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Confessions of a Mask

Also Known As Kamen no Kokuhaku
Realist and Literary Fiction

Confessions of a Mask is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima, first published on 5 July 1949 by Kawade Shobo, a work that launched him to national fame while he was still in his early twenties. Written in the first-person narrative mode and divided into four long chapters, some have posited that Mishima's similarities to the novel's main character come from the character acting as a stand-in for Mishima's own autobiographical story; the book's epigraph is a lengthy quote from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and it was translated into English by Meredith Weatherby for New Directions in 1958. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Classification
Audience
General 1
Original Language
Japanese 1
Composed, From (Year)
1949 1
FAQs

Why is the novel called Confessions of a Mask?

It names the false personality the narrator Kochan builds to present himself to the world.

The word mask comes from how the narrator, Kochan, develops a false personality that he uses to present himself to the world. As a boy he comes to believe that everybody around him is also hiding their true feelings from each other, in what he sees as a reluctant masquerade. Kochan is the diminutive of the author's real name, Kimitake, and the novel is described as semi-autobiographical, since multiple subjects in it reflect Yukio Mishima's real life.
Connections

Authored By

Yukio Mishima, Authors
Source Confessions of a Mask (Wikipedia)

In Genre

The Novel, Genres
Source Confessions of a Mask (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Source Confessions of a Mask (Wikipedia)tier 2
Sources
1. Confessions of a Mask (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Confessions of a Mask...is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima.
  • Lead
    is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima.
  • Lead paragraph
    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, 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 for Mishima's own autobiographical story.
  • Authored By: Yukio Mishima, Lead section, authorship
    Confessions of a Mask...is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima.
  • In Genre: The Novel, Lead section, novel genre
    is the second novel by Japanese author Yukio Mishima
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