The Temple of the Golden Pavilion [Paperback]

Because of the boyhood trauma of seeing his mother make love to another man in the presence of his dying father, Mizoguchi becomes a hopeless stutterer. Taunted by his schoolmates, he feels utterly alone until he becomes an acolyte at a famous temple in Kyoto. He quickly becomes obsessed with the beauty of the temple. Even when tempted by a friend into exploring the geisha district, he cannot escape its image. In the novel's soaring climax, he tries desperately to free himself from his fixation."Beautifully translated... Mishima re-erects Kyoto, plain and mountain, monastery, temple, town, as Victor Hugo made Paris out of Notre Dame."

-- The Nation

"An amazing literary feat in its minute delineation of a neurotic personality."

-- Chicago Tribune

Translated from the Japanese by Ivan MorrisYukio Mishimawas born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1925. One of Japan’s most acclaimed and well-known authors of the 20th century, his works includeThe Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea,The Sound of Waves, and theSea of Fertilitytetralogy (Spring Snow,Runaway Horses,The Temple of Dawn, andThe Decay of the Angel). He died in 1970.US