(1899-1972) novelist and short-story writer
Kawabata Yasunari was born to Kawabata Eikichi and Gen in Osaka. When he was young, his father, mother, grandmother and sister died, leaving him in the care of his nearly blind and terminally ill grandfather. In 1915, having also lost his grandfather, Kawabata moved to a middle-school dormitory, and then, having determined to become a writer, he studied Japanese literature at Tokyo Imperial University. In the 1930s, Kawabata became actively involved in the literary community, supporting young writers, working for magazines, and becoming a member of the censorious Literary Discussion Group, organized by the government as Japan entered World War II. Kawabata went into semiretirement in the late 1960s. In 1972, he was found dead, an apparent suicide, in his seaside apartment.
In 1921, Kawabata published his first story, “A View of the Yasukuni Festival,” which garnered the attention of influential writer Kan Kikuchi (1888-1948). Even with his support, however, Kawabata’s early stories were largely unsuccessful, perhaps due to their experimental style. In 1926, however, he published a novella written with more traditional literary idioms. The success of The Izu Dancer, about a walking tour of the Izu Peninsula near Tokyo, established Kawabata as a writer. A distinctive feature of his novels is the theme of unrequited longing. In Snow Country (1947), the protagonist Shimamura engages in an unfulfilling love affair with a geisha while secretly longing for a woman involved with another man. In 1950, Kawabata published one of his best works, Sound of the Mountain (1950), which won the literary prize of the Japanese Academy. The story, which catalogs the rambling thoughts of an aging patriarch, is distinctive for its stream-of-consciousness narrative.
Kawabata was a member of the literary movement called Shinkankakuha (Neo-Perceptionists). The movement attempted to find methods of bringing individual senses to life, chiefly through stream-of-consciousness narrative. Typically, his stories lack a traditional plot structure but excel in lyrical quality. His unique narrative style garnered attention internationally, and in 1968 Kawabata was the first Japanese writer to receive a Nobel Prize in literature.
Other Works by Kawabata Yasunari
Beauty and Sadness. Translated by Howard Hibbett. New York: Knopf, 1975.
The House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories. Translated by Edward Seidensticker. Tokyo: Ko-dansha International, 1969.
A Work about Kawabata Yasunari
Gessel, Van C. Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1993.
