wagner

wagnerian excess and haiku simplicity are not as far apart as they seem. one approaches an eternity of chaos through immersion in emotions whose strength ruptures the subject; the other finds an eternity of calm in a moment of pure vision that erases the subject. but these two eternities, the eternity of chaos and the eternity of calm, are the same eternity seen from opposing points--the highest and lowest points, which touch each other. if isolde had survived the massive expenditure of her transfiguration, perhaps, in the spent emptiness that followed, she would have a glimpse of the other eternity, at the trough of the wave. given this, one can understand why mishima chose to appropriate wagner and wagnerian emotion.