미시마 유키오 작품 「가면의 고백」론- 그 ‘부재’의 인식과 방법 -

Abstract

Concessions of a Mask is a novel published by Kawade Shobo in July 1949, shortly after the Japanese defeat in the Second World War. As has widely been known, the novel established Yukio Mishima as one of the leaders of post-war literature, who had seemingly fallen behind the literary trend of the time. The novel can be said to be a groundbreaking work in that the author not only checked and validated his previous works but made a prognosis for later novels. The main theme of this paper is to confirms the notion of ‘absence’ as contrasted with the concept of existence manifested by light. In order to support this approach, I look into the novel in three different aspects. First, in Salvation from Absence, I consider the process in which the protagonist confirms ‘absence’ through the existence of light and chases the man of light in order to obtain his true identity, or the light of bliss, which he arguably witnessed at the time of his birth. Second, in Manipulation and Abandonment of Memory, I examine the situation where he chases the light in search of his identity, only to find that the whole process was nothing but a reconfirmation of his absence. Finally, I discuss three ‘First Memories.’