Yukio Mishima & Japanese Science Fiction: 'BEAUTIFUL STAR' Review and Context

[@rickkearn7100]

Mishima's story was so astutely captured here, OB, that I feel as though I've known all about him my entire adult life. If I were tasked with writing a half-hour-length bio of Mishima I think I would commit seppuku myself. I wouldn't know where to begin. Yet you touched upon every single salient point one could ever think of, with aplomb, masterful insight and all of it so effortlessly. I also enjoy the way you weave rock and roll culture/history into the mix, an added dimension that enhances the entire experience. Once again, I have been schooled by the Outlaw Bookseller! As always, the content, quality, production and presentation here on your channel are top shelf. Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You're very kind as always, Rick. Yukio has been one of my small obsessions for a long time, as you can tell.

[@michaeldaly1495]

Lovely stuff - Mishima was a bit special. Looking forward myself to reading a bit of his compatriot Kobo Abe soon. Might make a video about it... get well soon sir, hope you are feeling better.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, Abe was a good 'un.

[@LiminalSpaces03]

I Love Mishima's work, so much so that when I got my bachelors I did my honors thesis on Spring Snow, the first book in his tetralogy, but somehow I missed the release of Beautiful Star in English! Outstanding video, as always, and now I know what my next book purchase will be!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've been a Mishima fan for a very long time- I discovered him via a song called "Death & Night & Blood (Yukio) by my favourite rock band of all time, The Stranglers.

[@jonschwartz4836]

I love your channel. You’re my new favorite. I’ve learned more about sci fi (and sometimes fantasy ha) from your channel than I’ve learned about WWII from any Antony Beevor videos :)

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Many thanks- lots more to watch here, glad to have you aboard!

[@themojocorpse1290]

Never come across Mishima before, you always seem to sell me on untried authors .Sounds a little dark but that’s ok with me love the music references got brilliant trees and gone to earth but not got beehive . Will give it a listen used to love Japan / sylvian . Great episode as always what an amazing life story !

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@themojocorpse1290 -He was sui generis, no-one else quite like him, a seething cauldron of emotions with an intellect like ice-genius.

[@themojocorpse1290]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal fantastic description I’m sold

[@jodeyrust8546]

I started The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea yesterday and am already halfway through. Mishima is an amazing author and quickly becoming one of my favorites. keep up the good work OB!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Will do! It's a fantastic book- I would suggest looking at the 'Outside Literature' playlist on the channel, scroll to the bottom and search Created Playlists- I don't just do SF, I do the best of Modernism and...as I suggest, Outsider Literature, looking at the wild and stimulating outliers of Countercultural writing.

[@jodeyrust8546]

will do! thanks again for everything

[@erikpaterson1404]

I'm not sure how I came upon Mishima, however I do think that the titles of his books had a lot to do with me picking up one of his first books, Gogo no Eikō, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea. I must say, though, he is an acquired taste, something you really need to immerse yourself in, and maybe small doses at first... love his prose and style. Thank you, Stephen. beautiful video, just lovely.

[@kkchome]

Excellent overview. It's been a long time since I've read any of Mishima's work. My favorites of the ones I read are "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" and "Death in Midsummer and Other Stories". I never got around to reading "The Sea of Fertility" tetralogy and have been thinking about adding that to my TBR for this autumn.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

It's all deathless stuff.

[@Bookpilled]

Been curious about Beautiful Star. I cannot imagine a whimsical Mishima.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

That's where it's one of the mouldbreakers, as you can tell- some of the later philosophical monologues in the book -for me, it's weakest aspects- are less light in tone, but it does show the breadth of his work. Given your current reading status with Yukio, I'd stick to the more typical ones before broadening- but I think you'd like 'The Sound of Waves'- as you have a background in reading Modernism - Hamsun and the like- I think you'd enjoy his lighter tone in that one.

[@KCreading-Writing]

Once again, Stephen, another insightful video. I always appreciated Japanese SF (novels, old school anime/manga) and found a new, more nuanced appreciation after taking a college Buddhism and Japanese SF culture class. One of the great concepts I learned, which still sticks with me, is that traditional Noh drama is often echoed in Japanese genre fiction. I regularly reread Ama the Pearl Diver (my favorite,) Akogi the Fisherman, and Kasuga Ryūjin (The Dragon God.) All that's to say is if you want to see the seeds of some Japanese SF/Fantasy, check out Noh works.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I am familiar with Noh and Kabuki and their impact on Japanese SF- there is in fact a moment in 'Beautiful Star' where some of the characters attend a new play by Mishima and deride it, so he is poking fun at himself. I read a masterful book about Japanese SF some thirty years ago when very little was in translation and it stayed with me. I like Modern Japanese fiction generally -Endo and Kawabata are exceptions though - and of the current writers Ryu Murakami (not Haruki) is top of the pile still, I feel.

[@KCreading-Writing]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Stephen, I always enjoy learning from the master. Ha! My personal journey through Japanese SF in translation is never-ending. I know of R. Murakami from Coin Locker Babies (but I don't have the guts to read it.) Most of my experience with non-graphic arts Japanese translated SF is confined to the Speculative Japan series, MM9, Japan Sinks, All You Need is Kill, The Memory Police, Virus, Yukikaze, and maybe a few more.

[@midlamminiatures4593]

Ah, this works for me as in the early 90's at university, there was a time just before I got disillusioned with new SF I was reading both SF and Yukio Mishimi. I think I first heard of him and his life from Alex Cox on Moviedrome, a much beloved and missed program, which introduced me to loads of great films, particularly SF. I can't remember which movie he was talking about, but it was Cox's words that pushed me towards the books. I will look out for the new one. Great show! Paul

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

moviedrome was a great series, introduced a lot of fine films to people- and COX' own SF film 'Repo Man' is a total classic.

[@TBRKyle]

I have three of his books sitting on my shelf to be read someday soon-ish (Confessions of a Mask, Temple of the Golden Pavilion and Spring Snow), all of which I bought after sitting down and watching Schrader's masterful biopic - genuinely one of my favorite films of all time now. I'll probably crack open Golden Pavilion first since I was lucky to actually see the temple in person a few months ago.

[@unstopitable]

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read him, but I most certainly will. I trust your impeccable taste The way you were describing the interplay of cruelty with everyday life and this visceral need to make everything flesh, made me think of what Artaud wanted to achieve (but never did) in The Theater and its Double. Anyway, thank you, sir, for enlightening me once again.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Mishima was familiar with Artaud and was influenced by the Theatre of Cruelty, I think you'd enjoy YM's work.

[@DanielRumbacher]

i havent read any book by mishima yet. guess i will try out a few books from him. i really liked osamu dazai and kobo abe too. one of the most recent japanese science fiction books i read was sisyphean by dempow torishima. its kind of weird sci fi. i really enjoyed it.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, Dazai and Abe are great Japanese authors, old faves.

[@waltera13]

Great vid- high nutritional AND information content. Makes me wonder how much Kobo Abe you've read. He was more mainstream but dealt with some of the same issues and used traditional imagery and metaphors to examine a Japanese man and family's place in a new, undefined world.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've been an Abe fan for many years too - 'Women in the Dunes', 'The Ruined Map', the SF, 'The Box Man'...I will be doing an Abe video here in the future.

[@waltera13]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I am SO sorry! I slipped up! I conflated two authors from not having read them in Forever. I feel SO lame. I was thinking of Kenzaburo Oë.

[@onehandslinger1475]

I've read No Longer Human and then A Shameful Life believing they are different books. I think A Shame Full life is a better translation although I prefer the No Longer Human title. Dazai Osamu is my favourite Japanese writer. I was looking to read him since faculty when I read a book about voluntary death in Japanese culture which had a wonderful fragment from one of his short stories which I couldn't find anywhere, although I think I've read everything which appeared in English. Dazai Osamu had 5 suicide attempts and killed two women in the process. But that is not so much out of the ordinary. Apparently, many Japanese writers from the beginning of the 20th Century had the habit of killing themselves. Akutagawa did it too. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki wrote In Black and White in response to Akutagawa's gesture which, although was never published by itself in Japan, is the one which impressed me the most of his work that I've read. It's also the novel with the most OUTRAGEOUS ending I've ever met.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, the culture of suicide in that period of Japan is one of its most interesting cultural phenomena- and of course it even got into popular gaijin literature like Ian Fleming's 'You Only Live Twice'. Agree re the title/translation dichotomy re the two editions. I haven't read about Dazai since the 1980s, which is when I first read 'Travels of a Purple Tramp' in a Tuttle edition which I sold on decades ago, but I recall enjoying it. Akutagawa is an interesting writer too and I have read Tanizaki a long time back...

[@AJBell-dh6ry]

It's true that all great bands come with a reading list. I think I first heard about J.G. Ballard through Joy Division. And then, through Ballard, I discovered Anna Kavan. And so on. I've been reading Mishima for 20 years, and for most of that I've been waiting for new English translations; so hopefully this trend will continue.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, there is still material not extant in English. Re Kavan, what does peeve me is that Penguin show no interest in licensing her other SFF work from Peter Owen's backlist - both 'Eagle's Nest' and 'Mercury' would be of great interest to fans of 'Ice' and are very rare now- I read both decades ago, but foolishly let me copy of 'Eagle's Nest' go and it now sells for £400.

[@onehandslinger1475]

He didn't botch the seppuku. The second did. He was an unprepared young man with shaky hands, overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment. When he tried to behead him, he carved into his shoulder. Several times. It was a real butchery.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You're right of course, but I go from memory and it's been 30 plus years since I read the bio.

[@disconnected22]

The Sound Of Waves is my favorite. It’s nice to see you moved by it as well. Using the muscles/samurai pic on all those editions is kinda corny.

[@neilwatson8349]

Hi Stephen - have you read any Kenji Siratori? He's current & also an underground noise musician and his books get termed Bizarro & is post-Cyberpunk/Biopunk/Nanopunk... Hope you get the chance to read & review for us. Salute.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

No, I haven't actually