The Decay of the Angel

Name: The Decay of the Angel
ISBN: 9787555297390

Yukio Mishima / Lin ShaohuaQingdao Publishing House · ChinaAug 2021

4.6

Word count: 141K words
Chapters: 34
ISBN: 9787555297390

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Summary

One of the classics of Japanese literature in the series of master authors, masterworks, and master translations, translated with great dedication by the renowned literary translator Lin Shaohua. The Decay of the Angel is the final volume of Yukio Mishima's monumental novel The Sea of Fertility. The story follows the seventy-six-year-old Honda Shigekuni, who, after the death of his wife, adopts the boy Tōru Yasunaga. However, Honda's friend Keiko, unable to tolerate Tōru's behavior, reveals the whole matter of reincarnation to him. After reading the dream diary left behind years earlier by Kiyoaki Matsugae, Tōru attempts suicide but fails, and is left blind.

Editor's review

The Decay of the Angel is the concluding chapter of Yukio Mishima's tetralogy The Sea of Fertility, and the summit and final work of his literary world. With an extremely complex and intricate narrative structure, the novel explores ultimate themes such as reincarnation, nothingness, beauty, and destruction. Continuing the characters and themes of the first three volumes, it pushes the perspective of the protagonist Honda Shigekuni to the extreme, linking the clues of reincarnation across time and space through the calm observations of an aging lawyer, and ultimately leading to a terrifyingly void conclusion. In this book Mishima displays a profound fusion of Buddhist philosophy, classical Japanese aesthetics, and modern existentialism; his prose combines classical splendor with modern austerity. As the last novel he completed in his lifetime, the book can be seen as the author's final reckoning with his lifelong aesthetics and thought, filled with a fatalistic sense of tragedy and ritual. Reading this book is not merely reading a story, but entering the grand speculative arena of the nature of existence that Mishima constructed with words.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers eager to explore postwar Japanese literature and Mishima's creative system in depth
Those interested in philosophical speculation and themes such as reincarnation, time, and existence
Lovers of pure literature who can appreciate complex narrative structures and dense symbolism and metaphor
Readers who wish to understand the 'mono no aware' and 'beauty of destruction' in Japanese aesthetics through literature

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction seeking light entertainment or linear narrative
Readers completely unfamiliar with modern and contemporary Japanese history and culture who have no wish to learn about it

Reading tips

It is recommended to finish the four volumes of The Sea of Fertility in order (Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn) before reading this book, so as to fully grasp the thread of characters and themes.
While reading, pay attention to the elaboration and variation of the Buddhist imagery of the 'five signs of decay,' which is key to understanding the theme.
Mishima's text is extremely dense; it is advisable to slow down the pace of reading and, when necessary, consult biographical materials or related criticism to deepen understanding.

About the publisher

Qingdao Publishing House China · Founded in 1987

Founded in 1987, Qingdao Publishing House has long focused on education, science and technology, children's books, and lifestyle titles, while steadily publishing classical and foreign literature. Its 827 titles in the catalog reflect a balance between making classics widely accessible and serving young readers. They include the four great classics of Chinese literature—Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West—as well as foreign literary translations such as Sei Shōnagon's The Pillow Book, works associated with Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. The press also offers a color-illustrated series of recommended classics for primary and secondary school Chinese curriculum reading, using pictures and text to support student readers. Its common categories cover classical literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, folk literature, and foreign literature, with authors including Luo Guanzhong, Shi Nai'an, Cao Xueqin, Gao E, Wu Cheng'en, Sei Shōnagon, Zhou Zuoren, and Victor Hugo. Public information is limited, so this profile emphasizes the publishing directions shown by the catalog.

版权信息
译序生存之美与毁灭之美，以及“天人五衰”
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章
第二十六章
第二十七章
第二十八章
第二十九章
第三十章
附录I 三岛由纪夫为什么自杀
附录II 三岛由纪夫年谱

FAQ

Can I read The Decay of the Angel directly without having read the previous volumes?

Not recommended. This book is the final volume of the series, and its plot, characters, and core philosophical ideas are closely linked to the earlier works. Reading it independently would lose a great deal of information and emotional impact, making it difficult to understand its exquisite structure and ultimate direction.

What does the title 'The Decay of the Angel' mean?

'The Decay of the Angel' originates from a Buddhist concept referring to the five signs of decay manifested by heavenly beings at the end of their lives when their karmic merit is exhausted. Mishima uses it to symbolize the inevitable fall and destruction after the pinnacle of splendor; it is both a key metaphor of the story and an intimation of the ultimate fate of the protagonist and of the entire narrative world.

How should the ending of this book be understood?

The ending is often interpreted as Mishima's subversive negation of the concept of reincarnation, or as the ultimate dissolution of all meaning (including beauty, memory, love, and faith). It is not a conventional story conclusion but a philosophical, void-directed crescendo that forms an intertext with Mishima's own life ending, and is worth repeated chewing and deep reflection.

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About the author

Yukio Mishima Author · Japan · 1925–1970

Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) was a Japanese novelist and playwright, born Hiraoka Kimitake in Tokyo and a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. He established his literary standing with Confessions of a Mask in 1949, and went on to explore beauty, desire and death in a coolly refined and intensely aesthetic style. His major works include The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, The Sound of Waves and the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility, whose volumes Spring Snow, Runaway Horses and The Decay of the Angel are available in Chinese. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. On 25 November 1970 he committed seppuku at a Self-Defense Forces base, and his life and writing have remained a subject of public discussion. The library holds 84 of his works, mostly under foreign literature, young adult literature and classics.

Lin Shaohua Author · Chinese · 1952

Lin Shaohua, born in 1952 in Jiutai, Jilin, with ancestral roots in Penglai, Shandong, is a renowned Chinese literary translator and essayist who previously served as a professor at the College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China. Since translating Norwegian Wood in 1989, he has devoted himself to introducing Japanese literature to Chinese readers, translating more than forty works by Haruki Murakami as well as notable works by Natsume Soseki, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and Yasunari Kawabata. His fluent and nuanced translations have won him a wide readership in the Chinese-speaking world and have profoundly influenced the reception of Murakami and modern Japanese literature in China. In 2018, he received the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation. His translations span novels, essays, and interview collections, with representative works including Snow Country, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kokoro, The Setting Sun, and The Izu Dancer.