ABSTRACT
Taiyo¯ to tetsu was originally serialized in six parts in the review Hihyo¯ [Critique] between 1965 and 1968. Released in book form that year by Shincho¯sha, Mishima’s long-time publisher, the text was translated into English by John Bester in 1970, and has become well known outside of Japan. It has been relied upon as an important conceptual source for numerous putatively biographical productions in English, from Paul Schrader’s film Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters to John Nathan’s widely read Mishima: A Biography. The Japanese text consists of a single, undivided essay of approximately 100 pages, appended with an epilogue F104, and has been primarily treated as a coherent and revealing “autobiographical” essay.
