mishima death cult

maa32 · 10 Feb 2002, 21:26 · from urth-v0202.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) mishima death cult
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 14:26:37 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0202-126 at digest.urth.net>
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Mantis wrote:
>transcendent in the Mishima death cult way<

I'm so glad Mishima came up in this debate.  If we pare down his ideas to=20
their essential level: beautiful things should be destroyed before they bec=
ome=20
ugly -> by destroying something you provide it with an immortal beauty that=20
surpasses its temporal existence ... with people this involves dying at you=
r=20
best to achieve immortality (kind of like Bruce Lee).  To that we can throw=
 in=20
something about returning power to the Emperor, but I think Mishima believe=
s=20
that only because it is the most aesthetically pleasing doctrine (and we ha=
ve=20
heard "loyalty to the monarch" expressed in Malrubius' lesson in Shadow of =
the=20
Torturer by Wolfe). =20
What would Wolfe feel about this?  Wolfe can be transcendent, and death is =
the=20
most obvious apotheosis ... but destroying yourself would not seem to be a=20
good manner of going about things ... but we have the suicide of Thecla, he=
r=20
experience with the revolutionary which proves that internal conflict is th=
e=20
one that mankind need fear the most, her glorification through Severian (sh=
e=20
is NOT really punished for her suicide -> she lives on in Severian [then=20
again, maybe that could be a punishment]).
Horn also gives his life in what could be called suicide by relinquishing t=
he=20
body of Silk ...Silk may have tried to kill himself.  And we have the possi=
ble=20
struggle between Pas and Silk as their personalities (might) battle to cont=
rol=20
the whorl's destiny as one being.  So Suicide does not appear to lead to=20
certain damnation in Wolfe's work ... but seems almost a transcendent passa=
ge=20
that Mishima would definitely jive with.  By denying and destroying the sel=
f=20
(he who would throw his life away will save it, in the words of Krait by th=
e=20
pit) it appears that several of Wolfe's characters actually achieve the=20
transcendent qualities that Mishima's ideals seek to enforce.
In any case, Mishima's preoccupations have often reminded me of things that=20
occur in Wolfe, and I think he would be appropriate to discuss in this=20
suicidal squad conversation.
Marc Aramini

--=20

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