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Confessions of a Mask

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 3,398 ratings · 184 reviews

Confessions of a Mask is the story of an adolescent who must learn to live with the painful fact that he is unlike other young men. Mishima's protagonist discovers that he is becoming a homosexual in polite, post-war Japan. To survive, he must live behind a mask of propriety.

Christopher Isherwood comments—"One might say, 'Here is a Japanese Gide,'....But no, Mishima is him

...more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published October 27th 1998 by Peter Owen (first published 1949)

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Apr 09, 2011 Mariel rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sweet and tender hooligans

Recommended to Mariel by: oh you pretty things

The publisher's page quotes a passage from Dostoevski's The Brothers Karamazov:
"Beauty is a terrible and awful thing! It is terrible because it never has and never can be fathomed, for God sets us nothing but riddles. Within beauty both shores meet and all contradictions exist side by side. I'm not a cultivated man, brother, but I've thought a lot about this. Truly there are mysteries without end! Too many riddles weigh man down on earth. We guess them as we can, and come out of the water dry....more

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Jan 20, 2013 9Demise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read_2012

يعجبني الأدب الياباني, وجدت فيه ضّالة ذاتيّة. قويّ جدًا, يستند على تقاليد عريقة. كما أن الأفكار الغربية بحداثتها أثرت فيه بشكل إيجابي. حتّى الكلاسيكية الصينية القديمة أسهمت في ذلك. من هايكو ورنغا في الشعر إلى شوساكو إندو, وموراساكي شيكيو, موراكامي, هيداكي سينا, آبي أكيرا... والكثيرون غيرهم إلى كاتب القناع: يوكيو ميشيما. روائي وشاعر, كاتب مسرحي ومخرج أفلام.. قدير جدًا. قدّم مجموعة من الأعمال ممزوجة بكل القيم الجمالية والتقليدية. بعض أعماله إذا ماكانت جميعها تقريبًا حطّمت أكثر الحواجز الثقافية في...more يعجبني الأدب الياباني, وجدت فيه ضّالة ذاتيّة. قويّ جدًا, يستند على تقاليد عريقة. كما أن الأفكار الغربية بحداثتها أثرت فيه بشكل إيجابي. حتّى الكلاسيكية الصينية القديمة أسهمت في ذلك. من هايكو ورنغا في الشعر إلى شوساكو إندو, وموراساكي شيكيو, موراكامي, هيداكي سينا, آبي أكيرا... والكثيرون غيرهم إلى كاتب القناع: يوكيو ميشيما. روائي وشاعر, كاتب مسرحي ومخرج أفلام.. قدير جدًا. قدّم مجموعة من الأعمال ممزوجة بكل القيم الجمالية والتقليدية. بعض أعماله إذا ماكانت جميعها تقريبًا حطّمت أكثر الحواجز الثقافية في بعض مناطق اليابان أنذاك ومازالت إلى اليوم بصمة كبيرة تشهد لهذا الرجل. يقدم ميشيما (القناع) كعمل يتصدّى للموت والدمار, يقدم صورة لآثار الحرب, وما فعلته بالمجتمع الياباني (هذا الجانب كان مقوّم أساسي للأدب الياباني, أوضاع البلاد وما خلفته الحرب). حسنًا. القناع رواية نعم, لكنها أشبه أن تكون سيرة شاملة لحياة ميشيما. تحدث فيها عن كل الرغبات منذ لحظة ولادته حتى وفاته. رغبات محرّمة, رغبات عميقة في الجسد والجنس والدم والحروب والموت. يقدّم الصراع الذي كان يعيشه في دواخله كأفضل ما يمكن أن يكون. بين الحب واللا رغبة كان يتقدم قليلًا ثم يعود أكثر للوراء.
من حسن حظي صراحة أني قبل أن أشتري كتبه, كنت قد قرأت مجموعة من أراء النقاد حولها. أجمع أكثرهم على تقديم كتاب الاعترافات على (رباعيّة بحر الخصب) والتي تعد طبعًا من أهم أعماله, وأعلى قمّة وصل إليها الكاتب. وهذا ما حدث. عمومًا كنت عقدت النية على شراء الرباعية والاعترافات, لكن كنت أحتاج ترتيب للقراءة, ترتيب صحيح لا يُغيّر نظرتي تجاه هذا الرجل بنظرة سلبية. ومن حسن حظي كما قلت, قرأت الاعترافات أولًا. حتّى تستطيع أن تفهم رباعيّة الخصب, حتّى تستطيع أن تغوص فيها وأنت راضٍ, حتّى تفهم الكاتب الذي تقرأ له, تفكيره وذاته وووو يجب أن تقرأ الاعترافات قبل أي عمل آخر. أستطيع الآن أن أقول (اعترافات قناع) كان أقرب للعمل المأساوي, شديد التطرّف في بعض جوانبه. ويكشف عن ميشيما بشكل مباشر, اعترافات تشعر أحيانًا أنها خاصّة جدًا وماكان لها أن تظهر, وتشعر أحيان أخرى أنها ساخرة. لكنها بكل الأحوال حقيقية ولا تستطيع أن تهرب منها أو تنكرها. أترك كلام النقّاد على جنب. هذا الكتاب يفتح لك نافذة كبيرة على الانضباط الذاتي, الجوانب المُعتمة في الشخصية.(less)

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Sep 23, 2008 Imogen rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's interesting how much of Mishima's experience being a queermo in the first half of the twentieth century resonates with my experience of being a queermo like eighty years later: the unintentional denial, the mopeyness, the obsession, the self-consciousness, y'know. He put a bunch of stuff into words that I'd never even thought about *trying* to put into words. So yeah, that blew my mind.

Still, it's all mannered and slow and reflective and all the un-viscerally-exciting things you'd (well, I'...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Hend rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, yukio-mishima, asian-literature, memoirs-and-autobiographies, japanese-literature

this novel is unusual ,shocking ,very strange....
i feel sympathy for this tragic protagonist Kochan and all his mixed feelings and struggle against himself,and his own emotions being torned between his desire to be straight and his true feelings...his

fascinations and fantasies of death ,his self confidence that seems nearly in existent because of his naturally weak body ....

his Questionable love to Sonoko ,he being

Jealous from her that she could have such pure and true love that he simply cant...more

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Oct 22, 2009 بثينة العيسى rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

.. لم يخطر ببالي بأن ميشيما يمكن أن يكون مثلياً.

أقول ذلك لأنني كنتُ قد قرأت الرواية الثالثة من رباعية بحر الخصب " معبد الفجر " قبل أن أقرأ " اعترافات قناع"، سيرته التي امتدت منذ فترة الحرب وحتى العشرينات من عمره، والتي تتمسرح أثناء فترة الحرب العالمية الثانية التي خاضتها اليابان.

وفي معبد الفجر، كانت الطريقة التي عالج فيها جسد المرأة، مفعمة بالحسية لدرجة أن المرء لا يمكن أن يخطر له بأن هذا الكاتب .. مثليّ، وهذه نقطة لصالح ميشيما الروائي، القادر أبدا على الانسلاخ عن حقيقته والتخلق داخل أبطاله.

اع...more .. لم يخطر ببالي بأن ميشيما يمكن أن يكون مثلياً.

أقول ذلك لأنني كنتُ قد قرأت الرواية الثالثة من رباعية بحر الخصب " معبد الفجر " قبل أن أقرأ " اعترافات قناع"، سيرته التي امتدت منذ فترة الحرب وحتى العشرينات من عمره، والتي تتمسرح أثناء فترة الحرب العالمية الثانية التي خاضتها اليابان.

وفي معبد الفجر، كانت الطريقة التي عالج فيها جسد المرأة، مفعمة بالحسية لدرجة أن المرء لا يمكن أن يخطر له بأن هذا الكاتب .. مثليّ، وهذه نقطة لصالح ميشيما الروائي، القادر أبدا على الانسلاخ عن حقيقته والتخلق داخل أبطاله.

اعترافات قناع كتاب مخضب بالحس المأساوي المتولد من أوجاع ميشيما المازوشية، والفصامية، بين رغبته بالعادية وبين حقيقته كمثليّ.

.. وقبل أي شيء، يجيء العنوان " اعترافات قناع " ليظلل المشهد برمته ويذكرك بزيف حياة الكاتب التي امتدت طوال عشرين عاماً، وما يربوا عن 250 صفحة من القطع المتوسط.

العبارة التي استوقفتني، هي قوله بأنه يشعر بأن ثمة صراع بين الروح واللحم يغشي حياته، فبينما يحن اللحم إلى العلاقات المثلية، كانت روحه تتمزق في سبيل تأكيد استقامة ميولها، ورغبته الطبيعية بزوجة وحياة .. " عادية!"

أن تطمح بالعادية ويخذلك الواقع .. أعتقد بأن هذه هي الحكاية برمتها، ورغم أنها صيغت بجمل مقتضبة وحذرة، إلا أنني – كقارئ – انتهيت إلى شعورٍ جارف بالمأساة، بفجيعة الذات التي لا تتسق مع عالمها.

قوله عن حزنه " كان بعيداً عن الدرب المطروق للانفعالات الإنسانية "
وقع على رأسي مثل صاعقة.

قراءة " اعترافات قناع " تجربة مؤلمة، ومهمة – أزعمُ – لكي ننسلخ عن أنفسنا قليلاً ونجرب آلام الآخر.

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Dec 10, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: japan

From what I can tell, Yukio Mishima was not a very happy man.

Granted, the only works that I have read of this very prolific author are this and Kinkakuji, but I'm seeing a pattern already, and it doesn't point towards Mishima being a cheerful, laid-back guy. Of course, his suicide by seppuku is also a good indicator that he took things way too seriously.

Published in 1948, Confessions of a Mask addresses a subject that would have been taboo anywhere, not just Japan. The main character, whose name...more

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Mar 10, 2008 Nora Dillonovich rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-the-anglo-weinie-in-me

taking place during decimating war, bombs reddening the night sky, the narrator (whose name is mentioned once, maybe twice, though the book itself is highly autobiographical) relates his history of lust for Ephebe torsos, his non desire for women, the nothingness, the vacancy of much touted/ celebrated desire that erupts upon kissing a woman. Eager to die bravely, beautifully, like the images of fallen young male heroes in his childhood art books, our narrator laments life yet when given the op...more

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Dec 18, 2007 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japan

After reading Donald Richie's journals recently, I decided to delve into my first Mishima - he was one of Richie's close friends up until his bizarre suicide in 1970. I already owned a copy of _Temple of the Golden Pavilion_ but I wanted to start with Mishima's most notable work.

COAM is the semi-autobiographical story of a boy who comes of age in prewar Japan and struggles with his homosexuality in a society where even the simplest deviations are rejected and suppressed. The main character's inn...more

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May 02, 2011 La Stamberga dei Lettori added it · review of another edition

Shelves: tancredi, polyfilo

Il richiamo all'espressività teatrale presente nel titolo rende bene l'atmosfera che pervade il racconto del travaglio attraverso rifiuto/accettazione, vissuto da un adolescente che affronta la propria omosessualità, in un contesto regolato da norme sociali e comportamentali che definire "rigide" sarebbe un enorme eufemismo.

Tutte le emozioni vengono nascoste e compresse sotto la superficie compatta di uno strato di cipria come quello utilizzato nel teatro No, elemento del fortissimo tradizionali...more

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Jul 30, 2008 Heidi Nemo rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was fascinated by the protagonist's early childhood fantasies about a character who turned out to be Joan of Arc...and his disgust when he discovered that she was female. Gender trouble, eh? It's a pretty finely honed description of the grinding pressure between desire and imagination and the social shape of masculinity and class. I dreamed of a glacier grinding rocks to powder beneath it after reading it.

But I do appreciate Mishima for forever and decisively queering Catholic martyrs.

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May 05, 2013 Jaber rated it 3 of 5 stars

إن كنتم قد قرأتم رواية الغريب لألبير كامو فلاشك أنكم ستذكرون السطر الأول الذي بدأ فيه كامو حكايته وغرابته إذ قال : أمي ماتت اليوم. أو ربما، بالأمس: لست أدري " هذه الحيادية الصادمة التي بدأ بها كامو تتكرر هنا على يد الكاتب الياباني يوكيو ميشيما , وعلى خلاف ما ورد على غلاف الرواية فإن الرواية لا تتحدث من قريب أو بعيد عن صعود الفاشية اليابانية التي قادت البلاد إلى الدمار , وإن كانت الأحداث تحصل في وقت صعود الفاشية .
يروي لنا ميشيما قصة فتى لم اعرف اسمه ولا اظن ان اسمه ذكر في الرواية , فتى بمشكلة لا...more إن كنتم قد قرأتم رواية الغريب لألبير كامو فلاشك أنكم ستذكرون السطر الأول الذي بدأ فيه كامو حكايته وغرابته إذ قال : أمي ماتت اليوم. أو ربما، بالأمس: لست أدري " هذه الحيادية الصادمة التي بدأ بها كامو تتكرر هنا على يد الكاتب الياباني يوكيو ميشيما , وعلى خلاف ما ورد على غلاف الرواية فإن الرواية لا تتحدث من قريب أو بعيد عن صعود الفاشية اليابانية التي قادت البلاد إلى الدمار , وإن كانت الأحداث تحصل في وقت صعود الفاشية .
يروي لنا ميشيما قصة فتى لم اعرف اسمه ولا اظن ان اسمه ذكر في الرواية , فتى بمشكلة لا يعاني منها الكثيرون حول العالم وهي أنه لا يشعر بأي إنجذاب إلى الجنس الآخر , وفي ذات الوقت تعجبه وتستهويه أجساد أبناء جنسه , وهو إذ يعيش في هذه المعضلة فإن أحدا من البشر لا يعلم عن هذا الأمر , وهو يبقي سرّه لنفسه محاولا قدر الإمكان وهنا الأمر المثير للحزن وللشفقة ان هذا الفتى يحاول جاهدا أن يبدو طبيعيا , ان يحب فتاة ما , ان ينظر غلى صورة فتاة عارية لكي تثيره , لكن هذا لا يحدث , أو لا يحصل كما يريد , الأمر الذي يعيدني غلى كامو الذي كان قد قال " لا أحد يعلم كم يبذل البعض جهودا جبارة فقط من أجل ان يكونوا أناسا عاديين "
ما معنى أن تكون عاديا ؟ هل العادية ان تكون مشابها للآخرين ؟يالها من تعاسة إذا .
إن كنت من هواة إطلاق الأحكام على البشر فلا أظنني معنيا بنصيحتك , لكن لباقي بني البشر الذي يعرفون أن الإنسان كائن سافل قذر بطبيعته , إلى معشر الخطّائين من البشر أقول ربما تكون هذه الرواية مناسبة لكم لانها تظهر لكم مأساة أن تحاول ان تكون "طبيعيا" دون ان تجد إلى ذلك سبيلا .
الرواية جيدة , مسلية أحيانا , مملة أحيانا , على الرغم من قصرها . (less)

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Apr 17, 2013 Nick Ziegler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Few novels I've read so scream out for Freudian analysis. It's probable the book was written by Mishima in light of his reading of Freud, though he does not allow his intellectual narrator to understand himself in this way. Fittingly, then, the novel cleaves itself into two fairly distinct chunks: the early period of sexual self-discovery and confusion, where the shame that will haunt the narrator throughout the remainder of the novel (it ends when he's about 25) is set; and the rest of his reco...more Few novels I've read so scream out for Freudian analysis. It's probable the book was written by Mishima in light of his reading of Freud, though he does not allow his intellectual narrator to understand himself in this way. Fittingly, then, the novel cleaves itself into two fairly distinct chunks: the early period of sexual self-discovery and confusion, where the shame that will haunt the narrator throughout the remainder of the novel (it ends when he's about 25) is set; and the rest of his recorded life, which largely consists of his attempts to love, if not desire, a woman, and to hide his impulses and the guilt they inspire from others. This is the obvious referent of the titular "mask."

But, the narrator learns early on that his sexuality requires pretense. One of his formative experiences was dressing up like a female magician, until his mother orders a servant (simply by averting her eyes) to put an end to his "outrageous masquerade." This, along with his views of night soil carriers wearing tight pants and sailors and soldiers constituted his earliest stirrings of (what was retrospectively understood as) sexual desire. The narrator believes that his basic constellation of desire and compulsion is set at this early age: "There was not a single thing lacking. In later years I sought in them for the wellsprings of my own feelings and actions, and again not a single thing was lacking."

Soon, the narrator discovers an explicitly sexual dimension to existence, and finds himself "completely in love with any youth who was killed." There seems little greater illustration of Thanatos run amok than his obsession with a fairy tale in which a knight faces seven challenges, dies in each, but due to a magic amulet is resurrected to fight again. The narrator is dissatisfied with the provisional nature of these deaths, and reads them with his hand covering the references to resurrection; the obsessive compulsion to revisit the carnage of death is now a function of his reading and re-reading, not a convenient narrative ploy that undermines his enjoyment. It is not until he discovers his phallus, his "toy," that the gravity of his games become apparent. His first experience of masturbation is provoked by one of Guido Reni's St. Sebastians.

It is very tempting to read this all in relation to Mishima's life, and Japanese history. The dates match up in terms of birth and publication; Mishima was an at-least-sometime homosexual who married and had children (that he married almost ten years after the publication of this uninhibited novel suggests that, perhaps, his sexual urges were not exactly the same as the protagonists); his overbearing grandmother, his sickliness, his dodging of military duty, all these match up. The one thing everyone knows about Mishima is his suicide, and it's tantalizing to connect it with the sexual urge toward violence he gives his protagonist in this novel. His narrator writes of St. Sebastian that his willingness to part with life "was precisely the token of his apartness from all the ordinary men of earth." We imagine Mishima felt something like this as he cut his belly open in 1970.

We also might be provoked by wondering what connection Mishima hopes to establish between the sexuality of his protagonist and the militarism of the decades the book covers. The protagonist's glorification of male ephebes in death throes might stand as a critical metaphor of Japanese war fever, except that the whole point of the novel rests on the fact that no one else shares such fantasies. The war does function, however, to contribute to the misery of the narrator; for all his love of death and his desire for his own life to cease, the war ought to be a godsend. But instead he proves too cowardly to put himself in harm's way. His guilt is multiplied, for he can neither reveal his "true self" nor escape his agonizing predicament in a way faithful to his "true self." The drive for life wins out, perhaps due to the narrator's frequently-noted arrogance and curiosity.

The rest of the novel is effectively an experiment in what would happen were sexual repression actually possible, and complete. It is probably true that, even today, there are homosexuals who live lives of repression, who go many decades without knowing another gay person, having sex, or admitting their sexuality to anyone. The narrator is not merely a homosexual, however; he gets his jollies from imagining the bloody deaths of young men. And the novel in form stays true to its theme of repression, in that this is a novel obsessed with sex that contains no sex. Burdened with a desire that is impossible to consummate (barring a willingness to murder), and ashamed of his fantasies being known, the narrator suffers from a naivete that he can love without desire, believing that a prurient gaze toward a young man and a gaze of intended affection toward a woman could coexist "without bothering each other, without any conflict." The difficulty of reconciling this desire to live an outwardly normal social-sexual life and the inadmissibility of his sexual urges is the drama of a good chunk of the book.

There is much that can be said about the attempt to love Sonoko, and about the way the novel evokes wartime and immediate post-war Japan. But I will stop here.(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Hassan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

رواية يابانية!
أن أقرأ لأديب ياباني كان ذلك بعيدا عن تفكيري جدا،ولكن بدأ الموضع بأن وجدت صديقا استعارها من أحد من اعتبرهم أستاذة لي قائلا أنها أفضل عمل أدبي تناول المثلية الجنسية في التاريخ،وكوني طبيبا نفسيا هماما أثارهذا اهتمامي بشدة أن أكتشف هذا العالم بعيون أديب, اشتريتها بالصدفة من معرض كتاب قديم "نسخة دار الهلال وسأحاول أن أضيفها في أقرب فرصة"لكن لم أستطع قراءتها مستثقلا للبدء حتى كان أحد استدعائاتي للجيش!وكانت الصحراء التي جعلتني أتحمل كوابيس كافكا" يوجد تشابه ما بين الكاتبين بالمناسبة" هي...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Chin Jian xiong rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

There's a certain something about the Japanese aesthetic sense that gives their writing a kind of demure beauty about it. It manifests itself in prose, where the descriptions and images are vivid yet lack the overblown verbosity of the much dreaded 'purple prose'. To craft a portrait of beauty takes skill. To craft a portrait of beauty about a Japanese homosexual that is sexually attracted to images of young boys being cut open takes mad, insane skillz.

To those sickos expecting American Psycho s...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, japan-fic-lit

This is a first person fictional narrative describing the development of the sexual identity and personality of Kochan, a homosexual male. It was written at a time when such an orientation was secret, and when open was reviled. It was written in Japan where even today revealing personal information of much less import is still off limits.

The first part is mostly interior, dealing the narrator's childhood and his pre-sexual observations. He is fascinated with the night-soil man, with art work dea...more

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Mar 09, 2012 ميّ أحمد rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: سير-ذاتية

كان هذا الكتاب هو بوابة الدخول إلى عالم هذا الكاتب الجميل ميشيما وبعدها حرصت كل الحرص على أن اشتري كل ما ترجم له للعربية قرأت هذا الكتاب بدهشة كبيرة رافقتني حتى النهاية في الكتاب سيرة الكاتب في الفترة التي سبقت الحرب العالمية الثانية ثم فترة الحرب، وأخيرا الهزيمة التي لحقت باليابان طفولته والأمور الغريبة التي رافقتها نتيجة لأفكاره الشاذة وكيف عاش حياة معقدة و متشابكة و كان مليئا بالتناقضات يعشق استعراض أفكاره الغريبة ويشعر بالسرور والرضى ولربما من يقرأ قصة انتحاره يرى كيف جاءت بالطريقة التي تعبر...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Mohamed Sabry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: نسخة-ورقية, أدب-روايات

أول تعرف ليا على الأدب الياباني

مقدمة الكتاب تحفة - الكاتب قوي جدا في التشبيهات والتراكيب اللغوية - وأظن ان المترجم اتعذب عشان يطلع الترجمة بالابداع ده

الكاتب شاذ فكريا - لكن تحليله لنفسه عميق جدا جدا - طول عمره كان بيحلم انه يموت في الحرب أو منتحر بطريقة الساموراي
وحقق حلمه لما وصل لقمة ابداعه الأدبي - وانتحر بالطريقة اللي كان عايزها فعلا

الكاتب فاكر تفاصيل غريبة جدا عن طفولته - بشكل غير عادي
مع ذلك - الكتاب مش عاجبني أوي بعض الحاجات فيه- ومنصحش بقرايته الا لواحد بيدرس أدب - غير كدا مش هيفيد كت...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Aletsito rated it 4 of 5 stars

Este libro fue la primera novela de Mishima y, considerando el contexto histórico en el que se publicó, creo que es muy audaz. No obstante, Los Colores Prohibidos es un libro todavía más audaz en el que Mishima presenta la homosexualidad de manera mas explícita y profunda. Creo, de hecho, que los dos libros están conectados por la estética tan corpórea de Mishima, por el fatalismo d'après guerre japonés y por la exploración del tema de la homosexualidad y la búsqueda de la identidad y la compren...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Tancredi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: preferiti, giapponesi

"Sentivo l’urgenza di cominciare a vivere. Cominciare a vivere la mia vera vita? Quand’anche dovesse essere una mascherata pura e semplice e niente affatto la mia vita, era venuto ugualmente il momento in cui bisognava ch’io mi mettessi in cammino, che trascinassi i miei torbidi piedi."

Parlare di Confessioni di una maschera non è affatto semplice, per la difficoltà a distinguere il Mishima autore dal Mishima personaggio, il romanzo dall'autobiografia.

Provare a leggere questo romanzo per quello...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Andrea De Pace rated it 1 of 5 stars

Confessions of a mask is an autobiography in which the main character tells about his adolescence and youth until the age of 22.

The novel is centered on main character’s thoughts and doubts about his sexual orientation and desires; only in the background there can be found descriptions of his daily life, of his relatives’ life style and of the World War II.

On one side, the positive aspect of the novel is a kind of honesty in telling all the vicious loops in which the main character’s mind turns...more

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Sep 04, 2010 Sarah Magdalene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an important novel to read if you really want to understand Mishima. Brilliantly written of course. That goes without saying. But it's not nearly as much fun as Forbidden Colours.

It's pretty obviously heavily autobiographical, as most first novels are, dealing with the periods of childhood and adolescence. And as is usual for Mishima, dealing for the most part with sexual and emotional matters. It is all about his bizarre and violent fantasies revolving around the heroic death of muscula...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Ismael Galvan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Confessions of a Mask is Yukio Mishima’s second novel which is thought to be heavily biographical and gained him recognition as brilliant young writer. The story centers on Kochan, a boy growing up in Imperial Japan during WWII. From a young age he realizes he is a homosexual yet forces himself to pass as a heterosexual in the Right-wing militaristic society. Kochan has a perverse fascination with death. From a young age he fantasizes about how he will die. As he becomes a young adult these fant...more Confessions of a Mask is Yukio Mishima’s second novel which is thought to be heavily biographical and gained him recognition as brilliant young writer. The story centers on Kochan, a boy growing up in Imperial Japan during WWII. From a young age he realizes he is a homosexual yet forces himself to pass as a heterosexual in the Right-wing militaristic society. Kochan has a perverse fascination with death. From a young age he fantasizes about how he will die. As he becomes a young adult these fantasies take on a darkly erotic tone that interweaves death and sexuality. The struggle of fighting his true nature results in a deeply agitated state of mind which Mishima conveys masterfully. The majority of the story plays out in the backdrop of Japan’s final years before the atomic bombs lead to the unconditional surrender.

This is a heavily psychological book that is concerned with death, eroticism, polite society, emotional secretiveness, and inner conflict. The story is told as a thoroughly written confession in the form of a long letter. The strong emphasis on isolation and use of interior monologue reminded me of J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Mishima’s exploration of human sexuality and isolation is tuned at a fever pitch that many writers have never reached in their works. There are a few memorable statements about the absurdity of war, yet I would not say there is an anti-war theme. The anxiety of war is presented clearly in lives of all the characters involved.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in books that push the limits of literature and societal norms. This book is definitely not an easy going read. It is a disturbing novel that will agitate even seasoned readers. Mishima’s use of language is impressive. Each word is carefully selected to create a written style that is direct, profound, and confronts the reader unwaveringly. This is the fifth book I’ve read from Mishima and I have yet to read anything that hasn’t left a lasting imprint in my mind. I would go as far to say that a person could choose any of Mishima’s works, blind folded, with perfect confidence of selecting a literary treasure.
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Aug 12, 2011 Darknessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult

كان واحداً من أكثر الكتب التي شعرت معها بغرابة، وكأني دخيلة أختلس النظر إلى مشهد محرم. أثار الكتاب اهتمامي منذ أولى صفحاته، كان أسلوب الرواية مختلفاً عما أعتدته، والشخصية الرئيسية ليست فارساً بدرعٍ أسود. كانت قمة الأحداث وذروتها بالنسبة لي عندما اكتشف البطل واكتشفنا نحن القراء حقيقة ميوله أمام التمثال الرخامي الأبيض. على الرغم من مرور سنين عديدة منذ قرأته، إلا أن ذلك المشهد بالذات لا يزال ماثلاُ بعقلي حياً، جميلاً، ومثيراً للقرف. أبدع يوكيو ميشيما في هذا الكتاب مصوراً عالماً لم يجرؤ أحدٌ قبله عل...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Zeborah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, lgbt-authors, poc-authors

Follows the protag's developing awareness of his sexuality from age 4 (the first spark of pre-sexual recognition of something he wants) though to young adulthood (where after much confusion and denial he seems to understand his desires). Torn between his homosexual nature and the intensely heteronormative society he lives in; between his sexual desire for young men and what I think is not entirely a societally manufactured desire for a platonic relationship with a particular young woman.

The pros...more

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Mar 09, 2012 B0nnie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book can be a doorway into another human heart - that is the power of reading. The price of entry however is sometimes high - what we find can be so disturbing that we question if we really want to go there, even for a visit.

Confessions of a Mask takes us to some dark places.

We all have masks, of course. Living without any form of protection would be living with an open skin. But our masks are usually light, easily taken off or exchanged as need be.

This mask is made of stone.

The title see...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Chiara Pagliochini rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letteratura-giapponese

« Quali sentimenti proverei se fossi un altro ragazzo? Quali sentimenti proverei se fossi una persona normale? Fui ossessionato da queste domande. Mi torturarono, distruggendo istantaneamente e radicalmente persino quell’unico frammento di felicità che avevo creduto di possedere per certo.
A lungo andare la “recita” è diventata una parte integrante della mia natura, riconobbi fra me. Non è più una recita. La consapevolezza con cui continuo a camuffarmi da individuo normale ha corroso addirittura...more « Quali sentimenti proverei se fossi un altro ragazzo? Quali sentimenti proverei se fossi una persona normale? Fui ossessionato da queste domande. Mi torturarono, distruggendo istantaneamente e radicalmente persino quell’unico frammento di felicità che avevo creduto di possedere per certo.
A lungo andare la “recita” è diventata una parte integrante della mia natura, riconobbi fra me. Non è più una recita. La consapevolezza con cui continuo a camuffarmi da individuo normale ha corroso addirittura quel minimo di normalità che magari possedevo in origine, e ha finito così col farmi dire e ridire a me stesso che anche questa era una semplice parvenza di normalità. In altre parole, sto diventando una di quelle persone incapaci di credere a nulla che non sia contraffatto. »

Se ho appiccicato lassù una citazione più lunga del solito (guardatela, come vi fissa insolente e smorfiosa), è perché penso che quei due capoversi siano il presupposto per capire che questo romanzo – pur nella assoluta specificità del suo tema, di cui poi vi dirò – parla a tutti e di tutti noi. O almeno parla a quella parte di noi che una volta nella vita s’è sentita a disagio, fuoriposto, diversa, incapace di accettarsi. A quella parte di noi che ha sempre strillato un’esigenza di “essere normale”, “essere come tutti gli altri”, “essere come quello/quella là”. Io credo che sia capitato un po’ a tutti. O forse solo a me capita così spesso.
Si può essere diversi – ma soprattutto sentirsi diversi – per tante ragioni. E non starò a elencarle, sapete ben voi quel che vi intristisce o vi ossessiona. Un motivo per odiarsi si trova sempre. Guardando gli altri si pensa, « non mi accetteranno mai per come sono », e allora si costruiscono impalcature fittizie, ci si ingabbia in un ruolo, si prendono posizioni sulla base di un semplice conformismo al gusto comune. Si ha il terrore che la spontaneità ci sia di danno, che altri ne ridano o addirittura ne abbiano spavento. Potrebbe anche non essere così, ma l’eventualità di un insuccesso ci attanaglia. Preferiamo non rischiare.

“Confessioni di una maschera” parla di questo. Parla della paura di mostrarsi come si è davvero. E come sei davvero diventa tanto più preoccupante e difficile da sopportare se non sei che un ragazzo, un bambino che si affaccia alla vita nell’atmosfera di militarismo e ostentazione di virilità che caratterizzava il Giappone prima e durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Un bambino e un ragazzo che scoprono di non essere sensualmente attratti né dalle bambine né dalle ragazze, da donne né belle né brutte; un bambino e un ragazzo che, nel chiuso della loro stanza, si eccitano pensando a corpi di uomini vigorosi, di giovani efebi brutalmente martirizzati; un bambino e un ragazzo i cui appetiti sono risvegliati da spargimenti di sangue ed ebbrezze di eroismi.
Il protagonista di questo romanzo, che è anche la voce narrante, mal si adatta alle etichette con cui vorremmo bollarlo. “Omosessuale” ci sembra inefficace. Si attribuisce, a tratti, caratteristiche degli “invertiti” e dei “pederasti”. Trova precedenti nel marchese De Sade e consolazione in Marcel Proust. Studia il proprio caso nei volumi medici. Ma neanche lui sa compiutamente categorizzarsi e definirsi. L’unica cosa che davvero conosce di sé sono i propri istinti. Tutto il resto è invenzione.
Custodire un segreto che si avverte nell’intimo così terribile ci fa sentire vulnerabili in ogni nostra parte. Per nascondere quell’unica punta di segreto, che non coincide per intero con la nostra identità, costruiamo spesso una maschera molto più estesa di quel semplice punto. Si copre per prima la parte incriminata, tirandoci davanti un muro. Poi, invece di fermarsi, si prosegue con le pareti vicine, ci si aggiunge una torretta e magari anche un ponte levatoio. Ed ecco che siamo all’interno, invisibili, irraggiungibili. Il visitatore che si affaccia alla strada non riesce a immaginare il nostro viso. Il risultato che cercavamo è raggiunto, perfetto: nessuno scoprirà mai il nostro segreto. E nessuno scoprirà mai altro di noi, anche quelle parti che magari ci piacevano. E non saremo mai felici.

“Confessioni di una maschera” è una storia di rara e compiuta tristezza, perché è la fotografia di un fallimento. Il fallimento dell’individuo nel suo compito di vivere e cercare la felicità, l’unico compito assegnato a tutti imparzialmente.
Certo, ci sarebbe tanto altro da dire. Ci si potrebbe interrogare sul concetto di normalità. Chi stabilisce cosa è normale e cosa non lo è? Molto spesso siamo noi e non siamo neanche in grado di giudicare. Molto spesso giudichiamo che cosa è normale e cosa non lo è in uno stato di ignoranza e di cecità, solo perché ci sembra che gli altri siano migliori di noi, siano più azzeccati. Non è detto che sia vero, non è detto che sia così.
E ci si potrebbe poi porre l’insoluto quesito, « fin dove si estende la mia felicità? Fino a che punto ho diritto di perseguirla? Quand’è che la mia felicità diventa un limite e un pericolo per la felicità di un altro? ». Nel caso del nostro romanzo abbiamo tutto il diritto di dire, « si ecciti pure vedendo quel che vuole. La sua identità sessuale sia più libera che può. Per noi non è di ostacolo né di danno ». Noi uomini del ventunesimo secolo la pensiamo così – o almeno dovremmo pensarla così. Ma non pensiamo lo stesso nel caso di un pedofilo che sia sessualmente attratto da bambini. E pare assolutamente inconcepibile porsi un quesito simile. Ma pure dobbiamo porcelo, perché uno degli obiettivi del romanzo credo sia questo: mostrarci che la felicità non è la stessa per tutti. E forse interrogarsi, fermarsi un attimo è giusto. Che si abbia il pudore di essere felici, quando la forma della nostra felicità è così straordinaria, è giusto. Non possiamo essere felici a discapito di tutti gli altri.
L’importante – e questo è il motivo per cui il romanzo è così triste – è che ci si senta meritevoli di una qualche felicità.
« Certo, riflettei, non meritiamo neanche un briciolo di felicità. O forse avevamo preso la brutta abitudine di ritenere un grosso favore anche un briciolo di felicità, che avremmo dovuto ripagare ». Evitiamo, per favore, di calarci maschere quando non ce n’è bisogno, quando le nostre felicità e i nostri segreti sono così innocui. E lo dico specialmente per me.
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Jun 04, 2012 ايمان rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

اول لقاء لي بالأدب الياباني و الأسيوي عموما بالتالي أول رواية أقرأها ليوكيو ميشيما ...كل ما عرفته على هذا الكاتب أنه انتحر بطريقة رومنطقية و لأني لا أحب المنتحرين لم أرغب قي قراءة المزيد عنه...و بالصدفة أقرأ له اعترافات قناع و هي سيرة ذاتية للكاتب منذ ولادته لفترة الشباب اي بعد نهاية الحرب العالمية الثانية بقليل سيرة بداها بأول رؤية له للشمس لتستمر السيرة في ضباب كثيف من نقد ذاته و محاولة فهم المحيط حوله و ايجاد مكان له وسط كل هذا الرواية جدل بين يوكيو و رغباته الجسدية و رغبة مستمية في العنف تجل...more اول لقاء لي بالأدب الياباني و الأسيوي عموما بالتالي أول رواية أقرأها ليوكيو ميشيما ...كل ما عرفته على هذا الكاتب أنه انتحر بطريقة رومنطقية و لأني لا أحب المنتحرين لم أرغب قي قراءة المزيد عنه...و بالصدفة أقرأ له اعترافات قناع و هي سيرة ذاتية للكاتب منذ ولادته لفترة الشباب اي بعد نهاية الحرب العالمية الثانية بقليل سيرة بداها بأول رؤية له للشمس لتستمر السيرة في ضباب كثيف من نقد ذاته و محاولة فهم المحيط حوله و ايجاد مكان له وسط كل هذا الرواية جدل بين يوكيو و رغباته الجسدية و رغبة مستمية في العنف تجلت في صور و احلام لم تبرح مخيل الكاتب لا اعرف لما تذكرت رواية غرسيا ماركيز وقائع موت معلن ربما لأن السيرة تذكر بوضوح غريب أن مآل ميشيما الموت عاجلا وسيتولى الأمر بنفسه ..ربما الكاتب أراد اسقاط ما بكتابة هذه السيرة ربما اراد نقد اليابان المعاصرة من خلال ذاته الضعيفة و الواهنة التي تعرضت لظغوط كثيرة ففضل البقاء خلف قناع على أن يفضح ضعفه و رغبته الشاذة...
على العموم أكره المنتحرين و أكره من يرتبط بالموت بشكل رومانسي فالموت ليس فيه أي شيء رومانسي فهو نهاية لابد منها و علينا أن نقبلها في حينها بالتالي سأمنح ثلاث نجمات للأسلوب وطريقة السرد و الصور الشعرية في النص و لا أظن أني سأعود لميشيما قريبا
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Jul 26, 2010 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

I came across Mishima through seeing a TV programme about him. The biographical documentary ended with his very public ritual Japanese suicide following his attempt to organise a rather bizarre coup in Japan in 1970.

The suicide by seppuku which involved his self-evisceration with a samurai sword followed by one of his devotees beheading him, struck me as so incredibly violent I wanted to try and understand what motivated him.

I think The Stranglers song 'Death and Night and Blood' is about him to...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Chaitra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: set-in-japan, set-in-1940s, japanese-literature, child-or-teenage-protagonist, literary-fiction, read-in-2012

Unsatisfied by this. It was probably the wrong book to start Mishima with. The whiny central character talks about a mask he's been wearing ever since he can remember. Yet, he does nothing fruitful whatsoever, except for wishing that he was dead. Does he even try to find others like himself? He's 21 in 1945 in Japan, I cannot think that men preferring men were totally unheard of at that point. I could handle his guilt, his shame. What I couldn't handle was his douchiness (it should be word, if i...more Unsatisfied by this. It was probably the wrong book to start Mishima with. The whiny central character talks about a mask he's been wearing ever since he can remember. Yet, he does nothing fruitful whatsoever, except for wishing that he was dead. Does he even try to find others like himself? He's 21 in 1945 in Japan, I cannot think that men preferring men were totally unheard of at that point. I could handle his guilt, his shame. What I couldn't handle was his douchiness (it should be word, if it's not). At one point he convinces himself he's in love with an innocent girl of 18. He then jilts her because obviously he doesn't care for her sexually. Also, because he never thought that he might actually have to marry the girl, he was hoping a bomb would fall on him before that. Doesn't happen and the girl goes on to marry someone else. Then he suddenly thinks he might actually be in love with her again? After she's married he continues to meet her, respectably, supposedly. When she asks why they didn't marry, he has nothing to say to her except that hey, I was too young and you married while I was hesitating.

I'm aware that being sexually different can be crippling, but this guy was a wanker. What pissed me off is that he continually thinks of life an experiment. One he can escape because he may die. Then he's surprised that he's not dead and he has to face consequences, and there's some other convenient out for him. The title is right, in a way, I never really got the feeling that I was reading about something genuine, that there was something to the guy I was reading about. I'm wondering if Mishima did a big disfavor to the gay community, I can't think that anyone might want to identify with this guy. He's morally skewed, he even admits it. He loves (it's all very poetic) young men from afar, his favorite twisted fantasy is of a naked man in the throes of bloody death. Is that not all the clichés of homosexuality come true?

I recognize the craft, and the language. I just wish it was something better than this story of a mask.(less)

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Dec 10, 2012 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yukio Mishima's semi-autobiographical story, which came out in Japan in the late nineteen forties, follows the narrator through his childhood and early twenties as he comes to the realization that his sexual orientation is not like that of the other boys around him - women have no sexual interest for him, but he is tormented by fantasies of young men, said fantasies having a distinctly S&M flavor to them. Nonetheless he plays the part of a normal male of his age, even going so far as to cour...more

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About Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima, a Japanese author, poet and playwright, famous for both his highly notable post-war writings and the circumstances of his ritual suicide by seppuku.

Mishima wrote 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays, one libretto, as well as one film. A large portion of this oeuvre comprises books written quickly for profit, but even if these are disregard...more

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Quotes from Confessions of a Mask

“What I wanted was to die among strangers, untroubled, beneath a cloudless sky. And yet my desire differed from the sentiments of that ancient Greek who wanted to die under the brilliant sun. What I wanted was some natural, spontaneous suicide. I wanted a death like that of a fox, not yet well versed in cunning, that walks carelessly along a mountain path and is shot by a hunter because of its own stupidity…” — 31 people liked it

“I do not mean to say that I viewed those desires of mine that deviated from accepted standards as normal and orthodox; nor do I mean that I labored under the mistaken impression that my friends possessed the same desires. Surprisingly enough, I was so engrossed in tales of romance that I devoted all my elegant dreams to thoughts of love between man and maid, and to marriage, exactly as though I were a young girl who knew nothing of the world. I tossed my love for Omi onto the rubbish heap of neglected riddles, never once searching deeply for its meaning. Now when I write the word love, when I write affection, my meaning is totally different from my understanding of the words at that time. I never even dreamed that such desires as I had felt toward Omi might have a significant connection with the realities of my "life.” — 9 people liked it

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