Customer Reviews

Death in Midsummer and Other Stories

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A friend recommended Mishima to me, and this was the book I picked up. First, to respond to a reviewer below, this book (at least my copy) has no introduction, no preface, no afterward, and has numerous translators. The stories were selected by Mishima himself, and the book was published in New York. Reading any "leftist" intentions on the part of the publishers of this book, then, is certainly very strange, unless it was gleaned from the three paragraph synopsis on the back.

That having been said, I was immensley impressed by this book. After the first three stories ("Death in Midsummer", "Three Million Yen", and "Thermos Bottle") I was ready to admit the genius of the author. The title story is abridged, and the translation on all three is awkward -- I don't know a bit of Japanese, but the English itself lacked lucidity and had some confused grammar. Nevertheless, there's a remarkable detail to the deliniation of character, a mesmorizing lyrical style, and a powerful look into the psychology of man when confronted with tragic and absurd circumstances. The stories, also, are brilliantly subtle satires of middle class values. The author clearly intends to show the decline in the Japanese character as a result of Westernization and modernization. At some points it hints at leftist values -- a dislike of the bourgeois, a sympathy for the poor, etc. But Mishima's strange and anachronistic political beliefs show us that his work is best read as insight into the identity crisis facing modern Japan, and not as leftist, or even entirely rightist. (I read, while glancing through a biography of the author, a statement he made after speaking to a group of leftist students. He said something to the effect of "We shared a friendship and an understanding, embracing through a barbed fence...")

As much as I appreciated the first three stories, however, I found the rest of the book to be much better, revealing an incredible diversity of style and theme. "The Priest and His Love" is a beautiful Buddhist fable exploring the paradox and power of beauty and sensuality. The style of writing reminded me a lot of Pär Lagerkvist. "Patriotism" caught me completely off-guard, and undoubtedly represents the greatest work in the book. Its the story of an officer who commits seppuku (ritual suicide) and his wife, who follows. With great fluidity and poetic grace, Mishima describes their final night together, then, in a frustratingly objective prose, describes the morbid end of the two. Violence and sensuality are tied in with finality, duty and beauty. Mishima was an aesthete, but of the rarest kind -- much in the spirit of Poe, perhaps. The story had an enormous impact of me.

"Dojoji," auspiciously set after "Patriotism," is one of Mishima's Noh plays, and shifts entirely to the languid, allegorical style that characterizes the Noh (contrasted by the turbulent, grotesque realism of the previous story). The play is about the auction of a giant wardrobe that has a gruesome past. Mishima's attempt to reinvigorate the tired Noh theatre was a noble effort, and (in my opinion) a successful one. The spiritual quality of the theatre proves a profound vehicle to the pessimism and spiritual despondency that characterizes modern literature and thought. After reading this play, I went out immediately and found a copy of "Five No Plays by Mishima" which I very much look forward to reading. The next story, "Onnagata," deliberately takes us to the other side of Japanese theatre, the kabuki. Its a homoerotic tale of obsession and infatuation, and a love triangle between three men (or rather, two men and an onnagata -- a man who plays, or rather lives, as a woman in kabuki theatre). One man seeks the elusive love of a famed onnagata by joining the kabuki theatre. The onnagata, for Mishima, is "the illicit child born of a marriage between dream and reality." As infatuation drives him further and further into the world of the kabuki, it has the strange effect of driving him further and further away from the onnagata's love, who, in the end, falls in love with a pretentious young guest director who knows nothing of the kabuki.

"The Pearl" completely surprised me. Of all things, its a social comedy, the type I had suspected, from reading the other stories, that the author was incapable of. To my delight, I was proved wrong. Again poking tremendous fun at the middle class, the story is about five middle aged women, and a lost pearl and a silly mischevious act that explodes into a tale of deciet, head games, and irony.

After reading this, I am a confirmed Mishima fan. It has also excited me into exploring contemporary Japanese literature. Very highly recommended!

I stumbled onto Mishima accidentally but he's fantastic. All these stories are written simply but beautifully, with not a single excess word, and deal with everything from patriotism, homosexuality, suicide, death, love, materialism, and dreams. Top stories? Definitely "Death in Midsummer" and "Seven Bridges", but most importantly, "Patriotism", a completely disturbing, beautiful and unforgettable work.

this personally selected collection of short stories shows mishima at his best. from a surreal no play to gentle stories of mourning and loss, this is all great stuff which translated beautifully. my only reservation would be the story "patriotism", which details the ritual suicide of a young couple- ick. compelling, but not for the weak stomached.

Mishima writes with amazing clarity of thought. His sentences are among the clearest I have ever read. I feel at a loss of words, a "poverty of emotion," as Mishima might call it, in trying to write about Death in Midsummer. The only thing I can say - to even try to do him and his book justice - is READ IT!!!

Ten stories by Mishima Yukio; three of which are translated by Edward Seidensticker, two by Ivan Morris, three by Donald Keene, and two by Geoffrey Sargent.

Personally, I don't care for Seidensticker's style -- his translations always seem so lifeless -- and reading through his three stories [including the "Death in Midsummer" of the title] was nearly torturous. My favorites of this set of short stories were "The Seven Bridges" [Keene, trans.] and "Patriotism" [Sargent, trans.], a look at the last days of a soldier and his wife.

Mishima's stories often lack a traditional plot, focusing instead upon the slow development of a single scene, or on emerging human emotions and motives. Death is a recurring theme in all of his work, and is portrayed with a terrible beauty and admiration.

Recommended.

This is a collection of stories by yukio mishima ranging on many highly japanese culture influenced topics.

I have been a fan of Mishima since acts of worship and confessions of a mask. This edition, while a collection of stories like acts of worship does not touch on his complete wildness as acts of worship did. Many of the stories in this edition has mostly to do with women and the role they play in society which mishima does well to explain, and elaborate as if he was the woman in these stories himself. Much like he did in "my friend hitler" yet not as surprisingly boring for such an extreme title.

However, the stories do not have the surreal and overtly taboo quality I have grown to love in mishima. I should note that this collection does come with the story patriotism which so many people rave about.

In short, This book is more like mishima lite then anything. Filled with mostly average stories with a good mishima twist or style.

Death in Midsummer and Other Stories comes with ten stories that are all great for the most part. One of them is a play with a Kabuki theme. The prose is neither too heavy or too crisp. It reminded me of the pocketbooks translation of, "Spring Snow" which I also enjoyed. Although I enjoyed some stories more than others they were all worth reading and especially so for any fan of Mishima's other works. The set opens up with, "Death in Midsummer" which is a story about... death/loss (surprise surprise). One story that stood out was, "Patriotism." I won't give anything away except that it was one of the more terrifying short stories I've read. It was really brutal but as I've said earlier- worth reading. Another favorite story was, "The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love." Again, I won't give anything away but the tone of that story did a lot as it came off as religious (and wasn't preachy). So these stories were the highlights for me but again, they were all good and make this set a worhwhile purchase for any Mishima fan or those looking for an introduction to the author... since there is variety in setting and direction for these stories.

Mishima writes wonderfully, his themes are so close to the human soul that sometimes they are beautifully painful words to read, but oh if it's worth to read each and every one of his stories in this collection. You'll be a more insightful, soulful human after you are done with this collection of short stories. Inspiring classic literature

Yukio Mishima was many things in his life; an author was only one of them. In general, I have more respect for him as a personality than I do for his individual books. I could go on all day about the man himself, but my praise of this or that novel is usually conditional, and when I find myself thinking of books to re-read just for enjoyment's sake, he usually isn't near the top of my list. I think that these stories are some of his highest-quality work, though, and I can recommend them without any reservations, not just to enthusiasts of Japanese culture or the sort of magnificently sick aesthetic that Mishima represents. The title story, although as coldly inhuman as much of Mishima's work, still seems pyschologically accurate. The second story, Three Thousand Yen, is disarmingly and uncharacteristically sweet, but tempered by a more characteristic ending. Patriotism is probably the standout of this standout, with flawless prose, again backing Mishima's vision with a realistic setting. 'Pearl' is clever, and 'Onegata' is another very polished story, a good candidate for anthologization. 'Swaddling Clothes' is a personal favorite, wickedly barbed and haunting. The greatest strength of this collection is that Mishima never seems to be repeating himself - he explores his central themes from different angles, in a variety of styles, and provides something of outstanding artistic merit.

Mishima writes very stark stories of spiritual emptiness. My favorite is the story Ten Yen about a young couple who must resort to desperate economic measures, the young woman must prostitute herself to earn them money. Mishimas ascetic style is not necessarily uplifting but it does make for an interesting aesthetic intensity. These short stories are each very uniquely populated but that single focus is never lost. They feel quickly executed but perfect like ink drawing, an art where you get one chance only to make a perfect gesture. Existentialism as practiced in the orient. For Mishima authenticity was ritually sought after but the world he wanted to live in was one relegated to the past. Art was no substitute for his imagined and longed for spiritual kingdom though he tried to live as though it was, at least for awhile.