by axxxm
Kyoko's House
10/August/2023 in Krakow
"Kyoko's House"
written by Mishima Yukio in 1959
is probably the most unfortunate novel in his career
Mishima began writing "Kyoko's House" just after his most well-received novel, "Golden Temple"
According to his own explanation, in "Golden Temple", he depicted "an individual", while in "Kyoko's house" he intended to write "the era"
"Kyoko's House" was not well-received by critics back then
They said that 4 main characters in the novel are basically Mishima himself and this novel lacked depth & mostly self-explanatory
Mishima was very confident with "Kyoko's House", hence he was shocked
Some say that if it had been well-received, Mishima's life in 60s, and its consequence of his suicide in 1970, would have been different
"Not well-received by critics back then"
In a sense, this seemingly small thing is still affecting in 2023
Despite its one of the most personal, hence most important works for understanding Mishima, "Kyoko's House" hasn't yet been translated into English
Some foreign Mishima's fans have tried to make it happen for a long time, but not yet successful
Reading "Kyoko's House" always reminds me of some well-composed soundtracks from a film, "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapter (USA／1985)", by Philip Glass
