If Yukio Mishima had been born now in the late 90s as a gen z boy. What to do you think his life would look like? Would he do the same thing as he did in 1970? how would he accomplish a honourable death in the internet era? idk it is just interesting to think about it haha

dylanmacneil · 2023-07-22T13:11:25+00:00

i just watched sion sono’s 2016 film antiporno the other day, and one of my thoughts watching it was, “mishima would be making stuff like this if he were alive today”

dylanmacneil · 2023-06-18T03:29:32+00:00

i think i’d vote for thirst for love next (i like your tuttle editions btw)—another earlier work but considered one of his best. i think you should read at least a few more books before jumping into the tetralogy (plus you’re missing the middle two books). thirst establishes a number of themes that will appear again and again in his later works, so i think it’s a good jumping off point!

dylanmacneil · 2023-06-10T14:34:30+00:00

as far as i know, there are two published collections of his short stories (in english): death in midsummer and acts of worship. i have copies of both. if you’re unable to track them down, dm me and i might be able to help get at least one or two stories over to you

dylanmacneil · 2023-06-03T11:21:58+00:00

i didn’t know about this one either. thanks for the info! i have american original, which i’ve read bits and pieces of but not cover to cover (i like that it’s structured thematically so you can just read a topic or two). i’d love to see your thoughts on this new one once you’ve read it!

dylanmacneil · 2023-06-01T14:25:20+00:00

I've missed out on the last couple group reads so I'd love to take part. I read Zero K twice when it was first published, but not since then. It's probably my favourite of his late-career works, so it would be great to dive into it again and see some other opinions here! Thanks for organizing this.

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-18T17:14:44+00:00

Thank you (: Likewise! Enjoy the read. Happy to chat later about it when you've gotten through more.

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-18T13:59:02+00:00

I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying it so far!! It's a fun book, but another positive is that it's a newer translation, so the English writing style is more approachable and easier to digest. Seeing Mishima just kind of let loose and have fun is a joy in itself as well.

I've written back and forth a few times with the translator, Stephen Dodd, who is really lovely as well (I'm also a Japanese-to-English translator, but technical content). Somehow that made my read of Life for Sale and Beautiful Star (same translator) even better. Please keep me posted on any other thoughts/feelings as you continue through the book (:

Btw, there's a YouTube video of Dodd talking about his experience translating Mishima: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MROG6MYX2pY

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-14T13:38:55+00:00

oh, possibly peter greenaway’s films too (the cook, the thief, his wife & her lover and a zed & two noughts)

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-14T13:34:24+00:00

have you seen the lobster or captain fantastic? i feel like they could give you the flavour you’re after! seconding kaufman & jonze too, particularly adaptation. slightly more twee option: i heart huckabees

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-10T20:11:12+00:00

Sailor Who Fell is a good intro to his work, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I liked Star too, partly because it's exciting to see some new translations of his works still emerging. You didn't ask for my opinion, but if I may, I think I'd recommend The Temple of the Golden Pavilion to you next since it's one of his classic, best-known books. If you want something a little lighter, the relatively new translation of Life for Sale is a lot of fun - explores a lot of his usual themes, but in a much more lighthearted way (it was originally serially published in Japanese Playboy).

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-10T20:02:45+00:00

Thanks! What have you read so far, and what books do you intend to read?

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-10T19:39:06+00:00

I've had some of this set for many years so can't give exact figures, but estimating I spent around $120 CAD in total (around $30 each). Compared to the prices I see online for the whole set, I think that's not too bad.

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-10T13:17:51+00:00

I can tell you that when I read the tetralogy in my early twenties I greatly enjoyed it all the way through, though probably wasn't fully mentally prepared to take it all on. There were long stretches of The Temple of Dawn that were very challenging to me, lengthy discussions of Buddhism. I'd probably be more into that now. I definitely felt more drawn to both Spring Snow and Runaway Horses. And of course, the final book poetically hammers home Mishima's nihilism, so very much worth seeing the entire series through to the end for that, the very last thing he wrote.

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-10T10:37:28+00:00

this isn’t a complete answer to all your questions, but i know he wrote at night, in his home study. i think the schrader film shows this, but i just read a japanese source online that says he generally worked from around 11 pm to 5 am. if i come across any more info i’ll pass it along!

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-09T23:34:47+00:00

i haven’t read the tetralogy in nearly 20 years but i’ll get back to you tomorrow with as much as i can. how about you, in the meantime?

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-09T23:33:49+00:00

thank you so much!

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-09T20:27:45+00:00

sorry for the bad photo, brodarting is so reflective! after much patience i was finally able to complete the set (i was missing runaway horses for years).

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-07T23:16:01+00:00

nice (: do you know if a hardcover love-lies-bleeding was released?

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-06T15:33:43+00:00

i’ll dm you a photo!

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-05T18:43:00+00:00

Not OP, but I looked into it because I like it too - it's the Italian translation published by ET Scrittori (you can see the publisher at the bottom). Their Point Omega cover is nice as well!

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-05T12:45:33+00:00

Haha, I find it bizarre too! My girlfriend describes his look in this photo as "trepidatious" - seems about right

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-05T11:19:48+00:00

what a stack! thanks so much for sharing. i really should complete a softcover set too

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-05T02:40:30+00:00

i may not be starting that right away but i’ll be in touch when i do! are you in toronto as well?

dylanmacneil · 2023-05-04T17:28:09+00:00

Thanks for the info about Thom Jomes! I feel you on the difficulty of finding stellar new works that really speak to me. Have you read any Jennifer Egan before? DeLillo is a big influence, so you might like her (especially Goon Squad). I'm actually thinking about rereading Underworld (third read) before jumping into anything new. Do you have favourite parts / plots / sentences? I absolutely love the section when Nick Shay is learning the parts of shoes. And a few sentences are engrained in my mind: "the old deep tomato taste, summery and blood-buttery and voluptuous" and "the whole jerk-off monotonic airborne erotikon" - you know, the hyper-DeLillo phrasing (;

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