http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Account of the actual torching of a Kyoto temple by a disturbed Buddhist acolyte in 1950, the novel reflects Mishima's preoccupations with beauty and death. The narrator, Mizoguchi, a young Zen acolyte, is alienated from the world around him; born physically unattractive and frail and into bleak poverty, he stutters badly and holds himself aloof from others. His obsessive feelings for the Golden Temple vary from disappointment to reverence to identification with the structure. Mizoguchi resembles other tormented Mishima heroes who become obsessed with unattainable ideals: realizing the profound lack of beauty in his own life, he decides he must destroy the temple
Mishima, Yukio; translated by Ivan Morris ; introd. by Nancy Wilson Ross ; drawings by Fumi Komatsu.