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Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima
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Yukio Mishima (b. 1925) was a brilliant writer and intellectual whose relentless obsession with beauty, purity, and patriotism ended in his astonishing self-disembowelment and decapitation in downtown Tokyo in 1970. Nominated for the Nobel Prize, Mishima was the best-known novelist of his time (works like Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion are stil
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Hardcover, 864 pages
Published
January 1st 2013
by Stone Bridge Press
(first published January 1st 2012)
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Start your review of Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima
This is comprehensive (want to know which shows he caught whilst in New York?) and not totally enthralled with the fact that he's going to cut his stomach open at the end, which makes a nice change. Sato and Inose seemed happy to challenge some (self-)myths, and without gloating:
"if his first visit to kabuki took place in October 1938, as it was supposed to, Natsuko managed to take him to kabuki only a couple of times before she died."
At times like this it felt like the literary equivalent of do ...more
"if his first visit to kabuki took place in October 1938, as it was supposed to, Natsuko managed to take him to kabuki only a couple of times before she died."
At times like this it felt like the literary equivalent of do ...more
An expansive biography of Mishima, the first to appear in nearly forty years, Persona starts by exploring Mishima's ancestry both on his father and mother's sides, as well as telling Mishima's life the book goes into detail of illustrating historic and sociological changes within Japan during his life, which would influence his works and the formation of his thinking.
Where as the authors of the previous biographies of Mishima can relate their personal relationships with Mishima Persona is afford ...more
Where as the authors of the previous biographies of Mishima can relate their personal relationships with Mishima Persona is afford ...more
Took me approximately forever, but finally made it through this. At times, this was a little too comprehensive. Some of the post-war history and the details of kabuki politics I could have done without, but perhaps other readers would be fascinated. One thing I did learn was how much Mishima was doing other than writing the books we in the west know about: writing letters, forwards, plays, commercial novels etc. And participating in the endless "taidan"— whatever the hell they were.
And that brin ...more
And that brin ...more
Finally finished reading this fantastic biography of my favorite writer : Yukio Mishima. It would be complicated to do a more complete biography.
This is a HUGE read and covers every facet of Yukio Mishima's life. I've not read his entire body of works, but enough to say I'm well versed in his writing - But this book presents everything you will ever need to know about the life and times of Mishima. I feel like I just completed a college class on this author.
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This was a decent biography, but it should have been amazing. Yukio Mishima is one of the most interesting figures in literature, in my honest opinion, and this biography both didn't give enough on one of the halves of him and gave PLENTY of information on the other half of him. The half it did well with was Mishima as an artist and a writer. If this biography promised only the life of Mishima AS A WRITER, than this may be the best biography I have ever read. It goes into detail about his career
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This mammoth biography is well-written, insightful and seems to be mostly very well-researched - I say mostly, because I noticed a couple of glaring errors. Namely, the book states that Mishima appeared in a film entitled 'Kill!', directed by Hideo Gosha. The film was actually entitled 'Hitokiri' and was also known as 'Tenchu!', while 'Kill!' is a completely different film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and without Mishima. It is also stated that it was Gosha's first film, whereas it was in fact hi
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Mishima is one of my favourite writers, so when I saw that there was a long biography about him published (or republished) fairly recently, I had to read it.
'Persona' is an extensive - and I mean extensive - look into the entirety of Mishima's life from beginning to end. It also details the historical and sociopolitical aspects of Japan during Mishima's time.
I feel it gives a fair look into what Mishima was about. He was a mighty complex character, but I couldn't recommend this book in good fait ...more
'Persona' is an extensive - and I mean extensive - look into the entirety of Mishima's life from beginning to end. It also details the historical and sociopolitical aspects of Japan during Mishima's time.
I feel it gives a fair look into what Mishima was about. He was a mighty complex character, but I couldn't recommend this book in good fait ...more
An important new biography on Mishima.¥
Some quick notes on this encyclopedic tomb:
- The first biography on Mishima in 40 years.
- Incredible sourcing , working of primary documents, interviews, sourcese tc. Almost impossibly well documented covering everything from 1960s Japanese politics, Kabuki theater, gay culture in Japan, classical Indian mysticism, The Yakuza, etc all with reference to Mishima. Probably one of the last centuries most complex figures. The range of his influences and knowledg ...more
Some quick notes on this encyclopedic tomb:
- The first biography on Mishima in 40 years.
- Incredible sourcing , working of primary documents, interviews, sourcese tc. Almost impossibly well documented covering everything from 1960s Japanese politics, Kabuki theater, gay culture in Japan, classical Indian mysticism, The Yakuza, etc all with reference to Mishima. Probably one of the last centuries most complex figures. The range of his influences and knowledg ...more
It took me a millennium to finish this book. Vast details, great understanding and empathy on Mishima make this book a perfect biography. It is such a pity that Sato has not written too much on Modern Noh Plays and Spring Snow. However, he did inspire me a lot on Mishima's view towards Nihilisim and Totalitarianism. It's so good to come back to Goodreads, I've been desperately eager to read comments on Goodreads since China blocked the website.
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One of the most challenging yet rewarding non-fiction books I've ever read. Incredibly comprehensive, both with regards Mishima's own life and the political and cultural worlds around him. Persona is respectful, yet challenges those myths which both sprang up around Mishima and were carefully cultivated by him.
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At first glance this is a refreshingly chronological biography, but this is not entirely true. While other biographies, written by non-Japanese biographers, open with death and pull back to view the life leading up to it, Inose and Sato open with what Mishima could have become, and go back to investigate why he didn't. A brick I had to rush through at the end (it's an interloan and it's due back tomorrow), exceptionally detailed but still won't justify why no one else has bothered to translate K
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The definitive biography of Mishima in English, by an author who actually knew him, correcting some of the myths about the Japanese author's life and death, and revealing plenty of new information. Highly recommended.
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Yukio Mishima (b. 1925) was a brilliant writer and intellectual whose relentless obsession with beauty, purity, and patriotism ended in his astonishing self-disembowelment and decapitation in downtown
Great biography, check out my review at Three Percent: http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
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Had to call it a day on this 1000 page doorstopper. While Mishima fascinates me, this was just too much exhaustive detail. Maybe try again after I retire.
I skimmed a large portion of this book, because I've renewed it 9 times from the library and it needs to go back. Translation a little stilted at times, but genuinely fascinating.
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Missing Book Cover: Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima | 6 | 85 | 02. November, 04:27 Uhr | |
| Stone Bridge Press: Japan Times likes "Persona," our "whale" of a biography of Yukio Mishima | 1 | 12 | 06. Mai, 18:56 Uhr |
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