Mishima: A Vision of the Void
| Author | Marguerite Yourcenar |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mishima ou la Vision du vide |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Subject | Yukio Mishima |
| Publisher | Éditions Gallimard |
Publication date | 1 January 1981 |
Published in English | 1986 |
| Pages | 124 |
| ISBN | 2-07-023887-3 |
Mishima: A Vision of the Void (French: Mishima ou la Vision du vide) is a book about the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, written by Marguerite Yourcenar and published by éditions Gallimard in 1981.
Summary
The writer Marguerite Yourcenar analyses the works and life of the Japanese writer and nationalist activist Yukio Mishima. Yourcenar never met Mishima, but they held a mutual respect for each other, and Yourcenar did visit Mishima's widow after his death.[1]
Reception
Publishers Weekly wrote that Yourcenar successfully analyses the strong Western influences on Mishima and his obsession with death, but that the book "is marred by fuzzy thinking dressed in pretentious or merely vapid language".[2] The Japan Times compared the book's treatment of Mishima's death to its public reception in Japan and wrote that Yourcenar was "less squeamish", writing that her book can be compared favourably to Mishima biographies by Henry Scott-Stokes, John Nathan and Damian Flanagan.[1]
References
- ^ a b Mansfield, Stephen (3 August 2019). "'Mishima: A Vision of the Void': Remembering a literary giant as he would have wanted". The Japan Times. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Mishima: A Vision of the Void". Publishers Weekly. 29 September 1986. Retrieved 14 October 2023.