"Patriotism" is Mishima's most well-known short story. Mishima portrays a married couple unable to participate in the attempted reinstatement of the Japanese emperor. The couple commit ritual suicide, and the story delineates the connection between death and sexual ecstasy.

Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Remains of the Day depicts through the eyes of the butler the events of an English manor house in the 1930s and 1940s.

Kenzaburo Oe is a Japanese novelist whose work epitomizes the rebellion of the post-World War II generation. The Silent Cry is a novel that explores the issues of personal identity, selfknowledge, and the ability to relate to the truth.

House of Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories includes three stories by the Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata. Mishima wrote the introduction to this collection.

Haruki Murikami's novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is about a man whose...