Confessions of a Mask - Tapa dura

'Mishima is lucid in the midst of emotional confusion, funny in the midst of despair. His book has made me understand how it feels to be Japanese.' - Christopher Isherwood; 'A terrific and astringent beauty ... a work of art.' - Times Literary Supplement

A beautiful gift edition of Yukio Mishima's finest book, Confessions of a Mask, featuring a die-cut dust jacket over striking contemporary artwork. 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 Peter Owen Cased Classics series, this special hardback edition is bound with printed endpapers, head and tail bands and a ribbon marker. The elegant dust jacket features a die-cutting of a mask, while printed on the cover board is the work of British contemporary artist Fraser Taylor.