Confessions of a Mask, for example, is mostly about Mishima's struggle against his larp of heterosexuality.
I don't see that at all. The book's title is Confessions of a Mask, not Confessions of the Man Behind the Mask. The MC is, by his own admission, an unreliable narrator. He's obsessed with death and glorifies suicide attackers, but when he has the opportunity to serve in the army he avoids it by feigning tuberculosis. He mentions being attracted to his female cousin and then there's Sonoko, but tells the reader (in first person) that he's not attracted to women like some kid embarrassingly insisting he's not into someone. His relationship with Sonoko reveal this to be a lie. He's unwilling to commit because marrying her doesn't line up with his self-image (mask). The only same-sex stuff that happens in the book is him jacking off. Mishima's point is that Kochan is just a mask, he's not using a mask to hide himself, because he's so insufferably deep into his own larp that there's nothing authentic behind the mask. He's insincere, self-destructive, and childlike.
Some Japanese critics have said that the book is a continuation of Nanshoku rather than a depiction of homosexuality. Kochan is attracted to older boys/men and (despite his protests) females too. This romance is asymmetrical and based on an age-gap, whereas Western homosexuality is exclusivist (anti-female) and symmetrical (both partners are of the same gender). The Western cultural invasion of Japan led to a decline of Nanshoku around the time Mishima was writing and this is reflected in Kochan's neurosis. But he also feels this sense of guilt when visiting a brothel towards the end of the book, not because he's a homosexual who's larping as straight, but because he feels that indulging in prostitution is doing something wrong just as indulging in Nanshoku.
Confessions of a Mask isn't about homosexuality, let alone Mishima himself. If this is a depiction of homosexuality, then gays really are as bad as homophobes make them out to be. Its bizarre that homosexuals have taken this book as a piece of gay literature and transform Mishima into a gay icon. I've read somewhere that Mishima hated Western style bar orientated gay culture. He had his own vision of sexuality based on his romantic nationalism and let's not forget he was married to a woman and had children. Mishima's erotic vision isn't gay and it isn't straight. In that sense, I can see him as a queer author who doesn't fit conventional social standards, but he's certainly not a gay author lamenting heteronormativity and this isn't gay literature.
I don't see that at all. The book's title is Confessions of a Mask, not Confessions of the Man Behind the Mask. The MC is, by his own admission, an unreliable narrator. He's obsessed with death and glorifies suicide attackers, but when he has the opportunity to serve in the army he avoids it by feigning tuberculosis. He mentions being attracted to his female cousin and then there's Sonoko, but tells the reader (in first person) that he's not attracted to women like some kid embarrassingly insisting he's not into someone. His relationship with Sonoko reveal this to be a lie. He's unwilling to commit because marrying her doesn't line up with his self-image (mask). The only same-sex stuff that happens in the book is him jacking off. Mishima's point is that Kochan is just a mask, he's not using a mask to hide himself, because he's so insufferably deep into his own larp that there's nothing authentic behind the mask. He's insincere, self-destructive, and childlike.
Some Japanese critics have said that the book is a continuation of Nanshoku rather than a depiction of homosexuality. Kochan is attracted to older boys/men and (despite his protests) females too. This romance is asymmetrical and based on an age-gap, whereas Western homosexuality is exclusivist (anti-female) and symmetrical (both partners are of the same gender). The Western cultural invasion of Japan led to a decline of Nanshoku around the time Mishima was writing and this is reflected in Kochan's neurosis. But he also feels this sense of guilt when visiting a brothel towards the end of the book, not because he's a homosexual who's larping as straight, but because he feels that indulging in prostitution is doing something wrong just as indulging in Nanshoku.
Confessions of a Mask isn't about homosexuality, let alone Mishima himself. If this is a depiction of homosexuality, then gays really are as bad as homophobes make them out to be. Its bizarre that homosexuals have taken this book as a piece of gay literature and transform Mishima into a gay icon. I've read somewhere that Mishima hated Western style bar orientated gay culture. He had his own vision of sexuality based on his romantic nationalism and let's not forget he was married to a woman and had children. Mishima's erotic vision isn't gay and it isn't straight. In that sense, I can see him as a queer author who doesn't fit conventional social standards, but he's certainly not a gay author lamenting heteronormativity and this isn't gay literature.