Star by Yukio Mishima

Star is a 1960 novella by revered Japanese author Yukio Mishima, whose classic titles include The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, and The Temple of Dawn. I read the New Directions edition translated by Sam Bett, published in 1990.

Not to be confused with Beautiful Star (1962) by Yukio Mishima

The writing is excellent, however, Star is so deeply nihilistic, it forms a world that not many readers will want to remain in.

Rikio is a young heartthrob actor, rugged with a solid physique, handsome in a boyish way. Screaming girls push behind the barricade as he prepares to shoot his latest film, many dressed in the uniform he made popular. He watches with detached contempt from inside the studio, safe inside the big lie. "The girls can scream like hell for all I cared - their shrill voices splashed over me like rancid oil".

As much as he detests his fans, he has a harsher view of himself. Cynical and shallow, he understands that underneath the make-up there is nothing shiny or alive. He is sleep deprived, no better than a robot making rote motions for the camera. And his name is on the rise; this film is shot in 25 days, and they are planning one a month - the kind you might get the feeling you've seen a couple times at least. Being a 'Star' is everything, guarding the spring of artifice with a mask to keep the public pacified. His only partner is his assistant Kayo, ugly at around 30 - they are in on the same joke, mocking and backstabbing the world around them. At night they have intimacy with no emotion, with Kayo play-acting as other actresses, cackling afterwards as she derides the gossip magazine 'stories'.

Filming out of order makes nothing seem real, life becomes a facade of make-believe, and so it's natural Rikio has the constant, unreasonable urge to die. Especially when the future is haunted by the unfathomable terror: the sin of growing old.

For a first publication in 1960, it certainly seems current and could have been written today, 60 years later. Short at just 96 pages, Mishima wrote this after acting in the Yakuza film Afraid To Die.

Enjoyable for fans of Mishima, and the Japanese aesthetic of nihilism, but an unflinching portrait as its heart is empty.

1960 / Tradeback / 96 pages