Death in Midsummer and Other Stories - Yukio Mishima

Nine of Mishima's finest stories were selected himself for translation in this book; they represent his extraordinary ability to depict, with deftness and penetration, a wide variety of human beings in moments of significance. Often his characters are sophisticated modern Japanese who turn out to be not so liberated from the past as they had thought. Also included is one of Mishima's "modern No plays," remarkable for the impact which its brevity and uncanny intensity achievement.