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queenlua- There's probably an interesting discussion to be had about the influence subject matter has upon style, and vice versa. For my practical-writing-exercise-purposes, I determined that, while Mishima could by definition sit down and write nutty neodruidic-inspired-postapocalyptic-science-fiction in his own style, it's probably not possible for me to write nutty neodruidic-inspired-postapocalyptic-science-fiction in Mishima's style, since so much of what I understand about his style comes from what I've seen him write about. So I wrote some rich 21st-century American teenagers instead of rich 20th-century Japanese teenagers, which was Close Enough that I felt like I did a workable job of emulating him. (If any of that made sense.)
- In hindsight it's breathtaking how much Mishima establishes in the very first chapter of Spring Snow. We get his mom, his dad, his grandma, Iinuma, the snapping turtle motif, hints around the Russo-Japanese war, and a really keen sense of Kiyoaki's personality and upbringing, all in the space of ~15 pages. The way he takes what is really a giant pile of scattered scraps of exposition and weaves them together in this seamless, elegant way that makes you feel like a dreamy-but-important story is being told is just, wow. And I love the bit the chapter closes on: "Iinuma was repelled by these frivolous words, by the absence of any sense of responsibility, by the tearful look of rapture in those eyes, by everything" it works better in context but just it's so Iinuma and so good and ah
- The writing is not nearly as elegant-simile/metaphor-laden as I remembered. It varies based on the content of the passage, I bet; I remember the more passionate-less-exposition-y scenes were rife with them.
