Thirst for Love
By (Author) Yukio Mishima
Vintage Publishing
Vintage Classics
1st February 2010
10th December 2009
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Narrative theme: Interior life
Fiction in translation
895.635
Paperback
208
Width 129mm, Height 199mm, Spine 13mm
153g
'One of the outstanding writers of the world' New York Times After the early death of her philandering husband, Etsuko moves into her father-in-law's house, where she numbly submits to the old man's advances. But soon she finds herself in love with the young servant Saburo. Tormented by his indifference, yet invigorated by her desire, she makes her move, with catastrophic consequences.
Japan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *
Thirst for Love contains all of the elements that make Mishima a compelling, disturbing writer * Columbus Dispatch *
Yukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide) at the age of forty-five.