Yukio Mishima

When a Japanese youth discovers he has homosexual tendencies he hides himself behind conventional behavior

Confessions of a Mask

Confessions of a Mask (Peter Owen Modern Classics)

fira

'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

enya

cant decide if this was good or insufferable... mmmhm a bit of both maybe

confessions of a mask aka exploration of homosexuality and compulsory heterosexuality

Amy Grieve

I’ll admit that I was actually vibing with the reflective writing style. It flowed really well, but I was mainly uncomfortable with some of the more gore adjacent content. I feel like there should be a content warning for some of the things that the central character imagines/fantasizes about.

I know that the main narrative voice was attempting to make sense of his own sexual attraction to men in the landscape of wartime Japan. This was not a story of coming to terms with sexuality. It was a story about both consciously and unconsciously concealing ones true self under the heteronormative binary that demands men can be masculine. The narrative voice is ashamed of the things he finds feminine within his own self and creates a mask of masculinity that he wears to face the world.

Omar Fernandez

I haven't researched much of the book, so this is simply my take after reading it. 

This book reads a bit autobiographical. It feels like the author captured in a novel the feeling of struggling with identity and sexuality. This was complex given that: (1) this was in Japan, (2) Japanese society fosters and promotes homogeneity as an ideal of sorts, (3) the main character felt different sexually due to his erotic attraction to the same gender and (4) Japan was at war and the threat of death was looming on everyone's mind. 

Written as a first person narrative, this novel thus reveals the struggle of this homosexual young man as he tries to conform with what he considered to be normal. In the process, he tried to come to terms with his attraction to another boy at school, he later on started a relationship with a woman as a way to explore love and 'normal' sexuality, just to realize that it was purely platonic for him. Throughout it all, he chastised himself when he indulged in what he called his bad habit, masturbation. Probably due to some disturbing thoughts he had when he indulged in erotic thinking, which he narrates in one part and I'd say was pretty graphic and disturbing. 

Overall, I consider this an interesting perspective into one man's struggle with sexuality in a world in which sexuality isn't discussed and a culture that promotes homogeneity and conformism.

Confessions of a Mask tells the story of a Japanese boy's development towards a homosexual identity during and after the Second World War. In narrating his progress from an isolated childhood through adolescence to manhood, he exposes his inner life, full of repressed homosexual desires and preoccupations with sadomasochism and death. The enduring power of the novel is in part owing to its themes of fantasy, despair, and alienation, its eloquent voice, but also its autobiographical nature --the equally enduring fascination with the life and character of one of Japan's most turbulent artists. As part of the new Peter Owen Cased Classics series, this special hardback edition carries an elegant dust jacket with a false die-cutting of a mask, while printed on the cover board is the work of British contemporary artist Fraser Taylor.

Prashant Prasad

okay 4.5 because i like the first half more than the second but it was still very good!! konchan my beloved 

“Most people are always doubtful as to whether they are happy or not, cheerful or not. This is the normal state of happiness, as doubt is a most natural thing.” - this is something i’m still trying to understand and accept; that doubt is natural and completely fine and that emotions do not always have to be one thing or another

Gavin

Dorothea

The story of a Japanese boy's development towards a homosexual identity during and after the Second World War. In narrating his progress from an isolated childhood through adolescence to manhood, he exposes his inner life, full of repressed homosexual desires and preoccupations with sadomasochism and death. The enduring power of the novel is in part owing to its themes of fantasy, despair, and alienation, its eloquent voice and its autobiographical nature - the equally enduring fascination with the life and character of one of Japan's most turbulent artists.

Confessions of a Mask

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