Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This is the final novel by one of Japan's foremost writers who died by his own hand without explanation in April 1972. The theme of this work blends two of his previous writings into narrative form—Kawa-bata's acceptance speech for the 1968 Nobel prize entitled 'Japan the Beautiful and Myself,' and his book, 'The Existence and Discovery of Beauty,' published in English and Japanese in 1969. In 'Beauty and Sadness,' the tone of aware (which is inadequately rendered by the word, 'sadness') is set at the very outset under the heavy fabric of nostalgia. Oki Toshio is journeying to Kyoto to listen once again in the New Year's bells, and to see Otoko, his former mistress. From this point on, the plot unfolds gently but authoritatively. This work does not quite measure up to 'Thousand Cranes' and 'Snow Country,' but it has that curiously haunting quality which is almost a Kawabata signature." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER - The successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a young woman with whom he had a terrible affair many years before. "Endlessly provocative and original." --The New York Times
Otoko is now a painter, living with a younger woman as her lover. Otoko has continues to love Oki and has never forgotten him, but his return unsettles not only her but also her young lover.
This is a work of strange beauty, with a tender touch of nostalgia and a heartbreaking sensitivity to those things lost forever.