The Death of Radiguet

Name: The Death of Radiguet
ISBN: 9787532781751

Yukio Mishima / 兰立亮Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaJan 2021

3.9

Word count: 132K words
Chapters: 32
ISBN: 9787532781751

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Summary

This collection brings together thirteen of Mishima Yukio's finest short stories, written between the ages of seventeen and thirty-one. He was barely seventeen when he completed the opening piece, "Moon in the Water." Composed of seven letters, the story's first-person narration draws the two correspondents into such close dialogue that their voices can scarcely be separated, while its delicate, richly layered interior monologue holds the reader spellbound. "Goat's Head" traces the shifts in whether a man can see the goat's head as he moves among different women before and after the war, mirroring the subtle yet abrupt changes within the protagonist. Reality and allegory intertwine, and just as the story reaches a major turning point it breaks off short—Mishima's startling expressive power and crisp control of rhythm are astonishing. In the title piece, "The Death of Radiguet," the prodigy Radiguet, whom Mishima had revered since boyhood, dies under Cocteau's watch, just as he had foretold: "Within three days I shall be struck down by a heavenly host." He was only twenty. Beginning with Radiguet's relationship with Cocteau, the piece dissects his inner turmoil and unease, indirectly revealing Mishima's own psychological evolution. The stories vary widely in style and type, offering a glimpse of the irresistible talent of his youth and the seasoned self-expression of his maturity, as well as his lifelong, unflagging exploration of spirit and flesh, reality and art.

Editor's review

The Death of Radiguet is a highly unusual work in Mishima Yukio's oeuvre: not a novel proper but a long essay blending biography, criticism, and spiritual self-analysis. Using the life and work of the French prodigy Raymond Radiguet (dead at twenty) as his thread, Mishima conducts a deep dialogue on youth, death, art, and fate. The book's core value lies in its double-mirror structure: on the surface it writes of Radiguet, yet between the lines it reflects Mishima's own literary views, aesthetic pursuits, and even his forebodings about his own destiny. Mishima keenly grasps the extreme purity in Radiguet's work—the equation of youth with art itself, the internalization of an early death as aesthetic necessity—and responds to it with intense resonance and reflection. Reading this book is like watching two geniuses across time confront and merge at the level of the soul. The translation is precise and concise, preserving to the greatest extent the original's cold, gorgeous, tension-filled style. For understanding the core of Mishima's aesthetic thought—above all his fascination with the beauty of an early death and with artistic completion—this book offers an irreplaceable key.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a deep interest in Mishima Yukio's literary world and intellectual development
Readers who prefer texts combining literary criticism, author biography, and psychological analysis
Readers interested in twentieth-century French literature, especially the phenomenon of the prodigy writer
Contemplative readers willing to look beneath the surface of the text to ponder ultimate questions of art, youth, and death

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a conventional narrative novel; this book is closer to essay and criticism
Readers wholly unfamiliar with Mishima Yukio or French literature who are unwilling to do any preparatory reading

Reading tips

It is recommended to first gain a basic understanding of Raymond Radiguet's life (his major work is Le Diable au corps) and of Mishima's central ideas; the reading experience will be deeper for it
The book can be read alongside Mishima's late tetralogy The Sea of Fertility to see more clearly the continuity and evolution of his aesthetic thought
There is no need to rush toward conclusions; it is better to follow Mishima's dense, leaping speculation and savor the tension and beauty of his prose

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
水中月
山羊头
大臣
魔群经过
一
二
三
花山院
星期日
箱根细工
伟大的姐妹
一
二
三
四
五
六
牵牛花
旅行的墓志铭
拉迪盖之死
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
复仇
施饿鬼船

FAQ

Is this book a novel?

Not exactly. It is more precisely defined as a long essay or literary-critical biography. Using Radiguet's life and work as raw material, Mishima offers extensive personal interpretation and philosophical reflection, blending biography, criticism, and the familiar essay.

Why was Mishima Yukio so fascinated by Radiguet?

The core is a certain resonance in their spiritual makeup. Radiguet died young at twenty, and his work fused youthful passion and rebellion with a foreboding of death, achieving a kind of "completed art." Mishima spent his life pursuing ultimate beauty and completion in art and action; Radiguet provided him with an ideal mirror for observation and dialogue, and writing this book was also Mishima's way of sorting out and confirming his own aesthetics.

Does this book have a high barrier to entry?

It has a certain barrier. The book involves extensive analysis of Radiguet's works, background knowledge of French literature, and Mishima's own subtle and complex aesthetic ideas. Without some familiarity with this background, it may feel somewhat obscure. On the other hand, even setting aside specific knowledge, simply experiencing the passion and cold rigor of Mishima's thought in his prose is a distinctive reading experience in itself.

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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.

兰立亮 Author

Lan Liliang is an author and translator active in the field of foreign literature, though publicly available information about him is limited; the library currently holds six of his works. His representative translations include The Hunger for Love from the Yukio Mishima series, as well as the Japanese popular literature works Nemuri Kyoshiro Murai-kyo (Volume One) and the three-volume boxed set. His credits also extend to works such as Music, The Death of Radiguet, and The New Hamlet. Judging from the existing catalogue, Lan Liliang's work focuses on the translation and introduction of Japanese literature, balancing classic authors with genre fiction so that Chinese readers can better understand and receive Japanese literature.