The Sound of Waves

I'm impressed more and more with Mishima. The two works I've now had the pleasure to acquaint with, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea and now this, are singular works, Mishima's prose full of power, beauty and life. I'm going to visit the golden pavilion first before embarking on a journey to the sea of fertility. I can't wait.

The Sound of Waves is a coming-of-age story, a Romeo and Juliet of forbidden love, a social study of a closed island community like Imamura's Profound Desires of the Gods, a predestined Greek tragedy with the interference of the deus ex machina, and ultimately a very strong statement of Mishima's acute sense for the artful. His descriptions are alive with feeling for that which can be touched and that which can only be dreamed in silence; the characters are formed with broad brushstrokes, and come to life first as if from afar, then more and more in detail. And, it's as if Mishima wanted to show that once in a while, there is love and contentment, and happiness.

It's not easy to write economically and with clarity, and convey what's important. It's always easier to wander off a bit on the way instead of going straight ahead. Mishima certainly knows how to, and that's what brings such an edge to his writing. This is an author who seems to know what he's saying and why, a rare gift indeed.

28 October,
2014