Book Talk: Patriotism

Patriotism is, by it's title, not a book you'd think that I would traditionally suggest. Additionally, the book in question is really only a few pages long. I'm not sure that it's more than 70, but it is less than 100 pages long. However, it is an incredibly enrapturing tale of love of one's country and love between two people. Again this is another sample of Japanese war era literature, which is one of my favourite genres along side Cold War novels.

The story is about a husband (Shinji) and wife (Reiko). The husband is a military general, and the two have only been married a short time. When Shinji is away for too long, Reiko begins to prepare for her fate. If a her husband were to die, she would follow him. Yet he does return home, but with grave news. A mutiny has occurred in his ranks (real world event the Ni-Ni Roku Jiken or 2-26 Incident). He will be required to lead an attack on the mutineers, many of whom are his friends. Trapped between comradery between close friends (the mutineers) and loyalty to his Emperor, he decides to take the honorable way out, and his wife agrees to follow. They write their suicide notes and make love one last time, savoring each others bodies and marveling at the inherent beauty of each other and their deep bonded love. Finally, Reiko sits as witness to Shinji's seppuku, which is embellished in horrific detail, cut by cut. Once it is done, Reiko cleans the blood off herself and follows him into the afterlife.

It's an incredibly beautiful and erotic story around a situation that is the antithesis of beauty and eroticism. Yet Mishima, the author (a model and body builder, as well as a 3 time Nobel Prize nominee who wrote literally every type of writing possible) captures the entire 3 day event in such colour and detail that it extends beyond the bonds of the word "remarkable". As an added note, Mishima went on to try ad start a coup, which ended in his own act of seppuku and ritual beheading (which was botched by an incompetent officer). It's a great read, just be wary of the gore and romanticizing of suicide. This is a work that displays the ideals and thoughts of another culture in war time, and is a product of its time, not an advocacy for suicide or self harm. (Or military coups).