The Temple of Dawn

The Sea of Fertility, 3

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The third novel of Mishima's landmark tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, this is the story of one man's obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally search for enlightenment. The Temple of Dawn powerfully dramatizes the Japanese experience from the eve of World War II through the postwar era.

"Mishima is like Stendhal in his precise psychological analyses, like Dostoevsky in his explorations of darkly destructive personalities."--Christian Science Monitor
Yukio Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944, and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death, he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, The Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention. View titles by Yukio Mishima
“Surpassingly chilling, subtle and original.”
The New York Times

“[Mishima’s] Sea of Fertility tetralogy. . . shines ever more obviously as one of the great works of the last century.”
—William Vollman

About

The third novel of Mishima's landmark tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, this is the story of one man's obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally search for enlightenment. The Temple of Dawn powerfully dramatizes the Japanese experience from the eve of World War II through the postwar era.

"Mishima is like Stendhal in his precise psychological analyses, like Dostoevsky in his explorations of darkly destructive personalities."--Christian Science Monitor

Author

Yukio Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944, and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death, he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, The Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention. View titles by Yukio Mishima

Praise

“Surpassingly chilling, subtle and original.”
The New York Times

“[Mishima’s] Sea of Fertility tetralogy. . . shines ever more obviously as one of the great works of the last century.”
—William Vollman

Books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Each May, we honor the stories, histories, and cultures of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Below is a selection of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators to share with your students this month and throughout the year. Find our full collection of titles for Higher Education here.

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