As far as I'm aware the first book I've read in French that's never been translated into English so this really is the first time learning the language has given me access to reading I'd never have had otherwise. That said, this is far from top shelf Mishima and I feel like most of the themes within have been better explored elsewhere to such a degree that at points it can feel like he's reeling off a greatest hit comps, but I still liked some of the explorations of masculinity/femininity and power vs. love and it does build up to a pretty good ending - I just felt a little bogged down at times before we got there. A better exploration of this kind of subject than Thirst for Love was but I still feel like one of Mishima's weaknesses as a writer was his inability to write women convincingly for reasons that are probably quite self-evident. ( )

La scuola della carne, ovvero la vita. Mishima mette in scena la complessità dell'amore e della passione, ora puro e ingenuo, ora finto, e calcolatore, ora cieco e passionale capace di tavolgere anche una donna matura e di annebbiarle la mente. L'amore come mezzo di ascesa sociale per un giovane che ha fatto voto di non lasciarsi andare al suo cuore pur di assicurarsi una vita agiata. ( )

Dans le «bric-à-brac» de la société japonaise des années 60, les fantômes des ci-devant aristocrates hésitent encore à danser avec les premiers parvenus du miracle économique. Les rues sont pleines de jeunes filles qui n'en sont plus, de petits jeunes gens détestables dévorés de paresseuses ambitions...
Comment vivre, lorsque - comme le diamant de trois carats que l'on porte au doigt - on a été taillée dans une autre époque ? La chair, soudain révélée, pourrait-elle faire disparaître ce désert que l'héroïne du roman voit s'étendre aux confins de sa brillante réussite sociale ?

Décidément, difficile de lire une traduction en français de la littérature japonaise... le style, l'humour, l'histoire même n'accrochent pas longtemps mon intérêt ( )