“Dance on a Razor’s Edge: A Ballet on the Death of Yukio Mishima”

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“Dance on a Razor’s Edge” is one of many texts collected in an anthology of P. Craig Russell’s work, titled Isolation and Illusion: Collected Short Stories 1977-1997.   “Razor’s Edge” dramatizes the interior monologue of the protagonist, Kimitake, at the point of death.  The story’s subtitle alludes to the suicide of author Yukio Mishima who committed public seppuku at the Japan Self-defense Forces headquarters after unsuccessfully attempting to incite a coup d’état in 1970.  Like Mishima, Kimitake has chosen a ceremonial disembowelment as the only honorable resolution to his existential crisis.  Although this story is text heavy for a comic, Russell’s realistically detailed illustrations in black and white do more than merely complement the narrative; they extend the plot by juxtaposing Kimitake’s self-inflicted anguish with his mental attempts to attain serenity.  The strict colorless symmetrical and asymmetrical balance that Russell has wrought on each and every page mirrors Kimitake’s “passion for purity” even while questioning it and cautioning the reader that “we must not discount the possibility that…Kimitake may have been just a bit unabalanced” (14).  This multi-faceted text pairs well with William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis"and will easily fuel an analysis of mood and tone.

• “Dance on a Razor’s Edge: A Ballet on the Death of Yukio Mishima” by P. Craig Russell
• High School
• Dark Horse Comics
• 8 pp.
• Published 1985
• ISBN 1-56971-838-5
• $14.95