Yukio Mishima

6 summariesLiterary Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Kimitake Hiraoka , also known as Yukio Mishima , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the Tatenokai , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century. He was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, but the award went to his countryman and benefactor Yasunari Kawabata. His works include the novels Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion , and the autobiographical essay Sun and Steel . Mishima's work is characterized by "its luxurious vocabulary and decadent metaphors, its fusion of traditional Japanese and modern Western literary styles, and its obsessive assertions of the unity of beauty, eroticism and death", according to author Andrew Rankin.

Books by Yukio Mishima

6 books available

The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Yukio Mishima
3.9 (21k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction
A voyeuristic boy, obsessed with the sea's purity, believes he finds cosmic order in his mother's affair with a sailor, only to be disillusioned by human emotion and domesticity.
Confessions of a Mask
Yukio Mishima
3.9 (15k) average on GoodreadsFiction
In post-war Japan, a young man's growing homosexuality becomes a stifling secret, forcing him to face the divide between his inner desires and the life he feels forced to live.
Spring Snow
Yukio Mishima
4.2 (12k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction
In 1912 Tokyo, a young aristocrat's hidden love for his childhood friend turns into a tragic obsession when she is promised to a prince, disrupting their lives and the balance between duty and class.
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima
4.0 (12k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction
Haunted by his father's death and a severe stutter, Mizoguchi seeks identity in Kyoto's Golden Pavilion, only to become obsessed with its beauty and eventually destroy it to feel free.
The Sound of Waves
Yukio Mishima
3.8 (11k) average on GoodreadsRomance
In a remote Japanese fishing village, a young fisherman and the wealthiest daughter fall in love, overcoming village gossip and class differences.
Runaway Horses
Yukio Mishima
4.2 (5k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction
In a Japan grappling with modernity, a charismatic young patriot, steeped in the samurai code, ignites a desperate terrorist plot to restore the Emperor's power and dismantle the industrialists he believes are corrupting the nation's soul.