女神 [Megami]

by Yukio Mishima, 三島 由紀夫

Under the elaborate cultivation of the husband Shugo Kimori, his wife Yoriko becomes a socialite lady. At her forty-five, Kimori has her half of face burned in an air attack. Fed up with the thought edification that "women are useless if they are not beautiful" from her husband, she falls into painful despair and becomes hating her husband, who otherwise directs his pursuit of beauty to his daughter Asako. In a traffic accident, young and beautiful Asako runs into painter Kijibato and falls for him. Kijibato gets physical disabled and increasingly unsociable, eccentric and gloomy after the accident, but Asako is introduced by her father Shugo to meet handsome Shunji. On one side, Shugo gradually becomes jealous of Shunji, who can bring her daughter stronger "feminine charm", on the other side, Yoriko also grows a complicated feeling of anxiety and more jealousy toward her daughter. Asako goes to meet Kijibato now and then. After the relationship is confirmed between Asako and Shunji, Kijibato becomes angry in shame and investigates to find out that Shunji already has a bastard. Plotting together with Asako's mother Yoriko, Kijibato tells the experience of Shunji to Asako's father Shugo, who can't stand the humiliation and passes out. In the end, Asako becomes single again, she utters the same sentence meaningfully following her father, "return to the life with only two of us again..." The book also includes the author's another ten short fictions. Yukio Mishima penetrates into the feelings and love desire in the human world with his distinct insight and writing style. Each piece of the works presents the imagination and talent of Yukio Mishima.

346 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, the Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

(1) A control freak husband, a disfigured wife, a young daughter, what next?

(2) But the Chinese translation for this digital book is crap, full of type errors. *sighs*

(3) One star must be taken down due to the poor translation.

(4) I like the sense of irony at the end of the story.

(5) I like the love triangle between the young girl, the artist and the wholesome young man.😊

(6) The selfish father who just wanted to manipulate his wife and daughter to fit his image of an ideal woman, is quite a character to read about.

[owlette · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Mishima Yukio. One of the most redolent Japanese passages I've encountered, not just because of the choice of words but also because of cultural artifacts that disappeared after the War. Like, I don't think they can make kimonos like those described in Mishima's writing anymore. Most of these stories felt like style over substance, but I highly recommend the titular "Goddess." My personal favorite was the last story, 「朝の純愛」 ("Love in the Morning").