Patriotism (New Directions Pearls) - Softcover

Mishima, Yukio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811218546 ISBN 13: 9780811218542

Publisher: New Directions, 2010

Synopsis

One of the most powerful short stories ever written: Yukio Mishima’s masterpiece about the erotics of patriotism and honor, love and suicide.

By now, Yukio Mishima’s (1925-1970) dramatic demise through an act of seppuku after an inflammatory public speech has become the stuff of literary legend. With Patriotism, Mishima was able to give his heartwrenching patriotic idealism an immortal vessel.  A lieutenant in the Japanese army comes home to his wife and informs her that his closest friends have become mutineers. He and his beautiful loyal wife decide to end their lives together. In unwavering detail Mishima describes Shinji and Reiko making love for the last time and the couple’s seppuku that follows.

About this title

About the Author:

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) completed his first novel the year he entered the University of Tokyo and his last novel the day of his death. He is the author of numerous novels, stories, plays, and essays. Gore Vidal once said of him: “I only regret we never met, for friends found him a good companion, a fine drinking partner, and fun to cruise with.” Mishima committed suicide by ceremonial seppuku after a failed coup d’e´tat intended to restore pre-WWII power to the emperor of Japan.

Review:

“The violence we are facing with such difficulty in our daily lives, he gives us simply in all its subcutaneous horror and myth.”
- Hortense Calisher, The New York Times Book Review

“A direct yet lyrical style devoted entirely to bringing out the elevated emotions of its two characters.”
- Trevor Berrett, The Mookse and the Gripes

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0811218546
• ISBN 13: 9780811218542
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 60