Beautiful Star

Mishima is the Japanese Hemingway * Life Magazine *Strikingly different… Stephen Dodd’s translation captures Mishima’s dark humour, succinct style and dry wit – Vanora Bennett * The Times Literary Supplement *A brilliant black comedy following the Osugi family, who come to the understanding that they are each from a different planet. This new knowledge strengthens their bond while solidifying a mission: to seek others of their kind and save humanity from the looming threat of the atomic bomb. This is an insightful, moving read. Mishima deserves a wider readership – Irenosen Okojie * The i *Set in the early 1960s, this bonkers story of aliens trying to save mankind from nuclear war is told from the perspective of one family, all of whom come from a different planet. It’s a biting social satire that’s utterly transporting * Sunday Times Best Books for Summer 2023 *Ordinary people harbour the grandest (and most terrible) thoughts in a cosmological fable as disconcerting as it is funny: behind the simplest actions lie visions of worlds in collision – Simon Ings * The Times *The Oscar Wilde of Japan … one of Japan’s great novelists … his subtlety, warmth and wit shine through * Telegraph *A mixture of humour, high literary seriousness and flying saucers … remarkable – Sam Leith * Spectator *A writer of immense energy and ability * Time Out *One of the greatest avant-garde Japanese writers of the twentieth century * New Yorker *Among Japan’s most celebrated post-war authors * Little White Lies *

Yukio Mishima was born in 1925 in Tokyo, and is considered one of Japan’s most important writers. His books broke social boundaries and taboos at a time when Japan found itself in a state of rapid social change. His interests, besides writing, included body-building, acting and practising as a Samurai. In 1970 he attempted to start a military coup, which failed. Upon realizing this, Mishima performed seppuku, a ritual suicide, upon himself. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature three times.

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