raulbime 's review for:

Death in Midsummer: And Other Stories by Yukio Mishima

3.0

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3.5 stars

Macabre, resplendent, and unnerving. These are the descriptors that came to me after I finished reading this collection. Mishima's great strength of portraying inner conflict to the reader shines through these short stories (and play) as it does in his novels. Although I do think that the novel gives his work more space to become fully actualized. Which isn't to mean that he isn't a fantastic short story writer, just that Mishima's novels offer a lot more in terms of character and plot development. I thought the title story revolving around a family coping with a tragedy to be the best.

Death pervades the most enduring tales here. The short story "Patriotism" being the eeriest of them as it mirrors Mishima's death in many ways.

The main character, like Mishima, commits suicide by seppuku.

It made me look up the circumstances of Mishima's death for the first time. Which is strange because his suicide is one of the most sensationalized of literary deaths, and all five books I've read have had its mention on the book cover or author bio. Looking back I'm not surprised as I recall googling "seppuku" and never going further than the description of the ghastly operation. His death being a protest of American imperialism in post-war Japan by calling for a return of Japanese imperialism makes it all the more disturbing. While nothing in his speech before his death mentions subjugating other nations or people, given the man's intelligence and the level of insight into some of the human conditions, it's clear that the man must have known what a return to such a system of ultranationalism must have meant. He was, obviously, a very brilliant artist, but what a horrific discovery, which I should read more on before making more opinions than I already have.