Finally back in print: The definitive biography of the legendary Japanese writer-legendary as much for his tumultuous life and macabre suicide as for his Nobel-nominated writings At forty-five, Yukio Mishima was the outstanding Japanese writer of his generation, celebrated both at home and abroad for The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. In 1970 he startled the world by stepping out onto a balcony in Tokyo before an assembly of troops and plunging a sword into his abdomen; a disciple then beheaded him, completing the ritual of hara-kiri. John Nathan's riveting biography traces the life of this tortured, nearly superhuman personality. Mishima survived a grotesque childhood, and subsequently his sadomasochistic impulses became manifest-as did an increasing obsession with death as the supreme beauty. Nathan, who knew Mishima profession-ally and personally, interviewed family, colleagues, and friends to unmask the various-often seemingly contradictory-personae of the genius who felt called by "a glittering destiny no ordinary man would be permitted."

约翰•内森（1940- ）

美国人，日本研究学者，著名日本文学翻译家和评论家，加利福尼亚大学圣塔芭芭拉分校东亚语言与文化研究系教授。

大江健三郎、三岛由纪夫和安部公房等重要日本作家作品的英文本译者。

出版专著《大江健三郎：描绘梦境的人》（1995）、《索尼秘史》（1999）、《无约束的日本》（2004）、《夏目漱石传》（2018）等。

1994年，大江健三郎赴斯德哥尔摩接受诺贝尔文学奖，内森为其随行人员。

内森一度致力于摄制日本题材的影视作品。1982年，其导演的纪录片The Colonel Goes to Japan获艾美奖。