The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima


finished 9/27 ........ 20th century Japanese classic ...... rating 7

Great prose, depressing book, about the descent of a Japanese priest into madness as he also "comes of age." I think it's about power generally. Mizoguchi is a stutterer who hates himself. He looks for beauty and wants to surround himself with it. He becomes a priest in the Golden Temple. He becomes obsessed with the Golden Temple thinking it will protect him, perhaps remove his stuttering. The Temple does neither. Mizoguchi is disillusioned and powerless, angry. He seizes power back by burning the temple down.

Based on a true story. I knew the ending prior to reading and that's the only thing that kept me reading past about page 90, when Mizoguchi meets Kashiwagi, the demented club-foot who turns his handicap to his advantage and uses all to his benefit, believing in nothing, not beauty for sure. The whole theme and associated ideas became too convoluted for me what with Mizoguchi also starting to go mad about this time.

Posted: Sat - September 27, 2008 at 07:28 AM        

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