's easy to see how someone can start believing in this wholeheartedly and if someone as poetic and nuanced and Mishima aligned with that ideology, it certainly was supposed to make one hell of a flawed interesting person.

[@jackseney7906]

My impression was that he did not do anything much right-wing until near the end, that he continued to publish books that bore no resemblance to political tracts until that time and that one had to go digging for it if there was right-winger stuff in them. "Star" just came off as existentialist to me with this young fellow (Mishima, really) seeing no point to his "movie star" life or life in general. I also remember him publishing something the name of which I don't remember, which graphically depicted what would eventually be his own suicide. Of course once Mishima became enamored with extreme politics at that end stage one could have seen that it wouldn't be long before something bad was going to happen.

[@Superman54]

Kinda disappointed you didn’t talk sun and steel. Like you’re talking about his politics through his works of fiction. Tbh it undermined everything you had to say. Maybe check out Esoterica’s lecture on the mysticism of flesh for a more nuanced dive into his problematic views.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Ok

[@John_Silence]

I've always been uninterested in Mishima's politics and after reading many of his biographies, I've come to the conclusion that his politics were just bullshit he threw together to justify his suicide. He may have believed them when he died but it definitely seems to me that he memed himself into being a political guy to justify his suicide for his aesthetics and on some level probably satisfied his guilt over not participating in WWII when he could have. I don't get his macho fascist bullshit "Sun and Steel" stuff at all but, that being said, his beauty-oriented books like the Sea of Fertility, Forbidden Colors, and Thirst for Love are incredible. Politically he seemed like a complete edgelord who was self-conscious so he deep-dived the fascist meme, which is annoying and uncomfortable, but regardless I have a hard time throwing away the Sea of Fertility. I completely get your mixed feelings on the subject.

[@kinrateia]

I mean, for all that was done to Japan pre WWII... The same was done for Germany. When we are saying we understand Japanese nationalists of the time, the same will go for German nationalists.

[@kinrateia]

Minus, of course, the racism, which is an important part, but the core is the same

[@kinrateia]

@@Itjustbegan don't generalise Asians :/ Japan is a country that went through specific treatment and Germany gone through similiar one. That's all. Are they different? Sure. But what brought them to nationalism was similiar - feeling of legacy and culture lost.

[@noahvaillant8509]

Read sea of fertility , it gave me the best understanding of his nationalism

[@WillowTalksBooks]

K

[@NKRevolution]

@@WillowTalksBooks I will say that, in my opinion, you cannot understand Mishima until you’ve read the sea of fertility

[@WillowTalksBooks]

@@NKRevolution ok

[@N1rvann]

Felt like the video was really good but the political tangent about right wingers was pretty dumb

[@WillowTalksBooks]

It’s about a right wing author. Hope this helped.

[@onceaghost2693]

What do you feel about the idea his facism was a crutch or mask for his depression in some ways? It provided him a narrative (which fascism often does) to latch onto in the wake of a rapidly changing world and his own repression. I think about how some of his stories end with a character killing someone for nationalistic reasons, killing themselves, or both in succession, and just have to wonder if it all was his own way of trying to make sense of and reach a "meaningful" death. Obviously it doesn't put him in the clear for everything, but I do see it as at least some part of who he was. Also on Sailor, while it is a bit silly I do ironically see it as a good cautionary tale regarding fascism. Despite Mishima's own political views, I feel like the book does a good job at showing that fascism is something we should be vigilant about spotting- how it can easily grow and spread even when people believe their country is rid of it. The kids idolize fascism and toxic masculinity, but I don't remember any external force compelling them. It's been a while, but the only thing I can think of is their general disillusionment that provided an empty hole for fascism to fill.

[@bethstratton3391]

I like the first part of your comment and I agree with your reasoning that depression and despair helped fuel his fascism, although I think there were other reasons too which had to to with his political desperation. He was disillusioned because he couldn’t convince people that his reasons for promoting nationalistic intent were valid (in his opinion) and necessary to save Japan from the West. Thus, his nationalism spilled over into fascism because he thought his message wasn’t enough of an ‘ism’ to be taken seriously, so he forced himself to harden his argument. In that respect he took an impassioned leaf directly out of Benito Mussolini’s play book.

[@koreanpuppylol]

Avg Mishima critic XD

[@WillowTalksBooks]

It’s so unusual for people to criticise art 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Retrostar619]

I'm fresh off reading The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, and I think there's a lot more nuance going on there than you give it credit for. To my mind, Mishima seems to be using the case of the boys group and their baby-fascist-in-training leader as a warning that these are destructive impulses that exist within society, and that to leave them untrammelled risks tragedy. The cat viscera strength of the writing makes that clear. Obvs, I don't agree with Mishima's proposed solution of reinstating the imperial empire, but he does have a point. The sailor himself is also a great study in the naivete of devoting oneself to a romanticised life of adventure, while failing to build friend groups, familial connections, etc.

[@Thomas-xj3ts]

Another man without a chest.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Don’t be so ableist against people with giant gaps where their torsos should be 😤

[@ningenjanai666]

grow up

[@demiurge1903]

Kazuya mishima , heihachi mishima😈👿😈

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yeah, Tekken, that’s right! Video games, pew pew

[@nicolasvenezuelaverde1184]

War is a nessesity of the human soul

[@WillowTalksBooks]

That’s a terrifying and ignorant philosophy, but it’s the kind of insanity that this video seems to attract

[@nicolasvenezuelaverde1184]

@@WillowTalksBooks I think you are worse than ignorant you are also weak

[@Callabunga24]

@@WillowTalksBooks war is inevitable

[@nathanhosea489]

Then you know little about war. Look at the people in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine right now, is that what you want us to become? Is that what you want everyone to do? To suffer losses physically and mentally?

[@nathanhosea489]

@@Callabunga24 Absolutely. But that isn't an excuse for starting one

[@laureanooliva7836]

I agree, Mishmi seems genuinely confused about most thing including his politics. I would recommend reading The sea of fertility. I have read the first three and I believe that in those books you can appreciate how he seems genuinely in love with most of his characters. He understands his characters despite them being different. I do think he probably identified with all of them. Kiyo probably represents his romantic side, Honda his more rational side, Isao his political and his nationalistic pride. It's wild how confused he was. Sometimes he liked his characters and sometimes he was able to realize how stupid they where being but at the same time he thought that stupidity was fucking beautiful. One of the things I enjoyed the most is that sense of confusion. The dichotomy of choosing beauty over rationality. Choosing to believe in something, making your world full of purpose or surrendering to rationality and voiding the world from meaning. I do not think he was naïve. He might have made decisions I wouldn't. But it wasn't naivety, It was different values. And even though I might not agree I value that at least he had a thought process to try to make sense of the world. We need to value thinking more that just having the right conclusions. The only way we can really distinguish is if we think. Otherwise we can never know. And sometimes some people will be wrong but at least they made us think. In order to change we need to see from different perspectives, and extreme perspectives are probably the most valuable ones.

[@laureanooliva7836]

Although I would describe him as a bit naïve. Just That I wouldn't try to dismiss him so easily.

[@stephenp1461]

Another comment. A lot of his characters are def incels lol.

[@MaxxRemKing1]

I got the most based ad for some right-wing propaganda movie before this video…

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Well that’s grim

[@MaxxRemKing1]

@@WillowTalksBooks On the upside I found your video very interesting. After this I watched the BBC documentary and as it turns out Oscar Wilde was one of the authors he read as a kid.