The darkness and terror of this novel surpasses The Stranger by Camus, and equals The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. I am still absorbed by the story and its depth, its sorrow. Having finished the novel just minutes ago, I am troubled and disturbed, though at the same time relieved. It would take awhile before I can fully grasp the meaning of the novel. It is an exploration in the psyche of the youth, and being a young one myself, I would have to fully discover my identity and my purpose to understand Mizoguchi. He was Holden Caulfield in the Japanese context, but he possesses something clearly universal in today’s youth: anxiety, rejection, and the depression that would follow.I am only sad for him, and also for Tsurukawa, who is my favorite character in the novel. Why? For he offers such cheer in spite of his hidden sorrow. It reflects Mishima’s assertion of the state of the Japanese youth in his time. As Kashiwagi, he is the other side of the youth of Japan, who lives for the moment. He is not spared from having a distorted notion about things.
Like Mizoguchi whose last words in the novel were ‘I wanted to live.’, I too, want to live, and I will live. The difference between Mizoguchi and me is, I have direction. I have faith in my God whereas Mizoguchi had no real God to depend on; his faith was based on objects, and Superior Dosen who lived an immoral life. Perhaps family ties, that so called Hsiao or filial piety, is falling apart in Japan? If Mishima’s portrait is accurate this is so, as seen in Mizoguchi’s total apathy for his mother and father. The psychological approach may say otherwise, but that’s a different discussion.
Yukio Mishima, despite his confused life and violent suicide, did not disappoint me. I am very pleased with The Temple of the Golden Pavillon; it convinces all the more that the great works of Japanese Literature – Mishima’s novels counted – belong to such a high form of art.
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