Death in Midsummer & Confessions of a Mask KINDLE MOBI by Yukio Mishima

Death in Midsummer is a collection of short stories including one modern "No play") first published in 1953. The stories are horribly visceral and terrible at times, keeping us in the characters' present, often mundane moments. Mishima covers a quiet tragedy on a beach outside of Tokyo, repressed homosexuality in a Kabuki theater, the suicide for political reasons of a young married couple, and the passing lives of former lovers in japan as they try to reconnect unexpectedly in downtown San Francisco.
Confessions of a Mask is Mishima's second published novel (1949) and brought him international fame in his early 20's. The word "mask" comes from how the main character, a boy named Kochan, creates an alternate personality to hide his homosexuality and conform in Imperial Japan. Kochan believes everybody around him is also hiding their true selves, participating in a ‘reluctant masquerade’. As he grows up, he tries to fall in love with a girl named Sonoko, but is continuously tormented by his latent homosexual urges, and is unable to ever truly love her. Confessions of a Mask is often cited as autobiographical of Mishima, as he was known to visit gay bars in Tokyo and left correspondence to a homosexual lover, as well as having worked a weak body to become a superbly fit body builder and male model. Mishima was married and had children, and when his correspondence was published they sued Mishima's friend for invasion of privacy.