Confessions Of A Mask
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

is the second
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by Japanese author
Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...
. First published on 5 July 1949 by
Kawade Shobō Kawade is a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. It is located in the Talasari taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistric ...
, it launched him to national fame though he was only in his early twenties. Some have posited that Mishima's similarities to the main character of the novel come from the character acting as a
stand-in A stand-in, sometimes a lighting double, for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting and camera setup. Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of film and tele ...
for Mishima's own autobiographical story. The novel is divided into four long chapters, and is written using the first-person narrative mode. The book's epigraph is a lengthy quote from ''
The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' ( rus, Братья Карамазовы, Brat'ya Karamazovy, ˈbratʲjə kərɐˈmazəvɨ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly ...
'' by
Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...
("The Penance of a Fervent Heart—Poem" in Part 3, Book 3). ''Confessions of a Mask'' was translated into English by Meredith Weatherby for New Directions in 1958.


Background and composition

After resigning from the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...
in September 1948, Mishima planned to begin work on a novel at the request of his publisher, Kawade Shobō, though it took him two months to decide exactly what form it should take. Writing to editor Sakamoto Kazuki, Mishima declared:
"This next novel will be my first
I-novel The I-novel (, , ) is a literary genre in Japanese literature used to describe a type of Confessional writing, confessional literature where the events in the story correspond to events in the author's life. This genre was founded based on the Jap ...
ever; of course, it won't be an I-novel of the Literary Establishment sort, but it will be an attempt to vivisect myself in which I will turn on myself the blade of psychological analysis that I have honed for the hypothetical figure so far. I will aim for as much scientific accuracy as I can; I will try to be
Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, an ...
's so-called 'victim and executioner.'"
Mishima would later compare his ''Confessions'' to '' Vita Sexualis'' by
Mori Ōgai Lieutenant-General , known by his pen name , was a Japanese people, Japanese Military medicine, Army Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, Japanese poetry, poet and father of famed author Mori Mari, Mari Mori. He obtained his medical l ...
and '' Armance'' by
Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...
.


Plot

The protagonist is referred to in the story as Kochan, which is the diminutive of the author's real name: Kimitake ( 公威). Being raised during Japan's era of
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
and
Imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
, he struggles from a very early age to fit into society. Like Mishima, Kochan was born with a less-than-ideal body in terms of physical fitness and robustness, and throughout the first half of the book (which generally details Kochan's childhood) struggles intensely to fit into Japanese society. A weak homosexual, Kochan is kept away from boys his own age as he is raised, and is thus not exposed to the norm. His isolation likely led to his future fascinations and fantasies of death, violence, and same-sex intercourse. Kochan is homosexual, and in the context of Imperial Japan he struggles to keep it to himself. In the early portion of the novel, Kochan does not yet openly admit that he is attracted to men, but indeed professes that he admires masculinity and strength while having no interest in women. This includes an admiration for Roman sculptures and statues of men in dynamic physical positions. Some have argued that the admiration of masculinity is autobiographical of Mishima, himself having worked hard through a naturally weak body to become stronger and a male model. In the first chapter of the book, Kochan recalls a memory of a picture book from when he was four years old. Even at that young age, Kochan approached a single picture of a heroic-looking European knight on horseback almost as pornography, gazing at it longingly and hiding it away, embarrassed, when others come to see what he is doing. When his nurse tells him that the knight is actually
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ;  – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
, Kochan, wanting the knight to be a paragon of manliness, is immediately and forever put off by the picture, annoyed that a woman would dress in man's clothing. The word "mask" comes from how Kochan develops his own false personality that he uses to present himself to the world. Early on, as he develops a fascination with his friend Omi's body during puberty, he believes that everybody around him is also hiding their true feelings from each other, everybody participating in a "reluctant masquerade". As he grows up, he tries to fall in love with a girl named Sonoko, but is continuously tormented by his latent homosexual urges, and is unable to ever truly love her.


Reception

The initial reception of ''Confessions of a Mask'' in the English-speaking world was somewhat mixed, but ultimately positive; over time this autobiographical novel came to be seen as one of Mishima's most important works. An anonymous reviewer for ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' opines: "As a novel there is very little to recommend this painful account of retarded sexuality, but as a testament to the current enthusiasm with which the Japanese have embraced Western literary traditions of the last forty years at the expense of their own heritage, ''Confessions of a Mask'' makes a grim and forceful impression." In the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Ben Ray Redman writes: "This book will increase American awareness of ishima'sskill; but it will also, I imagine, arouse in many readers as much distaste as respect . . . In ''Confessions of a Mask'' a literary artist of delicate sensibility and startling candor, has chosen to write for the few rather than the many." Writing for the ''
Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'', Iain Maloney notes that: "In many ways ''Confessions'' is the key text to understanding Mishima's later novels. In it, he explores the poles of his psyche, his homosexuality and his romantic/erotic attraction to warfare and combat. It is a scathing, unflinching examination of the darkness at the far corners of the human mind."
Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...
, as quoted in ''The Mattachine Review'', proclaimed, after reading the novel: "Here is a Japanese Gide."


References

{{Portal bar, Japan, Asia, Literature, Novels, LGBTQ 1949 novels 1949 Japanese novels Japanese-language novels Novels by Yukio Mishima Novels set in Tokyo Novels about gay topics 1940s LGBTQ novels Japanese LGBTQ novels 1949 debut novels Kawade Shobō Shinsha books Novels set in Nagano Prefecture


External links


of a Mask''
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...