Beauty and Sadness

The earliest work, from Palm-of-the-Hand Stories and The Dancing Girl of Izu, of Yasunari Kawabata is construable as the writings (in some cases, the actual journals) of a young, wholly orphaned, writer on his travels during student days; intended as autobiography. The Master of Go is Kawabata as First Person chronicler of a famous 1938 tournament, The Master in his retirement match, Kawabata serializing the play-by-play; again construable as autobiography. The Lake is the title of the climactic chapter here, but also the title of an extended story, the nature of the lake more like an abyss of mystery and darkness, a body to hide all manner of madness.Beauty and Sadness is told by Oki Toshio, a famed Japanese novelist looks up his ex of 20 years past (Yomiura, a short story from the First Snow on Fuji collection, invokes a visit to the 'novelist' of a vaguely remembered acquaintance from 30 years ago to surreal result) on the pretense of hearing the New Years temple bells in her adopted town of Kyoto. Ueno Otoko is now a valued artist, a successful painter. 20 years ago, she, at the age of 15, and Oki, 21 at the time, married with a son, had a deeply painful affair. Sakami Keiko is a young painter of talent who has attached herself to Otoko. She feels the scars of Otoko's harm at Oki's hands, and a desire to avenge her. Keiko, as it happens, is Otoko's lover, and will come to seduce, to her whims and purpose, the father, Oki, and the son. She's like totally my new favorite femme fatale of all literature.I find that all Kawabata's works set out quite clearly the balance, trajectory, the equation, the milieu of each opus. Here we have the culmination of all his writer-within-the-novel, novelist-within-the-author, real life character within a fictional realm (Otoko and their intimate conversations form the basis of his most famous novel); great writing on painting and artistic conception, ideation; incredible writing on writing; and Kawabata's best erotic writing, ever.With Beauty and Sadness, I sadly come to the end of my traversal of this new favored and most treasured author. I feel like I should commemorate the traversal as he did when he came to the end of his own work.

Oki Toshio is a 54-yr old author whose greatest success was an autobiographical account of his affair at age 30, with Ueno Otoko, a beautiful 16-yr old girl he seduced, got pregnant, and then abandoned in a mental institution after she lost the baby and attempted suicide. Oki remained with his wife Fumiko throughout the ordeal, and subsequently welcomed a healthy baby boy they named Taichiro. Some 24 years later Oki travels to Kyoto on a whim, reconnects with Otoko who is now a successful 39-yr old painter, in a relationship with beautiful 16-yr old Keiko. Despite Oki's desires, Keiko is the ultimate seducer who masterminds a violent, convoluted act of defiance and revenge.I love Japanese literature, and Kawabata is one of my favorite writers, a master of the distinctly Japanese goofy notions regarding romance and nuance and unexpressed emotions. There is no mention of Oki ever offering a portion of the proceeds of his book to Otoko, despite the understanding that he'd "spoiled her life." And yet he imagines she forgives him and even loves him still because she feeds him perfectly salted riceballs. I wish the Keiko character had been explained further, I didn't understand why she hates men but found the line "Otoko, I hate men" interesting considering the name Otoko can also be pronounced to mean "man". There is a lot of biting in this story, of fingers and flesh plus the salted riceballs.

"Beauty and Sadness" by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata and translated by Howard Hibbett is a slightly disappointing book after having just read "Snow Country" by the same writer, but a different translator.I mention the translator because a non-Japanese speaker is totally dependent on the skill of the translator to capture the atmosphere, the nuances and the unspoken cultural aspects of the original Japanese. A literary work is as much about the imagery and musicality of the words and textural cadences as it is about immediate dictionary meanings.It goes without saying that a straightforward translation of words and grammar would most likely give a very inadequate impression of the writer's intentions. This is true of any translation of fiction, not only this book."Beauty and Sadness" is a study of intertwined sexual relationships, all of them pathological to a greater or lesser degree. The central relationship is the 53 year-old Oki's renewed relationship (after 20 years) with Otoko whom he seduced and impregnated as a child of 16 and who still "loves" him. There is Otoko's lesbian relationship with Keiko - a very strange and disturbed young girl out for revenge against Oki - whom Oki also slept with. There is Keiko's relationship with Oki's son which leads to the climax of the book. Finally there is Oki's relationship with his wife who knows about all these goings on. The reader never knows who is using who and to what end. Got all that?The relationships are only superficially about "love" - "hatred" would be a more apt word. Oki himself is a particularly distasteful character. He treats both Otoko and Keiko as objects and one wonders if he got any pleasure from either relationship. The rather explicit description of his "lovemaking" with Keiko is far from erotic. It creates feelings of repugnance which typify the interplay of love/hatred in the book.This is a very bleak book, like "Snow Country" written 20 years earlier. It is relevant that Kawabata committed suicide.

I'm not impressed with this Penguin edition of this beautiful novel - it must be one of the cheapest quality prints out there. If you can source an older publisher then its worth your while - this edition arrived and looks like a pamphlet, it flimsy and very poor cover; easily damaged and pages are almost loose

A beautifully written tale, full of contrasts, sadness, manipulations and strange behaviour in the name of love/affection. To a European reader the characters emphasis behaviour which is on the one hand universal but always with a clear expression of a Japanese culture giving a feeling of alienation. A book once entered there is a necessity to discover its conclusion!

This is a beautifully crafted novel which grabs your attention on the first page .Why does the married man suddenly want to spend New Year with an ex -mistress from way back ? What is their connection ?The mistress has a young female friend , who wants revenge on the man for past wrongs she perceives to have been inflicted on her friend .What is her motivation and does she achieve her aim ? This story gives an insight into Japanese culture which was very important at the time the book was written, 1961, and from recent meetings with Japanese friends, would seem to be equally important today .Intriguing and thought -provoking , this book is a must-read.

So how does a mature married man reflect on his relationship with a 15 year old twenty-five years on? - then, in a novel he wrote about the affair and the wife he loves. How does the girl now a famous artist living with a lesbian partner, feel about the lost baby? Is there love?What there is, is Sadness and BeautyA lovely poignant, sombre and solemn portrait of Japanese culture and relationships.

A very moving and strange short novel full of details about Japanese culture. There is a sense of inevitable tragedy as the plot develops but somehow the book isn't depressing, perhaps because the writing is so beautiful and the characters are so well drawn. Anovel that stays with you.