"The Sea of Fertility is a literary legacy on the scale of Proust's" National Review

The story of one man's obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally passionate search for enlightenment, The Temple of Dawn powerfully dramatises the Japanese experience from the eve of World War II through the post-war era.

Honda, a brilliant lawyer and man of reason, is called to Bangkok on legal business, where he is granted an audience with a young Thai princess - an encounter that radically alters the course of his life. In spite of all reason, he is convinced she is a reincarnated spirit, and undertakes a long, arduous pilgrimage to the holy places of India, where, in the climactic scene, he encounters her once more, only to have his new found beliefs shattered and his life bereft of meaning.

三岛由纪夫（1925-1970）是日本著名作家，怪异鬼才，“日本传统文学的骄子”，两次被诺贝尔文学奖提名为该奖候选人。日本著名比较文学研究家千叶宣一认为三岛与普鲁斯特、乔伊斯、托马斯·曼齐名，是20世纪四大代表作家之一。美国的日本文学研究权威唐纳德·金认为三岛是“世界上无与伦比的天才作家”。

三岛在文学上探索着多种的艺术道路，集浪漫、唯美与古典主义于一身，特别是采取日本古典主义与希腊古典主义结合的创作方法，描写男性的生与死的美所取得的艺术成就，是各方公认的。在美学的追求上，三岛着力于对深层心理的挖掘，从隐微的颓唐中探求人性的真实。

以生活为题材向艺术挑战，以肉体为本向精神挑战，这便是三岛作品的真正意义。

三岛主要代表作品有《金阁寺》、《潮骚》、《假面的告白》、《春雪》、《奔马》、《禁色》、《镜子之家》等。