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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
Seeing that Goodread recommends self-proclaimed SuperFacist Julius Evola when reading Sun and Steel drives home the frustrating and frequent realization that The Left has abandoned those people whose satisfied existence is predicated on internal and external conflict to The Right.
Although Mishima was indeed right wing by most metrics, and talks of bodily purity are indeed rightly criticized, the core of what he writes here I believe to be more universal than a memorial to an ideology. The feelings of bodily alienation that come in modernized society when you're raised to understand that physical suffering and struggle is unnecessary are present in my own life. And there many others like me who desire to struggle and to feel their brains operate on instinct as they finish benching a new personal record, hike for hours into a cold wilderness or run so hard it feels like their hearts are pumping battery acid.
Indeed there exists a successful market on Youtube of masculine-facing philosophy; Especially petty uncritical Stoicism in the form of simple black t-shirts and 'minimalist' furniture from Ikea. More insidiously, it also include right wing philosophy that answers these young mens cries of how it became like this with claims of how Feminists are deliberately emasculating you and taking away your identity or how you are the victim of a centuries long battle with 'globalists' who would unseat you from your place at the top of a hierarchy.
And its tragic to understand that much of the Left is pushing these alienated kids towards them. It takes very simple googling to find liberal petty news pushing claims of gym-goers being more right-wing and dismissing the physical desires to struggle in the sun as inherently incompatible with a progressive future. We should not give in to the rhetoric that an ideal future involves everyone going to college and having office jobs. The Left cannot continue to abandon the blue collar working class as dumb rednecks for not keeping up with the incredibly precise language of the terminally online. The Left cannot continue to ignore the raw pleasure many experience in fitness and struggle.
If the Left wants to win when the Revolution comes, it must show these young men that they are alienated from their bodies not because of Feminists but because a Capitalist system needs them as cogs. It must show them that can be valuable and good for their desires; Blue collar workers are a bedrock of functioning society; The strong can protect the weak. Strength is needed to break chains.
Although Mishima was indeed right wing by most metrics, and talks of bodily purity are indeed rightly criticized, the core of what he writes here I believe to be more universal than a memorial to an ideology. The feelings of bodily alienation that come in modernized society when you're raised to understand that physical suffering and struggle is unnecessary are present in my own life. And there many others like me who desire to struggle and to feel their brains operate on instinct as they finish benching a new personal record, hike for hours into a cold wilderness or run so hard it feels like their hearts are pumping battery acid.
Indeed there exists a successful market on Youtube of masculine-facing philosophy; Especially petty uncritical Stoicism in the form of simple black t-shirts and 'minimalist' furniture from Ikea. More insidiously, it also include right wing philosophy that answers these young mens cries of how it became like this with claims of how Feminists are deliberately emasculating you and taking away your identity or how you are the victim of a centuries long battle with 'globalists' who would unseat you from your place at the top of a hierarchy.
And its tragic to understand that much of the Left is pushing these alienated kids towards them. It takes very simple googling to find liberal petty news pushing claims of gym-goers being more right-wing and dismissing the physical desires to struggle in the sun as inherently incompatible with a progressive future. We should not give in to the rhetoric that an ideal future involves everyone going to college and having office jobs. The Left cannot continue to abandon the blue collar working class as dumb rednecks for not keeping up with the incredibly precise language of the terminally online. The Left cannot continue to ignore the raw pleasure many experience in fitness and struggle.
If the Left wants to win when the Revolution comes, it must show these young men that they are alienated from their bodies not because of Feminists but because a Capitalist system needs them as cogs. It must show them that can be valuable and good for their desires; Blue collar workers are a bedrock of functioning society; The strong can protect the weak. Strength is needed to break chains.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Sobre El sol y el acero hay un consenso. En esta apología metafísica-fascista del fisicoculturismo es donde la estética y el estilo de Mishima alcanzan su cumbre: Enhiesto falo de plata, el F104 apuntó al cielo en un ángulo recto. Solitario, como un espermatozoide, yo iba instalado dentro. Pronto iba a saber cómo se sentía el espermatozoide en el momento de la eyaculación (...) Todo era majestuoso, y la superficie del cielo azul aparecía salpicada del espermático blanco de las nubes.
Mishima was great. Shame about the whole nationalism thing though.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
fast-paced
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This is the only book I have ever thought would benefit from being longer. The ideas were so densely packed that they didn’t have room to breathe or be explored. It did cause me to make lots of inferences that were necessary to explore which was a plus. The spirit of Mishima is too intimidating for me to consider giving this less than a 5.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Book 152 out of 200 books
"Sun and Steel" by Yukio Mishima
"Sun and Steel" is an autobiographical essay published as a book by Yukio Mishima in the late 1960s. Mishima's book details his beginnings and zenith, as well as the core lessons, of his passion for martial arts and weight-lifting.
MY THOUGHTS:
People, not just readers, are probably expected to hate Mishima all because of his Samurai, right-winging and imperialist tendencies. Well, that is is true, because of the fact that he staged a coup in the year 1970 to overthrow Japan's 1947 constitution and defend the emperor as the head of the nation rather than a mere figurehead.
But do I dislike him and his works? No. I am intrigued by Mishima ever since I started reading on the literature of Japan. Mishima is my third Japanese literature author to read after Murakami and Dazai.
This book is a great starter to his works and philosophy. Mishima's memoir is such a timely piece on being a man and being well grounded. Well, Only took me around 2 hours and 30 minutes to read this book, I already was intrigued by his story reading the first few pages.
Anyway, the last scene of this 100 paged book is haunting because Mishima did something, though ordinary in the military but still symbolic in the end, he jumps of a parachute seeing the greatness of Mt. Fuji. I find this ending one of the bests of the books I've read, because of not only of its symbolism but Mishima seeing the sky and the ground is like his reflecting, looking back on how much he has learned. Book is only 100 pages, give it a read!
"Sun and Steel" by Yukio Mishima
"Sun and Steel" is an autobiographical essay published as a book by Yukio Mishima in the late 1960s. Mishima's book details his beginnings and zenith, as well as the core lessons, of his passion for martial arts and weight-lifting.
MY THOUGHTS:
People, not just readers, are probably expected to hate Mishima all because of his Samurai, right-winging and imperialist tendencies. Well, that is is true, because of the fact that he staged a coup in the year 1970 to overthrow Japan's 1947 constitution and defend the emperor as the head of the nation rather than a mere figurehead.
But do I dislike him and his works? No. I am intrigued by Mishima ever since I started reading on the literature of Japan. Mishima is my third Japanese literature author to read after Murakami and Dazai.
This book is a great starter to his works and philosophy. Mishima's memoir is such a timely piece on being a man and being well grounded. Well, Only took me around 2 hours and 30 minutes to read this book, I already was intrigued by his story reading the first few pages.
Anyway, the last scene of this 100 paged book is haunting because Mishima did something, though ordinary in the military but still symbolic in the end, he jumps of a parachute seeing the greatness of Mt. Fuji. I find this ending one of the bests of the books I've read, because of not only of its symbolism but Mishima seeing the sky and the ground is like his reflecting, looking back on how much he has learned. Book is only 100 pages, give it a read!