Snow Country. Ancient Capital. A Thousand Cranes

Author: Kawabata Yasunari
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972), who long served as the president of the Japan Writers' Association, integrated the learning of the West with the inheritance of tradition. Renowned for advocating "highlighting the new sense and portraying traditional beauty," he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968 for his novels Snow Country, The Thousand Cranes, and Koto. The award citation commended him "for his acute sensitivity and masterful narrative technique, which embodied the essence of the Japanese spirit." Snow Country (1935) tells the story of a dance researcher visiting a northern rural village in Japan, where he encounters and falls in love with a geisha named Komako, while also developing a fondness for a young girl named Yaku. The Thousand Cranes (1949) narrates the complex relationships between a young man named Kikuji, his father's former mistress, her daughter, and another beautiful young woman. Koto (1949) depicts the joys and sorrows of a pair of twin sisters. The young women in Kawabata's works are portrayed as pure and lovely, and his writing is characterized by a bright and healthy tone, reflecting the social landscape of the time.
The translation by the female translator Gao Huiqin captures the essence of Kawabata's style, providing a true and complete rendition with comprehensive supplementary materials. The translation of The Thousand Cranes, which has been a subject of debate, is the first full translation of the work in China. This book collects three of Kawabata Yasunari, the Nobel laureate's masterpieces. Snow Country portrays the emotional entanglement between a wealthy and leisurely dance researcher, Shimamura, and a geisha and a innocent young girl, offering readers a world of melancholy and elegance. Koto tells the touching story of the joys and sorrows between a pair of twin sisters raised in families of vastly different fortunes. The Thousand Cranes depicts the tragedy of a wealthy young man, Kikuji, who unintentionally engages in a physical relationship with his father's former mistress, Lady Tamada, a former courtesan. This illicit affair ultimately leads to the suicide of the young woman he truly loved—Mizuko, Lady Tamada's daughter.