| NOTA |
(★)(Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker)(Titulo original : 天人五衰 [Tennin Gosui]／ ´The Decay of the Angel´ is the fourth and final novel of Yukio Mishima´s ´The Sea of Fertility´ tetralogy. The time is the late 1960s, the last years of the author´s own life. The protagonist is Shigekuni Honda-- the young student of ´Spring Snow´, the honored judge of ´Runaway Horses´, the philosopher-voyeur of ´The Temple of Dawn´. His own life nearly over, Honda adopts an orphan as his heir, identifying him with the tragic protagonists of the previous novels. Seeking to find in Toru the sensibility of Kiyoaki, the idealism of Isao, the purity of the Thai princess, Honda educates the boy, teaches him the ways of society, yet watches him, waiting...／ ´The Decay of the Angel´ is lit by irony and forebodings of death, and themes that branched through earlier novels come together at last : the meaning and decay of Japan´s courtly tradition and samurai ideal, the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy, and the author´s apocalyptic vision of the modern age.／ ´The Decay of the Angel´ brings to brilliant completion Mishima´s acclaimed masterpiece.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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