Beauty and Sadness

Beauty and Sadness (Japanese: 美しさと哀しみと Utsukushisa to kanashimi to) is a 1964 novel by Japanese Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata. Opening on the train to Kyoto, the narrative, in characteristic Kawabata fashion, subtly brings up issues of tradition and modernity as it explores writer Oki Toshio's reunion with a young lover from his past, Otoko Ueno, who is now a famous artist and recluse.

Ueno is now living with her protégée and a jealous lover, Keiko Sakami. The unfolding relationships between Oki, Otoko, and Keiko form the plot of the novel. Keiko states several times that she will avenge Otoko for Oki's abandonment, and the story coalesces into a climactic ending.

This is a work of strange beauty, with a tender touch of nostalgia and a heartbreaking sensitivity to those things lost forever.

Information

206 Pages
Published by Knopf : distributed by Random House on Oct 28, 1964
Suggest edits

Reviews

Library closed. All the books are napping! 😴.

Are you sure you want to delete this?