Ceremonial Mask & More

Reviews

I needed it for a college class, but didn't want to pay 15 bucks for a new copy. I got it for 7something including the shipping and it was in great condition. there was a funny red like across the bottom but its not that obstructs the reading. I could probably resell it, its still in good condition, but I liked it so it's a keeper.

What an intense, impassioned narration of this particular man's sexual awakening. The sadomasochist fantasies/feelings that accompany the narrator's sexuality are disturbing, yes - but at the same time, the narrator is so honest, so totally frank with the reader about everything he's experiencing, from his young boyhood to manhood, that I developed a respect for him I would never have thought, on first reading, that I'd have. At the same time, I was filled with compassion for the narrator because he's suffering so acutely -concealing his true self within himself; setting up mental walls... The narrator never asks for pity, but my heart is moved by what he's doing to himself. This is a riveting novel. The juxtaposition of the narrator's outward "normal" life and the ferocity of his "inner", emotional/sexual feelings, is just brilliant - unnerving, but brilliant.

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 is only given as Kochan, is a young man dealing with the fact that he is homosexual. He begins with one of his earliest memories, seeing a night-soil man and finding him beautiful, which he believes is what set his preferences for life. As he gets older, he doesn't yet realize that he's different from other boys, except in that he's small and thin and gets sick a lot more often. He finds himself entranced by men, especially laborers, and not knowing if this is what he's supposed to be feeling. His sexual maturity is a sad and stunted thing. The pleasure and rapture that he sees in paintings of St. Sebastian hide dark urges of violence and despair. His boyhood love of a classmate is a secret that gnaws at him until he finally convinces himself that he was never actually in love at all. And his attempts to become "normal" end with nothing by emptiness and sorrow. Kochan has no friends to talk to, no family to lean on, and no way to know if what he's feeling is good or bad. All he knows is that the other boys are fascinated by women, and he's fascinated by other boys. In darkness and isolation, Kochan grows. What he grows into, however, is a pale, lonely and barren man. Like many gay kids, especially in the pre-internet era, Kochan believes that he is unique. An aberration, a deviation from the norm. As far as he knows, no other boy has felt the way he did, and the only other one he hears of - Oscar Wilde - is long dead. His desire to fit in with the rest of the world leads him to play an elaborate game, to wear a mask so convincing that it nearly convinces himself. Being able to hide who he really is and what he really wants becomes a matter of hiding from himself. And as anyone who's tried that will know, hiding from yourself only works for so long.... Such is the life of a young gay man in wartime Japan. While I'm sure what Mishima has presented here is not the average, it is a depressing picture of what it's like to live in a society where such a deviation from the norm is punishable by societal exile. While I can't claim to know what would have happened to a young man in that era who came out of the closet, the narrator doesn't even seem to consider that as an option, good or bad. Thus I can only assume that the consequences would be dire. There's no doubt that this book is at least semi-autobiographical. A look at

This book is really not lacking very much. Perhaps some other reviewers came into it with high expectations for some sort of pinnacle of Japanese literature, but I only wanted a story and the story that was delivered was overwhelmingly engaging. As a story of obsession and tragedies of the heart it is certainly comparable to Nabokov. I am not a fan of stories that are just depressing or a mountain of uncomfortable drudgery, but Mishima keeps you out of that pit with his tell-all intellectual writing style, simultaneously mocking all the follies of human existence and pitying himself for being so analytical. The story has its rough edges but you really feel that he focuses on all the right details and nothing is left out, which is the hallmark of a superior writer. This is absolutely a great gift for a gay friend. I am not gay but I felt a very close sympathy for the main character's predicament. It seems to be a thin veil over Mishima's own experience, and perhaps the story is semi-autobiographical. The translation is pretty good and the Japanese experience shines through, although the setting of the story definitely lends a hand to that.

Different cultures deal with homosexuality in different ways. Mishima's sadomasochistic homosexuality asserted itself early. While still a tiny child, he responded instantly to certain kinds of masculine beauty and found a mysterious fascination in images and narratives of heroic men being tortured and, ideally, killed. The supreme example was a picture of the martyred St. Sebastian, bound and riddled with arrows, which the child Mishima experienced as the world's heaviest turn-on. Naive as he was, the young author still knew somehow that his interests were unusual and disgraceful, so he kept them secret--thus he created the metaphorical "mask" to hide his true feelings. The story of his early inner life, with its crushes and fantasies, takes up the first half or so of the book and is fascinating. But then, during young manhood, Mishima tries to become "normal" and fall in love with a girl. Though he likes her very much, he isn't attracted to her physically. The story of this doomed relationship takes up the second half of the book. Being more or less devoid of incident, and (obviously) lacking in erotic passion, it's tedious and difficult to read. Confessions of a Mask ends disappointingly but the earlier section of the book gives a candid, moving, and memorable account of a child's confused and troubled emerging sexuality as it deals with the cultural norms of a repressive country. If you are interested in Japanese culture and homosexuality I would strongly recommend Covering by Kemji Yoshimo.

Reviews

For travelers who have visited the beautiful exotic destination of Thailand and have viewed Thai dancers or purchased a miniature doll or mask, this book will put a story on your new souvenir that will even make historians envious. For the art history student specializing in Southeast Asian Art, this book will make you want to visit Thailand even more. It may even make a mask collector out of you. Excellent book on without a doubt a rare topic for the West.

Reviews

not what i ecpected , its like a musuem index with black and white photos, some intersting masks, not inspiring as the cover.

fairly high amount of illustrations not much on the substance of the masks which would be difficult because of the great number of masks illustrated