Runaway Horses

Name: Runaway Horses
ISBN: 9787229095277

Yukio Mishima / 文洁若 / 张林Chongqing Publishing House · ChinaSep 2023

4.6

Word count: 192K words
Chapters: 42
ISBN: 9787229095277

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Summary

Runaway Horses is the second volume of The Sea of Fertility, a "roman-fleuve"—a multi-volume, continuous novel of epic scope with historical resonance. Mishima once remarked: "I am planning to write a long novel next year, but without a philosophy that forms the core of the age, how can one write a long novel? I have searched my mind exhaustively for one, though ready-made subjects abound." The Sea of Fertility means "Sea of the Moon"—the vast craters on the moon that, despite the name "fertility," are in truth barren. The tetralogy comprises Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, and The Decay of the Angel. The Sea of Fertility brings Mishima's romanticism, aestheticism, and classicism to their fullest flowering, closing the curtain on his literary career. The protagonist, Isao, is the reincarnation of Kiyoaki from the first volume, Spring Snow. A master swordsman, he gathers twenty like-minded companions in a plot to assassinate

Editor's review

Runaway Horses is the second of the four volumes of Mishima's The Sea of Fertility and the concentrated expression of his aesthetic and philosophical thought. The novel continues the thread from Spring Snow in which Kiyoaki Matsugae is reborn as Isao Iinuma, shifting the stage from the elegant, classical world of the aristocracy to the fervent early Showa era. The story centers on young Isao, inspired by The History of the Divine Wind League, who attempts an armed coup to "revere the emperor and overthrow the corrupt" and purify society—a tragic course. Compared with the delicate sensibility of the previous volume, Runaway Horses is charged with masculine violence, pure action, and an obsessive longing for death. Through Isao, the embodiment of an "aesthetic of action," Mishima explores the fateful ties among youth, idealism, action, and destruction. Isao's fanatical pursuit of "purity" and his headlong charge, like a runaway horse, until he plunges from a cliff, are Mishima's literary enactment of "the twin paths of letters and arms" and of his "emperor as cultural concept." The descriptions of kendo matches, waterfall asceticism, conspiracy, and the final decision are vividly cinematic and ritualistic, the prose honed like a blade and burning with a dangerous, dazzling beauty. Reading this book is not merely following a tragic story but entering the core of Mishima's complex inner world and understanding his singular aesthetic of pushing life and art to the extreme and seeking eternity in destruction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Deep readers interested in postwar Japanese literature and Mishima's intellectual system
Literary lovers drawn to themes of youth, idealism, action, and tragic beauty
Readers who appreciate a concise, intense style rich in symbol and ritual
Readers seeking to read the Sea of Fertility tetralogy systematically and understand its overall structure and intellectual development

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment or intricately plotted fiction
Readers wholly unfamiliar with modern Japanese history and specific political ideas who have no wish to delve into them

Reading tips

Read the four volumes of The Sea of Fertility in order (Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, The Decay of the Angel) to grasp the overall arc and the theme of reincarnation
Pay some attention to the social and historical context of early Showa Japan to better understand the characters' actions
Note the recurring images (waterfalls, swords, horses, cherry blossoms), which carry Mishima's distinctive aesthetic and philosophical symbolism

About the publisher

Chongqing Publishing House China · Founded in 1950

Chongqing Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for its titles in the humanities, social sciences, literature and arts, with about 940 books in its catalogue. Its publishing areas cover world history, science fiction, foreign literature, architecture and philosophy. Representative titles include Xiang Da's A History of Communications Between China and the West, Liang Sicheng's Rules of Qing-Style Construction, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem II: The Dark Forest and III: Death's End, Ann Rand's The Fountainhead (25th Anniversary Edition), and Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series. Its authors include Xiang Da, Liu Cixin, Liang Sicheng and Ann Rand. The press has developed distinctive strengths in historical source editing, the introduction and creation of science fiction, the translation of foreign literature, and architecture and philosophy titles, balancing scholarly value with general readership. As public information is limited, this profile outlines its publishing directions based only on the books in the catalogue.

版权信息
序
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
十一
十二
十三
十四
十五
十六
十七
十八
十九
二十
二十一
二十二
二十三
二十四
二十五
二十六
二十七
二十八
二十九
三十
三十一
三十二
三十三
三十四
三十五
三十六
三十七
三十八
三十九
四十

FAQ

Can I read Runaway Horses without having read Spring Snow?

Though the story of Runaway Horses stands relatively on its own, its main character is the reincarnation of the previous book's protagonist, and the two works form a contrast between "elegance" and "ferocity." Reading Spring Snow first is recommended for a fuller appreciation of Mishima's design of reincarnation and overall aesthetic intent.

What is the core theme of this book?

The core themes are "the beauty of action" and "tragic purity." Through young Isao Iinuma's resolute march to death for an illusory ideal, it explores youthful passion, absolute purity, an obsessive return to tradition, and the aesthetic of "destruction at the moment of glory."

What is Mishima trying to express in this book?

The book is an artistic rendering of Mishima's idea of "the emperor as cultural concept" and his ideal of "the twin paths of letters and arms." Through Isao, he critiques the spiritual malaise and loss of faith in modern society and celebrates an action philosophy that stakes life itself on the pursuit of ultimate spirituality, even if its direction is tragic.

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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.

文洁若 Author

Wen Jieruo is a Chinese translator known for rendering Japanese literature and Western modernist classics into Chinese. Public information about her is limited, and few systematic records of her life are available, yet the thirteen works collected here show her translations spanning Japanese authors such as Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Yukio Mishima as well as the English writer E. M. Forster, and include participation in translating a monumental stream-of-consciousness work like James Joyce's Ulysses. These translations generally fall under world classics and foreign literature, reflecting her ability to handle different languages and genres: she conveys both the stark, allegorical tone of short stories in the vein of Rashomon and the intricate structures and dense prose of long modernist novels. Her versions continue to circulate among Chinese readers, serving as one of the important channels through which such works enter the Chinese-language context.

张林 Author

Zhang Lin is a Chinese author whose works span a notably wide range of subjects, with 107 titles held in the collection. Judging from the available bibliography, his writing covers several fields: social novels and essayistic works such as Galloping Horse, One Person, and Don't Forget Why You Started Because You've Gone Too Far; the compilation of the Fu-Selected Liu Duzhou Medical Case Commentaries series, showing an interest in documenting traditional Chinese medicine; I Confess: Recorded Confessions of Japanese War Criminals, a work of history; and Tang and Song Poetry Anecdotes, aimed at popularizing classical verse. His works are also often classified under foreign literature and social sciences. Public information about Zhang Lin is limited, and his biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot be verified. The range of his output nonetheless suggests a versatile writer who moves between literary creation, historical documentation, and the organization of medical texts, balancing accessible writing with careful compilation of source materials.