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The beauty and lethargy

The beauty and lethargy. “Snow Country” KawabataYasunari. ENGLISH 232 DR. CHRIS WILLERTON NOBUKI TAKAHASHI MIZUKI KOMURO KANAE ASANO. Biography. Yasunari Kawabata 川端康成. 14 June, 1988- 16 April, 1972 Born in Osaka Loss of close relatives Tokyo Imperial University, major in English.

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The beauty and lethargy

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  1. The beauty and lethargy “Snow Country” KawabataYasunari

  2. ENGLISH 232DR. CHRIS WILLERTONNOBUKI TAKAHASHIMIZUKI KOMUROKANAE ASANO

  3. Biography

  4. Yasunari Kawabata川端康成 14 June, 1988- 16 April, 1972 Born in Osaka Loss of close relatives Tokyo Imperial University, major in English

  5. Continued….. • first Japanese novelist to win the Nobel Prize for Literature -1968 • He killed himself by gassing himself. -1972

  6. About his works • “The Dancing Girl of Izu” -1927 • “Snow Country” -1948 • “The Sound of the Mountain- 1954 • “Thousand Cranes” -1958 • “Japan the Beauty and Myself ”-1969

  7. The Era Kawabata Lived

  8. YasunariKawabata (1899-1972) • Kawabata lived over three eras (Meiji, Taisho, Showa) :meaning Japanese emperor had changed three times in his life period MEIJI ERA(1868-1912) • Meiji-Revolution which occurred in the latter half of the 19th century- led Japan to be modern country TAISHO ERA (1912-1925) • World War I begins in 1914 SHOWA ERA (1925-1989) • A period of suffering- Economic depressed spread • World War II begin in 1939 and end in 1945

  9. A BIT OF JAPANESE HISTORY National Seclusion (1639-1869) • Over 200 years of long seclusion marginalized Japan from other countries • Japanese own culture has developed Kawabata developed a unique style combining elements of traditional and modern literature

  10. MODERNISM • Modernism was one of the literary movement in 20th century • Kawabata was involved with European modernism • Kawabata saw: Literature as Style The writer as Introvert Life as a rupture of expected continues and all human relations = ultimately substantial

  11. Interpretation of “Snow country” movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-5vduERZAA

  12. Relationships • Shimamura – enjoys the affection with Komako, but never gets serious. Be attracted by Yoko somehow. • Komako – Geisha. Hosts Shimamura, and falls in love with him. Has a fiance, who dies in the story. • Yoko – a girl from Komako’s town. A lover of Komako’s fiance.

  13. The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky. The train pulled up at a signal stop.

  14. Tunnel • The Long Tunnel here is metaphorically his life. -if you keep going you will eventually get out of the tunnel, but how is he gonna face the world after the tunnel: the snow country.

  15. Snow Country • can be metaphorically things he faces . • The cold air(harsh world) • A beautiful but slender and undependable girls(Komako and Yoko) like snow • Moments of momentary beauties • His impassive and cold heart

  16. The earth • Here, it is white and laying under the night sky. • It sounds like a lady sleeping in the darkness: Geisha, which is Komako. • Geisha always put “Oshiroi” on their face.

  17. Signal stop • Shimamura wants to enjoy his life in the Snow Country. But there is always a signal stop. -He has family back home -Komako is Geisha -He starts to like Yoko, too.

  18. Snow andFire • Yoko’s face, bonfire in a mountain and snowscape. • The fire of Komako’s passion and the snow of Shimamura’s lethargy. • Yoko falling down from the second floor of the house caught on fire at the end of the story.

  19. Fool’s errand • Shimamura uses the word, “Toro”, which means fool’s errand throughout the story. • Snow is like that. It melts and disappear. Very hollow. • But there is something beautiful about it. This world is a pile of fool’s errand. When the snow piles it is beautiful, as the world is beautiful with the pile of “fool’s errand”

  20. Characters • Shimamura – apathetical, lethargy, leading an idle life, living out of his parents’ inheritance. Has wife and children.Minor writer. *Identity issue • Komako – lost her husband, has a fiance who is cheating on her and dies, and falls in love with Shimamura when her fiance is still alive. *Identity issue

  21. Identity Issue what do they lack? • Love -family –friends –partner • Toil for Shimamura and relief for Komako -Shimamura is living out of his parents’ inheritance. Never had hardship. -Komako needs to sacrifice her body and soul to make a living in her whole life. Never relieved.

  22. Trust -betraying family and fiance • Self-Esteem -Shimamura has nothing to boast. –Komako has had the less-respected life.

  23. How relevant is it to us, today? • A lot of us suffer from the lack of testimony like Shimamura(too ordinal life) • So many girls try to find their identity in a relationship with guys. • We are selfish, but never know how to love ourselves. • A lot of us do not know or even do not think about why we are living.

  24. Sources •  Lippit, Seiji M. Topographies of Japanese modernism. Columbia University Press,2002. •  Rosenthal, Lucy.The world treasury of love stories. Oxford University Press,1995. • Petersen, Gwenn Boardman.The Moon in the water : understanding Tanizaki, Kawabata, and Mishima. University Press of Hawaii,1992. •  Hibbett, Howard.Contemporary Japanese literature : an anthology of fiction, film, and other writing since 1945. Knopf :1977. • Norton Anthology of World Literature, 2nd,

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