Confessions of a Mask

Confessions of a Mask
First edition (Japanese)
AuthorYukio Mishima
Original titleKamen no Kokuhaku (假面の告白)
TranslatorMeredith Weatherby
LanguageJapanese
PublisherKawade Shobō (Japan)
New Directions (US Eng. trans)
Publication date
5 July 1949
Publication placeJapan
Published in English
1958
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages254 p.
ISBN0-8112-0118-X
OCLC759934

Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白, Kamen no Kokuhaku) is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima. First published on 5 July 1949 by Kawade Shobō,[1][2] it launched him to national fame though he was only in his early twenties.[3] Some have posited that Mishima's similarities to the main character of the novel come from the character acting as a stand-in 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 by Dostoevsky ("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.[4]

  1. ^ 佐藤秀明; 井上隆史; 山中剛史 (August 2005). 決定版 三島由紀夫全集42巻 年譜・書誌. Shinchosha. pp. 391–393. ISBN 978-4-10-642582-0.
  2. ^ 佐藤秀明; 井上隆史; 山中剛史 (August 2005). 決定版 三島由紀夫全集42巻 年譜・書誌. Shinchosha. pp. 540–561. ISBN 978-4-10-642582-0.
  3. ^ "Confessions of a Mask". Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. Archived from the original on 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  4. ^ Petersen, Gwenn Boardman (1979). The Moon in the Water: Understanding Tanizaki, Kawabata, & Mishima. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. p. 319. ISBN 0824805208.