Confessions of a Mask

The debut novel by the great Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, which immediately made him famous. A subtle and sincere work written by Mishima at the age of 24, it tells of growing up, self-awareness, and the protagonist Kimi’s sense of not being like other people, unfolding against the background of serious social and economic upheavals in Japan. Under the watchful gaze of Japanese society, the young man tries to fight his “dark” side and invents a mask for himself—meant to hide his true “self.” This mask is not meant to deceive others; it is an attempt to find a new identity and become a different person by building a relationship with the world of “normal” people. Extremely frank storytelling about what it’s like to be not like everyone else and to try to live by the rules that, quite literally, tear you apart.