Bookatlas
1969The Japanese Postwar
Cover of Spring Snow

Spring Snow

Yukio Mishima · 1925–1970 · Japan

Originally Haru no Yuki (Japanese) · translated by Michael Gallagher

Why it matters

A doomed aristocratic love in 1912 Tokyo opens The Sea of Fertility, the tetralogy Mishima finished the morning of his death. His most gorgeous novel: snow, silk, and a passion chosen precisely because it is forbidden.

At a glance

romancetragedy
Difficulty 5/10medium pace389 pages

Ornate, formal prose and courtly ritual detail slow the otherwise linear plot.

More by Yukio Mishima →

Where to go next

Cover of The Temple of the Golden PavilionYukio Mishima · 1956The Temple of the Golden PavilionLvl 6Slow burnCover of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the SeaYukio Mishima · 1963The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the SeaLvl 5Fast pacedCover of Snow CountryYasunari Kawabata · 1947Snow CountryLvl 5Slow burnCover of NaomiJun'ichirō Tanizaki · 1925NaomiLvl 4Fast pacedCover of SilenceEndō Shūsaku · 1966SilenceLvl 5Slow burnCover of A Personal MatterKenzaburō Ōe · 1964A Personal MatterLvl 5Medium pace