The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Yukio Mishima
- First Published: 1956
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: Mid-twentieth century
- Setting: Kyoto, Japan
- Principal Characters: Mizoguchi, Tsurukawa, Kashiwagi, Father Dosen
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Maturation or coming of age, 1940’s, Alienation, Friendship, Beauty, War, Death or dying, Japan or Japanese people, Monasteries, monks, or monasticism, Temples, Zen Buddhism
- Locales: Kyoto, Japan
The Story:
The son of a Zen Buddhist monk, Mizoguchi was haunted by his father’s admiration of the beautiful Temple of the Golden Pavilion, but he was not himself beautiful. He was a stutterer and described himself as ugly, but he considered himself a great artist. When a naval cadet visited his middle school, he scratched the fine scabbard of his sword for no particular reason other than envy.
When he tried to confront Uiko, an attractive girl who lived nearby, she teased Mizoguchi about his stuttering, and he cursed her. A few months later she hid in a temple with...
[The entire page is 1908 words long]
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