Paul+Schraeder's+biographical+movie+'Mishima+-+A+Life+in+Four+Quarters'

There are many ways to read a novel, or any text; many avenues of exploration to follow. A HISTORICAL reading of 'Sailor', for example, will approach it as a product of post-war Japan, and as such, it can not be fully understood without an appreciation of that context. A STRUCTURALIST approach will focus on the text as a linguistic construct and look primarily at how Mishima uses language. A BIOGRAPHICAL reading will see the text from the point of view of Mishima's own life and how that influenced the way he thought and wrote.

It's often easy to get too engrossed in the lives of writers. People like Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath, Joe Orton, Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell... they all had fascinating lives, but most critics would probably agree that we have to get beyond seeing their work purely as a result of their external circumstances; for, if their work simply reflects their life, then why is it relevant to you or I? More mundanely, students often forget to criticise the work, preferring instead to recount the life. Sylvia Plath is one of the classic examples; it seems that every essay written about her ends up as a study of her marriage to Ted Hughes and her suicide. That actually limits the multiple ways in which her work, especially her poetry, can be read by people who don't happen to be married to Ted Hughes (or to anyone), or to be suicidal.

Mishima might be THE most obvious example where life and work cross over. His death was extraordinary, and it certainly puts the sincerity of his beliefs in a new light. The fictionalised (note that!) but generally biographical film account of his life directed by Paul Scraeder (1985) tells the whole story, and I've included some extracts here; but remember, we need to find wider relevance in this novel.

The opening sequence... media type="youtube" key="1TQydgcwOOE&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"

=BACK TO SAILOR PAGE=