Yukio Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University's School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, The Sea of Fertility tetralogy-which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)-is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of 45 and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)-a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.
"Perfect beauty. . . . A classic of Japanese literature."
-Chicago Sun-Times
"Mishima was one of literature's great romantics, a tragedian with
a heroic sensibility, an intellectual, an esthete, a man steeped in
Western letters who toward the end of his life became a militant
Japanese nationalist."
-Jay McInerney, The New York Times
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