A Revolt of Mishimaisms - On A Virtuous Misstep, by Ishihara Shintarō
"I can positively affirm that this work is more of a failure than any of his others."
A Revolt of Mishimaisms - On A Virtuous Misstep1
Ishihara Shintarō
Either before or while A Virtuous Misstep was serialized in a magazine, I am certain that I heard from Mishima’s own mouth that this work aimed at the recreation of that elegant sensuality that one finds in the style of the women writers of the Heian Court.
I remembered this in the middle of the so-called “Misstep Boom” and read through the work, but I will never forget how terribly confused I was afterward. That may be because I read it with a number of preconceptions, but the impression of this work was that it was half-finished, or rather for a while mysterious to me.
It is impossible to interpret this work as a stylistic experiment of the sort that Mishima said, be it a novel about adultery, a psychological novel, or a novel of moral education in the paradoxical sense like de Sade.
For example if one were to view this work as a rhetorical experiment in Mishima’s aesthetic consciousness as he himself said, the result is obviously a failure.
With respect to adultery, despite describing the physical act and physiology so straightforwardly, a work so poor in sensuality is rare. However paradoxically or ironically one interprets what Mishima calls sensuality, carnality is carnality.
What we feel in this novel is on the contrary only what concerns the style of “Mishimaisms” that, while treating this carnal subject matter, integrate it into such an artificial rhythm.
I can positively affirm that this work is more of a failure than any of his others.
Regarding that failure, many other critics likely have much to say about other works, and it may be of a totally different character from what Mishima himself felt. It is a revolt and a deluge of words. The style of “Mishimaisms” that he created in this work clearly eats up the entire thing, and what we feel in reading A Virtuous Misstep is rather clarity, or rather style, but in any case punctiliously arrayed words, words, only words. The reader as if gliding passes from line to line, being prevailed upon while unable to extract anything. However to be honest he eventually tires of such an operation and breakdown comes. There are likely few readers who can read through this novel of magnificent style once from beginning to end. This is probably supposed to be a rare thing with respect to his works.
This novel may be in a sense the most unbalanced of Mishima’s works, despite having style. At least, when compared to The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, one does not find an internal qualitative sense of substantiality capable of supporting his words and style in A Virtuous Misstep. For the reader, this is a greater dissatisfaction than being made to read a work with bad writing and no content.