
'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
Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威), a Japanese author, poet and playwright, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku. At age six, Mishima enrolled in elite Peers School (Gakushuin 学習院). At 12, Mishima began to write his first stories. He read voraciously the works of Oscar Wilde, Rainer Maria Rilke and numerous classic Japanese authors. After six years at school, he became the youngest member of the editorial board in its literary society. Mishima was attracted to the works of Tachihara Michizō, which in turn created an appreciation for the classical form of the waka. Mishima's first published works included waka poetry, before he turned his attention to prose. ([Source][1]) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima

'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
Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威), a Japanese author, poet and playwright, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku. At age six, Mishima enrolled in elite Peers School (Gakushuin 学習院). At 12, Mishima began to write his first stories. He read voraciously the works of Oscar Wilde, Rainer Maria Rilke and numerous classic Japanese authors. After six years at school, he became the youngest member of the editorial board in its literary society. Mishima was attracted to the works of Tachihara Michizō, which in turn created an appreciation for the classical form of the waka. Mishima's first published works included waka poetry, before he turned his attention to prose. ([Source][1]) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima