Confessions of a Mask: Yukio Mishima (Penguin Modern Classics)

Confessions of a Mask: Yukio Mishima (Penguin Modern Classics)

by Meredith Weatherby (Translator), Meredith Weatherby (Translator), Yukio Mishima (Author)

Synopsis

'There is in this world a kind of desire like stinging pain' A Japanese teenager is overcome with longing for his male classmate. He imagines his body punctured with arrows, like the body of St Sebastian in the painting that obsesses him. Over and over again, each night in his private fantasies, the objects of his lust are tortured, killed and maimed. But, in the rigid world of imperial wartime Japan there is no place for such transgressive desires. He must wear a false mask and hide his true nature, whatever the cost. 'A terrific and astringent work of beauty' The Times Literary Supplement 'Mishima is lucid in the midst of emotional confusion, funny in the midst of despair' Christopher Isherwood 'Never has a confession been freer from self-pity' Sunday Times

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Edition: 1
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 07 Sep 2017

ISBN 10: 024130119X
ISBN 13: 9780241301197
Book Overview: The dawning of a young man's homosexual and sadistic desires.

Media Reviews
Mishima is lucid in the midst of emotional confusion, funny in the midst of despair -- Christopher Isherwood
Never has a confession been freer from self-pity and emotional over-indulgence * Sunday Times *
A writer of immense energy and ability * Time Out *
A terrific and astringent work of beauty... a work of art * Times Literary Supplement *
Author Bio
Yukio Mishima was born in 1925 in Tokyo, and is considered one of the Japan's most important writers. His books broke social boundaries and taboos at a time when Japan found itself in a state of rapid social change. His interests besides writing included body-building, acting, and practising as a Samurai. In 1970 he attempted to start a military coup, which failed. Upon realising this, Mishima performed seppuku, a ritual suicide, upon himself. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature three times. His major novels include Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours (also a Penguin Modern Classic), The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea and the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility: Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel.