THE MASK AVATARS IN THE WORKS OF MISHIMA YUKIO AND ROLE PLAYED BY THE SUBJECT-OBJECT RELATION
THE MASK AVATARS IN THE WORKS OF MISHIMA YUKIO AND ROLE PLAYED BY THE SUBJECT-OBJECT RELATION

Summary/Abstract: The Mask Avatars in the Works of Mishima Yukio and Role Played by the Subject-Object Relation. In understanding the autobiographical aspects present in the works of Mishima, addressing the Subject-Object relation is essential – a relation implicitly suggested and justified by the term mask used in the title Confessions of a Mask. The present paper shall try to analyse the variations of the functioning mechanism of this relation in Confessions of a Mask (Kamen no kokuhaku/ 仮面の告白, 1949), The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji/ 金閣寺, 1956) and The Sea of Fertility (Hōjō no Umi/ 豊饒の海, 1965-1970). Moreover, with respect to the dialectics of the Subject-Object relation, we shall identify the mask avatars that, on an epic level, produce a real hallucinating effect, by hiding and, at the same time, revealing the intentions of the hero and/or of the author. The face, the appearance and the make-up as avatars of the hero’s mask are also expressions of the narrator’s identity, thus creating the illusion that, in Confessions of a Mask, we are not faced with the referentiality of language in the name of which the textual world is constructed, but the inner reality of the author himself. The narrator fades behind the mask in order to create the effect of reality: the illusion of the presence of the Author. A true master of the mask, Mishima Yukio gives the readers the illusion that they are facing the author himself, when, in fact, they are merely taking part in a cleverly staged game.

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