Confessions of a Mask
  • Published: 15 September 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241301197
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $22.99

Confessions of a Mask

Formats & editions
Paperback
15 Sep 2017
EBook
9 May 2024
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The dawning of a young man's homosexual and sadistic desires

A Japanese teenager is overcome with longing for his male classmate. Each night he imagines his body punctured with arrows, like the body of St Sebastian in Guido Reni's painting; the objects of our hero's desire are tortured, killed and maimed, over and over again each night in his private fantasies. He must hide his lust from a homophobic and stiflingly conventional Japan. Self-loathing and desperate, he begins acting out a love affair with the sister of a school friend, while grappling with his hidden desires under the shadow of a Japan under threat from World War Two.
  • Published: 15 September 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241301197
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $22.99
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Also by Yukio Mishima

Voices of the Fallen Heroes
Spring Snow
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea (Vintage Classics Japanese Series)
Thirst for Love
The Temple of Dawn
Runaway Horses
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
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Praise for Confessions of a Mask

A terrific and astringent work of beauty... a work of art

Times Literary Supplement

A writer of immense energy and ability

Time Out

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