The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

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and so long as it was to the Tōru seen by others, the offer of alms was an offer to a shadow of the real Tōru, quite incapable of wounding his self-respect. Tōru was secure. But were the motives of the man so incomprehensible? There was nothing in the least incomprehensible about them. Tōru understood perfectly. The victim of boredom is quite capable of selling a world to a rag-picker. His knees in his arms, Tōru was nodding sleepily. He had made up his mind. But good manners demanded that he defer his assent until the superintendent could be a little prouder of the sweat he had expended. He was happier than ever with his faculty for not dreaming. He had lighted mosquito repellent for the benefit of the superintendent, but the mosquitoes were at his own feet and ankles. The itching shone through his drowsiness like moonlight. He thought vaguely that he must again wash the hands with which he was scratching. “Well, I’m afraid you’re sleepy. You have every right to be. The night’s practically over. Dear me. Eleven thirty already. I’ve stayed much too long. So the story sounds good to you? You agree?” As he stood up to
leave, the superintendent laid a persuasive hand on Tōru’s shoulder. Pretending to have awakened only now, Tōru said: “Yes. I agree.” “You agree?” “I agree.” “Thank you, thank you. I’ll take care of everything else. Think of me as your father. All right?” “Yes. I’d be very grateful if you would.” “But it will be a loss for the station, letting a good boy like you go.” He was far too drunk to drive. Tōru went for a taxi and saw him home.
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Table of Contents Cover Copyright A
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This eBook is copyright material an
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Isle of Houghton, Corner of Boundar
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BY YUKIO MISHIMA THE SEA OF FERTILI
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and then blue distance once more. T
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Very strange. The whole vast space
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maru, due to make port at four. He
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ut now his eye caught, the rustic p
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Receiving and dispatching of ships
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and a cot completed the furnishings
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“Hello. This is Teikoku Signal. Y
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the eye that had nothing to create,
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This orphan, one of the elect, diff
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Tōru shoved the stubby pencil he h
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great beauty might permit herself,
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downtown any more. Every man I pass
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eautiful woman that keeps hell at a
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Kinué came upon a basic but elusiv
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direction, and the stern and prow l
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second mate, on watch. Tōru could
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4 AT ABOUT the same time Honda, at
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heavenly stream of sanctification.
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a man swimming in from the ocean mi
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lungs. Three thirty, and there was
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the vanished rose, clouds scattered
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ustle in the new houses beyond the
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7 HONDA and Keiko Hisamatsu were pe
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would have been her uncle, anyhow i
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their liking. There were no tourist
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humanity. His unhappiness she made
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“That’s it. I was between life
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after each player had received elev
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The lump of mucus, like bêche-de-m
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enjoyment. There was a strange sadn
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It was a chore even to reach for th
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“You tell me to have it repaired,
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“The sin is ours, Kiyo’s and mi
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impossibility, gambled his own life
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as Keiko’s gentleman friend. He w
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8 AT THE OPENING of Robe of Feather
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forth music so beautiful that no mu
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Within the pavilion are angels in p
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had in the cab that had brought him
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them were quite devoid of sanctity.
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Serpent-twined legs spread wide, ha
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sombrero. The crowd clapped. Keiko
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her. On their return they looked in
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10 WAS THERE nothing more to see, w
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the light was behind it to send dow
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might have a look around for our ed
Page 102 and 103: trance-like mating of the sea and t
Page 104 and 105: a somewhat worn silver coin; and th
Page 106 and 107: world to destruction while seeking
Page 108 and 109: desk. Now he stood up and moved to
Page 110 and 111: “Very useful work. Keep at it.”
Page 112 and 113: Asia Line, three yellow crowns on a
Page 114 and 115: Perhaps there was nothing of the ac
Page 116 and 117: cigarette. Cigarette in hand, she w
Page 118 and 119: knows what you know can never be be
Page 120 and 121: Scotch. Honda had kept one thing fr
Page 122 and 123: Viennese psychoanalysis; but he cou
Page 124 and 125: Kinué stopped by in the morning, a
Page 126 and 127: ystander and now all of a sudden he
Page 128 and 129: for the sake of a beautiful woman.
Page 130 and 131: the Denmark-maru, and the Kōyō-ma
Page 132 and 133: green changed, rose and swelled int
Page 134 and 135: surface. Five o’clock. The white
Page 136 and 137: oom. He followed the great hull of
Page 138 and 139: The ship’s agent answered. “Hel
Page 140 and 141: embers of two cigarettes were brush
Page 142 and 143: “The Daichū is coming into three
Page 144 and 145: There was no concept for which he h
Page 146 and 147: in which industrious young men were
Page 148 and 149: investigations.” Tōru frowned. H
Page 150 and 151: conclusion to cynicism. Tōru had o
Page 154 and 155: 15 TŌRU WAS off duty the next day.
Page 156 and 157: 16 SURPRISED to learn that Tōru’
Page 158 and 159: take the risks. In the decade since
Page 160 and 161: end of economic growth or with a Co
Page 162 and 163: een a still-young Honda who had nam
Page 164 and 165: human volition sought to make histo
Page 166 and 167: preferred not to. Instead he took a
Page 168 and 169: He is of course single. Ideological
Page 170 and 171: 17 HONDA CHOSE a day late in Octobe
Page 172 and 173: “I don’t feel any great need fo
Page 174 and 175: no virtues more highly prized in Ja
Page 176 and 177: 18 THE THREE TUTORS were all highly
Page 178 and 179: happiness for him; but he did not f
Page 180 and 181: “I had no idea there was such a p
Page 182 and 183: the half circle of coffee dregs. Th
Page 184 and 185: the body floating there. We all kno
Page 186 and 187: clouds drifted by. The wind carried
Page 188 and 189: decorated with a cheap flower desig
Page 190 and 191: grapefruit. A carefully scrutinized
Page 192 and 193: felt like a liberated child spittin
Page 194 and 195: Sometimes he almost thought, after
Page 196 and 197: heart. Tōru came almost to have ho
Page 198 and 199: policies calculated to give Tōru a
Page 200 and 201: For two or three weeks the seventy-
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guard examining a pass. His questio
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22 SUPPOSE YOU keep company with he
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heavy. “How perfectly dreadful. T
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23 RELUCTANT TO LEAVE Tōru by hims
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him. Why had the two of them come i
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“A far more inappropriate simile,
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enches. Honda could see from the an
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and closer, spread color on hard, t
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I know well enough that the more fi
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The little present Momoko gave me i
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and I grow weary of pressing the co
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world. I was too busy receiving oth
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was aware of the situation. Had any
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have looked for a reason. I have fo
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former nurse. Momoko looked aside i
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till four. I urged Momoko inside. T
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There were autumn cicadas in the ev
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I saw how complicated their movemen
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imagine rather older women, but suc
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attract a certain sort of woman wit
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is something that the winter sky ha
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She had given me a little silver ch
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I cannot be sure whether Momoko rea
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Western staircase. Only from it do
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or going out to look, but an overpo
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from outside. If only I could raise
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“Make me a girl who does not love
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moment’s dalliance is a matter of
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25 TŌRU BEGAN preparatory school a
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the position best for the Hondas, f
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All he had to do was enjoy the move
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moved the unresting bustle of the h
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“But you were very sweet while it
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26 THE VERY QUESTION was indignant
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Shimizu and installed her in the ga
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The cold water would liven his puls
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man’s still alive.” That was hi
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nature of things. He had taught the
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stupid crowds, cut through the mass
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none. The garden had been made over
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Time went past along the indefinabl
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had made it possible for Honda to e
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were even now engaged in close comb
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the left loomed the round wall of t
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shirts scattered through the groves
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Although the little man showed no d
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scream. The man sprang up and looke
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Before the woman confronted him, Ho
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concepts he had acquired in India?
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27 LATE IN NOVEMBER a splendid engr
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immorality, retreated trembling beh
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“Turn around. Oh, it’s very nic
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Georgette stole, draped down over t
Page 308 and 309:
“Just sit down there quietly, if
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he had taken a liking? What did you
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will die at twenty?” “I think p
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unable to remember the exact day. M
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would call a simulator. I doubt mys
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have seen and think you have seen i
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28 REMARKABLY, Tōru came to Honda
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and now it was the blind Tōru who
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of water hit his shining flesh like
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elements, to dissolve into the corp
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the entrails than from reason, a lo
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“Day after tomorrow at three? I d
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dinner. The middle-aged housekeeper
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him from air-conditioning. It was a
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his ears. No doubt other people, sa
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And there was no smell of flowers.
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Honda had noticed numbers of Kyoto
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green platform was like a doll stan
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30 THEY COULD perfectly well drive
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coolness of its shadows. There was
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among leaves like young swallows’
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slumber. They made him think of Tha
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A steward probably in his sixties,
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If, after so much, the Abbess were
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ightness and darkness. For Honda it
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girlish curiosity in her eyes, and
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Honda was groping through a fog. Hi
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Footnote ∗ Translator’s note: t
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Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Ch
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The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

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