Yukio Mishima
Musica

Yukio Mishima was the artistic pseudonym of Hiraoka Kimitake. The eclectic Japanese writer was one of the most influential artists of Japanese culture. Author of many successful works, he considered love for his homeland, traditions, and aesthetics as fundamental points of his literary production. He pushed these concepts to the extreme until the end of his existence, which occurred in 1970 at the age of almost 45 by his own hand through the rite of "seppuku," or ritual suicide in strict adherence to the samurai code.

Among his extensive literary production, there is a series of "minor" works that the author used to publish in installments in specialized magazines before presenting them in a single volume; among these, perhaps the most successful and quality is "Musica" from 1964.

Reiko, a young and graceful woman, is the protagonist of this short novel; she goes to analysis with the psychotherapist Dr. Shiomi for an apparently strange reason: she cannot hear music.

From this simple beginning, through the description (sometimes meticulous) made in the first person by Dr. Shiomi of the various treatment sessions of the patient, all the sexual taboos and existential torments that led the woman to hysteria will be unraveled.

Page after page, some themes of psychoanalysis are deepened, and in a certain way, it is fascinating to know the inner torments of a woman (and then a man) who appears normal but is united by a similar problem.

The novel, although far from the stylistic grace of the author's best works, is in my opinion pleasing. The "dry" essentially didactic descriptive style does not allow the work to "take off" significantly; the merit I personally recognize in the author is that of having been able to keep the reader's interest always alive with small twists (worthy of the best thrillers) that succeed each other until the end of a novel that, believe me, despite the subject matter, you will have no difficulty reading in just a few days.