Brief Mirage Volume 10 Ruminations
Asphodel has started a thread at the Mirage forum for volume 10 discussion, and I thought I'd crosspost my random thoughts here too, as I reread this volume for the first time in years. Asphodel is currently doing an amazing job re-translating it, but I'm a little ahead of her translation and rereading the earlier version by Tasha Poisonous, who translated, I believe, from Russian into a second language for her, and I am very impressed and grateful.
Spoilers for Mirage up to volume 10 and trigger warning for talk of sexual assault:
Boy, Naoe and Kagetora both really (intellectually) understand their position, even Kagetora, who lies and blusters about it more. They understand its dynamics, but neither of them can see a way out. In essence, they see no alternative but mutual destruction, which is much what Irobe observes a few volumes later. I think Kagetora captures this in his ruminations that love, hate, desire, and kindness are not enough to tie them together; only the eternal battle over who wins and who loses is. The problem here is the need to be tied together, as nicely illustrated by Kagetora's interrupting his own thoughts about how he can keep Naoe chained with a sudden, passing reflection that he doesn't want to chain him. The core question is why do they need to be chained? For Kagetora, the answer is ultimately that he's insecure; he needs outside validation to feel worthy. I think for Naoe the answer is more complex and multifaceted. Part of it is likely his own insecurity, his need to hitch himself to Kagetora's "superior" star, but part may, indeed, just come down to love, even compassion. I don't think he can leave Kagetora, in part, because he knows how much Kagetora needs him and that Naoe's leaving would destroy him.
Other stuff: I had forgotten how truly brutal the rape of Kagetora was. I had also forgotten how closely his relationship the primary rapist echoes his relationship with Naoe. He has already been brutally and totally betrayed by a very proper, trusted, older male servant. No wonder he has fears about its happening again, especially when Naoe is lunging at him in a way that absolutely is sexual assault if not actually rape. Kagetora behaves like someone who has been badly traumatized, and I can't say he doesn't have a right to.
I had also not registered how much foreshadowing is going on in the interactions between Yuzuru and Takaya. I don't want to be too spoilery here, but the general tenor of their conversations is going to come back in a "karma is a bitch" sort of way, in their case, both literal karma and metaphorical intra-lifetime karma.
Interested to hear what others are picking up.
Spoilers for Mirage up to volume 10 and trigger warning for talk of sexual assault:
Boy, Naoe and Kagetora both really (intellectually) understand their position, even Kagetora, who lies and blusters about it more. They understand its dynamics, but neither of them can see a way out. In essence, they see no alternative but mutual destruction, which is much what Irobe observes a few volumes later. I think Kagetora captures this in his ruminations that love, hate, desire, and kindness are not enough to tie them together; only the eternal battle over who wins and who loses is. The problem here is the need to be tied together, as nicely illustrated by Kagetora's interrupting his own thoughts about how he can keep Naoe chained with a sudden, passing reflection that he doesn't want to chain him. The core question is why do they need to be chained? For Kagetora, the answer is ultimately that he's insecure; he needs outside validation to feel worthy. I think for Naoe the answer is more complex and multifaceted. Part of it is likely his own insecurity, his need to hitch himself to Kagetora's "superior" star, but part may, indeed, just come down to love, even compassion. I don't think he can leave Kagetora, in part, because he knows how much Kagetora needs him and that Naoe's leaving would destroy him.
Other stuff: I had forgotten how truly brutal the rape of Kagetora was. I had also forgotten how closely his relationship the primary rapist echoes his relationship with Naoe. He has already been brutally and totally betrayed by a very proper, trusted, older male servant. No wonder he has fears about its happening again, especially when Naoe is lunging at him in a way that absolutely is sexual assault if not actually rape. Kagetora behaves like someone who has been badly traumatized, and I can't say he doesn't have a right to.
I had also not registered how much foreshadowing is going on in the interactions between Yuzuru and Takaya. I don't want to be too spoilery here, but the general tenor of their conversations is going to come back in a "karma is a bitch" sort of way, in their case, both literal karma and metaphorical intra-lifetime karma.
Interested to hear what others are picking up.