Confessions of a Mask.

MISHIMA, Yukio.

Item Number: 98997

London: Peter Owen, 1960.

First British edition of the author’s masterpiece, which was praised by Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, and Christopher Isherwood and propelled the young Yukio Mishima to international fame.. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket.  Jacket design by Keith Reader. Translated From The Japanese by Meredith Weatherby. An exceptional example.

Confessions of a Mask tells the story of Kochan, an adolescent boy tormented by his burgeoning attraction to men: he wants to be “normal.” Kochan is meek-bodied, and unable to participate in the more athletic activities of his classmates. He begins to notice his growing attraction to some of the boys in his class, particularly the pubescent body of his friend Omi. To hide his homosexuality, he courts a woman, Sonoko, but this exacerbates his feelings for men. As news of the War reaches Tokyo, Kochan considers the fate of Japan and his place within its deeply rooted propriety.