REORDERING THE WORLD: PURITY IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S THE SEA OF FERTILITY
REORDERING THE WORLD: PURITY IN YUKIO MISHIMA’S THE SEA OF FERTILITY
Author(s): Loredana CăpăţînăSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: purity; modern Japan; Hossō Buddhism; Westernisation; national identity; personal identity; patriotism; authenticity.
Summary/Abstract: Reordering the World: Purity in Yukio Mishima’s The Sea of Fertility. With his last fictional work, Mishima attempts to explore the options one would find available in a desacralised 20th century Japan. Within the background of modernist change and Westernisation, and that of Buddhist belief, his characters adhere to the path of purity by attempting to realign the changing world under their own prerogatives, with the final pupose of preserving identity. In an ultimate application of the mono no aware concept, Mishma discerns the essentiality of a short yet meaningful life in contrast with the degradation of passivity. As such, the purpose of this inquiry is to analyse the evolution of the tetralogy within the frame of these circumstances, and the author’s perspective on the notion of purity in relation with personal and national identity.
Journal: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philologia
- Issue Year: 58/2013
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 257-266
- Page Count: 10
- Language: English