Yukio Mishima was a brilliant Japanese novelist whose work began to flourish in the late forties. His novels focused mainly on oriental religion, homosexual eroticism and death fantasies. These controversial themes seem to put off some readers (Magill); however, Mishima remains a dedicated literary artist. During his life he wrote several volumes of literature, but only six or seven brought him much attention from Japanese critics and readers (Yourcenar 24-25). He nevertheless built a reputation as the greatest contemporary Japanese novelist (Gale, Magill). Every night, Mishima devoted his late hours to writing his novels. Mishima had been nominated for the Nobel Prize twice during his life, but he lost first to his friend Kawabata and then to Miguel Asturias (Stokes 192). Yukio Mishima will be remembered for his great novels, Confessions of a Mask, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and the tetralogy The Sea of ​​Fertility. Confessions of a Mask was for Mishima a therapeutic effort (Nathan 1057), but also a major artistic success. in his career (1149). The confessions established Mishima as a star in Japan and revealed his individual case (Yourcenar 16). Mishima's book disgusted many critics with the explicit content of homosexuality (1155), but it was nevertheless considered a work of genius (Scott-Stokes 120). His novel managed to sell twenty thousand copies in hardcover and became a bestseller in Japan in 1949 (Nathan 1155). After the success of Confessions, he abandoned the bureaucratic work his father insisted he continue and began writing his novels and working part-time for pulp magazines (Yourcenar 22-23). It is dangerous to say that Confessions is a biography of Mishima himself (Nathan 963), but we learn......middle of the article......established Mishima as one of the most major Japanese writers of the 20th century and provided insight into the beliefs and issues related to Mishima's personal experiences. Works Cited “Mishima, Yukio”. Magill Survey of World Literature, ed. rev. Ed. Steven G. Kellman. Flight. 4. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2009. 1732-1734. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. May 9, 2011. Nathan, John. Mishima: a biography. Flight. 1. Np: Da Capo Press, 1974. 1 vol. Print.Scott-Stokes, Henry. The life and death of Yukio Mishima. First ed. Flight. 1. Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd, 1974. 1 vol. Print."Yukio Mishima." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Flight. 11. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 54-55. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. March 30, 2011.Yourcenar, Margurite. Mishima: A vision of the void. Trans. Alberto Manguel. First ed. Flight. 1. Toronto: Collins Publishers, 1986. 1 vol. Print.