작품 『금각사 』에 대한 고찰

A Study on “Kinkakuji” by Yukio Mishima

The novel “Kinkakuji” has been examined extensively in pastworks. Two main studies have focused on the aspect of setting fire to “Kinkaku.” One line of research is to read the literary work in terms of the recovery of the sense of unification with “Kinkaku.” The other line of research is to understand the novel with the view that the protagonist wishes to return to his own way of a relative life by dissolving the absoluteness of “Kinkaku” existent within the author himself. This paper aims to take a different angle toward such two streams of previous studies. For a long time, Mishima had remained in the world of perception which does not accompany a human body from the beginning of his literary career. While he was preoccupied with such a perceptual world, he was always exposed to a sense of alienation from the real world. The present study explores how the author transforms the conflict between the realistic estrangement and the physical actuality caused by conduct into the aesthetic morality, and how he obtains such an internal clue to the aesthetic piece of literature and integrates it into his work. This article is divided into four parts, organized as follows: the first part constitutes an introduction, the second part concerns the relationship of alienation, the third part discusses the beauty of “Kinkaku” and a yearning for a unity with it, and the fourth part finally provides the analysis of ‘setting fire and the life of rebirth.’