Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7169 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
The first book of Mishima's landmark "The Sea of Fertility" sequence, this novel is set in Tokyo in 1912, when the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders.

Customer Reviews

Spring rebirth (9/10)
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.