ABSTRACT
More has been written in English on Mishima Yukio than on any other modern Japanese writer. The number of his major novels, plays, and critical writings translated into English exceeds those translated of any other Japanese literary figure, including his mentor, the Nobel laureate for literature, Kawabata Yasunari, and Natsume Sōseki, the novelist whose image graces Japan’s most widely circulating denomination of paper currency. Mishima Yukio’s fame abroad owes something to his tireless self-promotion. He was also well received by those seeking to understand Japan when he spoke forcefully in English about Japanese culture. However, it was his spectacular suicide on November 25, 1970, that gave his name instant international notoriety.
