A young stuttering acolyte, Mizoguchi, comes to Kyoto's Golden Pavilion temple in the late 1940s, where his father was a priest. He is obsessed with the pavilion's beauty, which he believes surpasses him, and the feeling grows into hatred as his loneliness and bitterness deepen. Yukio Mishima based the novel on a real event: the arson of the Kinkaku-ji temple in 1950 by a young monk. The story follows Mizoguchi's friendships, including one with a cynical friend who has a clubfoot, and moves toward the act of destruction as a way to free himself.
Readers interested in Japanese modern literature and the psychology of obsession will find a disturbing, finely written book.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1956
- Language
- EN
