Mishima Yukio -- Confessions of a Mask

[jain]

3. Mishima Yukio, Confessions of a Mask

This felt like a very familiar book to me, as someone who's read a number of introspective, first-person narrations with gay main characters (though few of those included the sadomasochistic elements that characterize this book). Additionally, and to the lessening of my own enjoyment of the book, the ending was less a conclusion than it was a stopping point.

The depiction of Japan during WWII is perceptive and affecting, however, and the writing style very clean. While I think some of Mishima's later works are more brilliant, this is still a novel worth reading.

Comments

[fire-fire-who.livejournal.com]

I very much enjoyed this book, largely, I'm convinced, because it was the first book by a Japanese male author I had read that featured a gay main character. Could you recommend another, later book of his?

[jain]

I highly recommend Mishima's short story collection Death in Midsummer (and I say this as someone who tends to prefer novels to shorter fiction). "Patriotism" is extraordinarily beautiful and powerful--it's one of my absolute favorite works of literature--and several of the other stories are nearly as good, including a truly lovely story about an onnagata that I think you might particularly enjoy.

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is excellent.