Review of Related Studies

6

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

There are some criticisms toward Mishima’s work on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese writer who won a Nobel Prize, gave a statement “a writer of Mishima’s caliber only appears once over 200- 300 years. No Japanese writer before or after his death has received the extent of international attention and administration bestowed upon Mishima” http:www.geocities.comwestHollywod 375Mishima.html. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is based on an actual event in 1950. It depicted the burning of the celebrated temple of Kyoto by a young Buddhist monk, who is angered at his own physical ugliness, and prevents the famous temple from falling into foreign hands during the American occupation http:www.kirjasto.sci.fimishima.htm. Ross in the introduction of Mishima’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion commented, “Yukio Mishima appears chiefly in the imaginative re-creation of a psychotic acolyte’s life and a detail portrayal of tee steps that lead to his last desperate, destructive act”. Further she says that the novel is rich in scenes, incidents, episodes which, though developed in great detail, often leave the reader uncertain as to their meaning and portent in relation to the story’s main line 1997: ix- xii. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Andress Roman from Santiago wrote “ from all Mishima’s works The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is one of his most extraordinary works, his linguistic use to describe psychological extreme situations and the sense of beauty surrounding them and innate to their being, acquires here an epic touch” http:www.mnsu.edu. comdiskusterBookstoreshortview.html. A criticism taken from http:www.washburn.edureferencebridge24Mishima.html, states that the Temple of the Golden Pavilion is more substantial book; it is based on a real life story. It is a novel of psychological analysis. A kind of turning of Zen Buddhism is used to explore the tensions between illusion and reality, love and hate, beauty and ugliness. Philip Shabecoff conveys “Yukio Mishima’s novel, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion was his masterpiece. Mishima is really going at it with his whole heart. He has a tremendous gift of words, and it has never been richer than this new book. In Japan the novel is a masterpiece.” In the novel’s soaring climax, Mizoguchi tries desperately to free himself from his fixation www.booksmilion.comncombooks?pid=9780679752707. Mr. Keene on Japanese Literature: An Introduction for Western Readers wrote that The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is Mishima’s third book to be published in the USA, making him the best- represented Japanese novelist here. His earlier works were all of great interest, but the Temple of the Golden Pavilion establishes Mishima’s claim as one of the outstanding young writers in the world http:partners.nytimes.combooks981025specials mishima-temple.html. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Another reviewer named Kalem, wrote that the late Japanese writer Yukio Mishima in the Temple of the Golden Pavilion told about the life of a young man with such woefully abraded nerves that he feels asphyxiated by a sense of the past http:www.time.comtimearchiveprintout0,23657,910169,00.html. Based on those views, the writer believes that this novel is worth further analysis. Those views can be the writer’s guide line to discuss more deeply about the main character. As stated by some reviewers that this novel is connected with psychological aspect, so the writer will discuss the main character more deeply from the psychological side which cause changes in Mizoguchi’s characteristics. It is different from other reviewers because this study not only sees the character itself but also the psychological factors which influence the character toward his behavior. The writer will take Mizoguchi’s failures in achieving his needs seen from one of the psychological factors. This topic will be used as the research of this study.

B. Review of Related Theories