Because of the boyhood trauma of seeing his mother make love to another man in the presence of his dying father,Mizoguchibecomes a hopeless stutterer. Taunted by his schoolmates, he feels utterly alone until he becomes an acolyte at a famous temple inKyoto. 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.°°°A haunting portrait of a young man’s obsession with idealized beauty & his destructive quest to possess it fully—& the book that “established Mishima’s claim as one of the outstanding writers of the world” (The New York Times).Mizoguchi, an ostracized stutterer, develops a childhood fascination withKyoto’sfamousGolden Temple.While an acolyte at the temple, he fixates on the structure’s aesthetic perfection & it becomes his one & only object of desire. But asMizoguchibegins to perceive flaws in the temple, he determines that the only true path to beauty lies in an act of horrific violence. Based on a real incident that occurred in1950,The Temple of the Golden Pavilionbrilliantly portrays the passions & agonies of a young man in postwarJapan, bringing to the subject the erotic imagination & instinct for the dramatic moment that markedMishimaas one of the towering makers of modern fiction.With an introduction byDonald Keene; Translated from theJapanesebyIvan Morris.