Abstract

The article begins with the observation that novelist Yukio Mishima is best known outside Japan as a « gay » writer, while inside Japan he is known for his right-wing beliefs. This uneasy cohabitation of « homosexuality » and «fascism » in the figure of Mishima is then discussed as symnptomatic of a snore general tendency in postwarlapan to see both homosexuality and fascism as examples of an excessive investment in signs and representation for their own sake. The result is that psychic defenses against fascism often borrow from the energies of homophobia