Session 15—Tu, March 6: Mishima Yukio and his The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956) Session 1

Topics for this session

❖ Mishima Yukio—biography & concepts
❖ Mishima Yukio—The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956)

Thoughts*

Mishima is an author that you might like, love, feel moderately disgusted with or hate. He is an "ideas" author so you need to take him straight on in his world of beauty - eroticism - death & destruction. Mishima killed himself very publicly in 1970 by ritual, samurai-style seppuku (stomach incision with a sword) after occupying a self-defense headquarters and demanding a coup to restore the emperor to central, military rule. He was extremely right-wing in his politics. Mishima's philosophical and/or political position, and his actions, are strong. He was very bright and had carefully thought about his life, his views and his place in the world. Whether you agree with him or not, I ask that at least you grant him the intelligence that was obviously his.

This is a fairly long book with some difficult passages. Allow time to complete it.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Read Introduction and chapters 1-4 of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

Texts, multimedia notes, links*

Typically I project a variety of powerpoints and YouTube videos on this day. I'm review what I want to do this time around. This page will probably be updated after the class, to list up what was actually done. Below is the list I will be considering:

❖ Mishima Yukio graphics [bSpace, PPT]
◊ A set of three YouTube links shown in class to illustrate interpretive tendencies when "explaining" Mishima:

◊ Music track added to Jse newsreel of the time of the event: news movie "the death of Mishima Yukio" 1970
◊ Mishima as ultra-nationalist (Tatenokai): Yukio Mishima....Rare 1969 Interview In English
◊ Mishima as narcissistic, explosive and dangerous: Yukio Mishima And Bodybuilding

Other*

◊ Extended interview with Mishima on various topics: Yukio Mishima Speaking In English

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio, I usually include that information here. If I consider it testable material, it will definitely be listed here. Miscellaneous material that I show may or may not be listed. I often add material at the last minute and hope to have time later to note it, but often cannot.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.