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The story of one mans obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally passionate search for enlightenment, THE TEMPLE OF DAWN powerfully dramatises the Japanese experience form the eve of World War II through the postwar era. Honda, a brilliant lawyer and man of reason, is called to Bangkok on legal business, where he is granted an audience with a young Thai princess - an encounter that radically alters the course of his life. In spite of all reason, he is convinced she is a reincarnated spirit, and undertakes a long, arduous pilgrimage to the holy places of India, where, in the climatic scene, he encounters her once more, only to have his newfound beliefs shattered and his life bereft of all meaning.
Author ProfileYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless short stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he acted. Several films have been made from his novels, including
The Sound of Waves; Enjo, which was based on T
he Temple of the Golden Pavilion; and
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels
Confessions of a Mask and
Thirst For Love and the short-story collections
Death in Midsummer and
Acts of Worship.
The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of
The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On November 25th, 1970, the day he completed
The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed
seppuku (ritual suicide) at the age of 45.
ReviewsSurpassingly chilling, subtle, and original
