Kawabata Yasunari is a famous Japanese writer and the winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature.
When Kawabata was one or two years old, his parents died. When he was a boy, his grandmother and sister died one after another. From then on, he depended on his blind and deaf grandfather, which made this sensitive young man immersed in sorrow. The shadow of loneliness is cast in the childish mind. When he was sixteen years old, Kawabata had a premonition that his grandfather would soon pass away, so he decided to record the scene of his grandfather on his sickbed. So he wrote "The Diary of a Sixteen-Year-Old". This is not only a sketch of the author's painful reality, but also a poetic sentiment permeating the cold reality. It also reveals the clues of Kang Cheng's creative talent.
The young Kawabata Yasunari was extremely intelligent. He broke into the book world early and extensively read ancient and modern world classics and Japanese classics. He was especially fond of "The Tale of Genji" and couldn't put it down. Although he did not fully understand the meaning of this famous work, he only read the pronunciation of the words and appreciated the beautiful lyrical tone of the article, but he was deeply attracted by its style and rhythm. This experience had a profound impact on his later literary creation. When he wrote later, the song-like melody of his boyhood still echoed in his heart. He began to have a longing for literature. When he was in the third grade of middle school, he bound the poetry manuscripts he had written in the past into a volume. From this, we can see that the young Kangcheng began to have the consciousness of a literary man, and his initial desire to write had sprouted.
When he was in middle school, he submitted countless articles to no avail. He began to doubt his creative talent and seriously considered whether his talents could make him a writer. In 1916, as a fourth-year middle school student, he published a study novel "Carrying the Teacher's Coffin on Shoulders" in Dagui's "Tuanluan" magazine. He often wrote sketches and novels for "Wen Wen Shi Shi". "Article World" held a vote to select the "Twelve Talents", and Kawabata Yasunari ranked eleventh. For a young man who aspires to be a writer, this is a great encouragement and a year worth remembering. There were many aspiring literary scholars among his classmates in the pre-university course. They talked about literature together, discussed the current situation of the literary world, and discussed Russian literature, which was very popular in Japan at the time. This enlightened him, who came from a rural area, and he benefited a lot. During this period, he published an exercise "Chiyo" in the school's "Alumni Association Magazine". He described his love story with three Chiyo girls with the same name in a light style.
In college, Kawabata Yasunari and his classmates who loved literature wanted to challenge the existing literary world. He reformed and updated literature and art, and republished the "New Trend of Thought" for the sixth time. He published his debut novel "A Scene from the Conjuring Festival" in the first issue of the magazine. It was relatively successful in describing the miserable life of a circus actress, and was praised by senior writers in the literary world. Kawabata Yasunari's name appeared in the "Literary Yearbook" for the first time, marking the formal entry of this literary young man into the literary world.
After Kawabata published "A Scene from the Conjuring Day", due to frustration in love, especially when his fiancée Ito Shodai broke off their engagement, he felt disillusioned with happiness and often went to Izu Yushima in a melancholy mood. The unfinished version of "Memories of Yushima". After that, in order to express and vent his inner depression, he wrote short stories "Lin Jinhua's Melancholy" and "Celebrities Attending Funerals" for magazines with the help of his own pen. At the same time, under the intertwining of love and resentment, he wrote a series of novels such as "Extraordinary", "Southern Fire", "The Haunting of the Virgin" and other novels based on his experience of love life, some of which were based on love events. They are written directly, and some are fictionalized. Kawabata's creation at this stage, to sum up, mainly describes the life of orphans, expresses his deep yearning and grief for his deceased relatives, describes his own love twists and turns, and narrates his frustrated troubles and sorrows. These novels constitute a distinctive feature of Kawabata Yasunari's early works. The sentimental and sad tones expressed in these works, as well as the unresolved loneliness and melancholy, have run through his entire creative career and become the main tone of his works. Kawabata himself also said: "This kind of orphan's sorrow became the undercurrent of my debut novel." "Maybe it is the undercurrent of all my works and my entire life.
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After graduating from university in 1924, Kawabata Yasunari entered the society and began his life of literary creation. He actively initiated the New Sensation School of Literature with Yokomitsu Riichi and others movement, and published the famous paper "Explanation of New Tendencies of New Writers", and created a few works with certain characteristics of the New Sensationism such as "The Decoration of Emotions", "The Scenery of Spring", "Asakusa Red Ball" , did not make much achievements, and he was even called "a heretic in the New Sensation group". Later, he publicly stated that he was unwilling to be their fellow travelers and was determined to follow his own unique literary path. His masterpiece "The Dancing Girl of Izu". "" and "Snow Country" were born under such circumstances.
Kawabata Yasunari's temperament was distorted by the temperament of an orphan, and his heart was filled with suffocating melancholy. On a trip to Izu, he met a group of touring artists. , met a young dancer, and was treated as an equal by the dancer for the first time and said that he was a good person, and he suddenly developed a pure friendship for her; similarly, a dancer who was discriminated against and insulted met such a friendly middle school student, Treating others as equals naturally aroused emotional waves. They established a sincere and honest friendship with each other, and also showed a touch of love to each other. Kawabata turned this experience into art and presented it to readers in the novel "Izu."
"Snow Country" describes the protagonist Komako who became a geisha, grew up in a humiliating environment, endured the misfortune and pressure of life, studied hard and practiced skills, and pursued a "serious life". She longs for the true love that ordinary women should get. However, as a practical problem, it is difficult to achieve in that society. The reality she pursues is an ideal, ultimate, and sad illusion that does not actually exist. The male protagonist Shimamura regards her serious attitude towards life and sincere love feelings as "a kind of beautiful futility". In a sense, this story is a fairly accurate representation of the social situation in Japan at that time. An overview of art.
The achievements of "The Dancing Girl of Izu" and "Snow Country" are mainly reflected in two aspects: First, Kawabata started a new path in art and blindly imitated Western modernist literature and inherited it entirely. None of the traditions succeeded, but he did not give up his new artistic pursuits, constantly summed up his experience, and conducted active artistic explorations of the combination of tradition and modernity. His "Dancing Girl of Izu" was based on absorbing the advantages of Western literature. He made a new attempt to maintain the traditional color of Japanese literature, and "Snow Country" brought the combination of the two to a perfect level, giving his works a stronger Japanese color. Secondly, starting from "Snow Country", Kawabata's creations have become more sophisticated in terms of content. Or in terms of form, they have formed their own creative personality, that is, using lyrical brushwork to depict the character and destiny of lower-class girls, and throughout the lyrical pictures, there is a passionate praise of innocent love, and a vague expression of the ideals of beauty and love. yearning, and an unabashed rendering of the impermanence and futility of life. The psychological portrayal of the characters is more delicate and rich, which further shows the author's passionate creative personality.
Kawabata Yasunari is a very accomplished writer. His achievements are in many aspects, including novels, essays, reviews, etc. In his creative career of half a century, he wrote more than 500 novels (including more than 140 novels), accounting for 25 of the 37 volumes of "The Complete Works of Kawabata Yasunari". These novels , except for "Tokyo People" and "Born to Be a Woman", which are relatively long, medium-length novels are generally between 80,000 and 120,000 words, and short novels only have a few hundred words. Kawabata's novels are not only abundant in quantity, but also reach a high level in art. Kawabata Yasunari's novels clearly expressed his artistic personality and characteristics in the early stages of his novel creation, and gradually formed his unique style. In the whole process of creative practice, although his style has still developed, and the tones of his works have also changed slightly, whether thick or light, there are no gaps or fundamental changes. The basic characteristics established and completed in the early and middle stages of his creation They are: the subjective emotional color of loneliness, the sentimental and lyrical mood of melancholy, the spirit of humanity and humanitarianism, and the thoughts of nihilism and decadence.
However, later works show a more complex and diverse tendency, running through double or multiple consciousnesses. For example, "Celebrity", "Ancient Capital", and "Dancing Girl" are representative, which mainly express the pursuit of art and persistence in life and tradition. The writer has made new explorations in the ideological and artistic aspects of creation, and has achieved great results. A great achievement. Represented by "A Thousand Cranes", "Mountain Sound", "Sleeping Beauty" and "One Arm", on the one hand, it deeply explores the normality and abnormality of human emotions, and the complexity of such emotions that adapt to the evolution of human nature; On the other hand, the pursuit of sensual enjoyment and the exaggeration of morbid sex are more or less decadent. Therefore, while they express the main theme of human life, they also express the variations of life. In terms of novel forms, pure literature is the main component. As an important part of its novels, there are middle novels, novels for boys and girls, and other novel forms such as autobiographical novels, report novels, etc. In-between novels are a novel form between pure literature and popular novels. Representative works include: "Tokyo People", "A Girl Opens Her Eyes", "The Story of a Riverside Town", "The Road in the Wind", "Born to Be a Woman", "How Many Times the Rainbow", "Reminiscences of Youth", "Jade Ring", etc., these intermediate novels not only pay attention to the artistry of pure literature, but also pay attention to the popularity of popular novels, and are deeply loved by the public readers. Novels for boys and girls are mainly targeted at college and middle school students. Representative works include "Girl's Haven", "Flower's Diary", "School Flower", "A Beautiful Journey", "Parent's Heart", "Carrying the Coffin of My Teacher" ", etc., with love as the main melody, describing the love between parents and children, brothers and sisters, teacher-student love, school friendship, etc. The writing is beautiful, the expression is delicate, the mood is sad, and it is full of the pure love of youth. In Kawabata's works, some male and female protagonists treat each other with love and express pure friendship even if they meet by chance. The works of boys and girls, one after another, paint pictures of human beauty and spiritual beauty in front of young readers, and play the youth songs of boys and girls one after another. It is not limited to the artistic aspect. This point is of great significance and enlightenment in promoting people to re-examine Eastern culture. It can be said that he made his own contribution to the development of Japanese literature and the exchange of Eastern and Western literature, and won a wide reputation. In Japan, Kawabata Yasunari's name has long been recorded in the Kikuchi Prize (1944). On the roster of the Academy of Arts Award (1952), Noma Literary Award (1954), Mainichi Publishing Culture Award (1961). In 1953, he was elected as a member of the Academy of Arts, Japan's highest honorary institution for literature and art. In 1961, in recognition of his successful leadership of the International PEN Japan Conference and his achievements in creating works such as "Beasts", "Snow Country", "Celebrity", "Thousand Cranes", and "Mountain Sound", the Japanese government named him " With his unique style and strong emotions, he described the symbol of Japanese beauty and completed an unprecedented creation." He was awarded the highest award, the 21st Cultural Medal, and became a Japanese cultural meritor. In 1957, he was awarded the "Goethe Gold Medal" by the West German government. In 1960, he was awarded the Medal of Arts and Culture by the French government. In 1968, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his three masterpieces: "Snow Country", "Ancient Capital" and "Thousand Cranes". Anders Osterling, executive director of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters and chairman of the Nobel Prize Selection Committee, delivered the award speech, emphasizing prominently:
"Mr. Kawabata was obviously influenced by modern European realism. However, Mr. Kawabata also clearly shows this tendency: he is faithfully based on Japanese classical literature, maintaining and inheriting the pure traditional Japanese literary model. A delicate charm can be found in Mr. Kawabata's narrative techniques. "Mr. Kawabata Yasunari's award has two important meanings. First, Mr. Kawabata expresses moral and ethical cultural consciousness with his outstanding artistic techniques; second, in "You have made contributions to building a spiritual bridge between the East and the West."
Anders Osterling finally read the inscription of the certificate: "This certificate is intended to commend you for your outstanding sensibility and your use of knowledge." Your novel skills express the essence of the Japanese soul.
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Kawabata gave an award-winning commemorative lecture entitled “I am in beautiful Japan” at the auditorium of the Swedish Academy. Pure poetry, the novels of Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Osamu Dazai, the classical tradition of "Ancient and Modern Japanese Songs", "The Tale of Ise", "The Tale of Genji" and "Pillow", as well as the spirit of Oriental painting, flower arrangement and tea ceremony, are deeply and meticulously He introduced and analyzed the "Japanese Beauty Tradition" and then went to the United States twice to give lectures entitled "The Existence and Discovery of Beauty" at the University of Hawaii and its branch, and during the Japan Week event in San Francisco. These three speeches are also three beautiful articles, which comprehensively and systematically discuss the traditional beauty of Japanese literature, becoming Kawabata Yasunari’s theory of Japanese beauty and Japanese art, and constitute his unique aesthetics. The theoretical system shines uniquely in Kawabata literature. In the face of these achievements, honors and status, Kawabata Yasunari described his feelings in the article "The Field of Sunset": "Honor and status are obstacles. Excessive underappreciation of talents will make the artist weak-willed, too fragile to endure hardship, and even unable to develop his talents. In turn, reputation can become the source of influence on the ability to display talents... If you maintain the qualification of 'honorary citizen' for your whole life, then your heart will be even heavier. I wish to be freed from all fame and freedom. "
Behind Kawabata's honor, there is something unspeakable...
Three years after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, on April 16, 1972, Kawabata Yasunari suddenly Kawabata Yasunari passed away by committing suicide with a gas pipe, but he said as early as 1962: "It is best to commit suicide without leaving a suicide note. Silent death is infinite life. ”
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Kawabata Yasunari: Japanese writer. He was born in a doctor's family in Osaka. He lost his parents when he was young and was raised by his grandparents. He lost his grandmother when he was 8 years old and his grandfather when he was 16 years old. He also died and became an orphan. His diary describing the death of his grandfather was later slightly revised and published under the title "Diary of Sixteen Years Old". It can be seen that this unfortunate experience made him feel fragile and lonely in life. When he was still in middle school, he admired Japanese classical novels and essays such as "The Tale of Genji", which had a great influence on his later creations. When he was a boy, he was raised by his maternal grandfather and entered the English Department of Tokyo Imperial University. Department of Literature. In 1921, he started publishing fan publications with his colleagues. He was appreciated by Kan Kikuchi for "A Scene from the Soul-Calling Ceremony", and he started his career as a writer with "Izu Dancing Girl" (1926) and other works. Kawabata's works during this period were mostly based on the Izu area, showing delicate and keen feelings and novel techniques. Therefore, he was called a New Sensationist writer along with Yokomitsu Toshi. Later, this school of literature declined. Kawabata Ten created works such as "Asakusa Red Ball" and "Asakusa Sisters" based on the themes of women in public entertainment venues in Asakusa, Tokyo. In addition, "Flower Waltz", which describes the career of a dancer, and "Crystal Fantasy", which laments the sorrow of life. ", "Nursery Rhymes" and "Daughter's Heart" are also the main works of this period. "Snow Country", which was published in 1935 and was revised only after the war, and "Thousand Cranes" (1949-1951), which came out after the war. "Ancient Capital" (1961-1962) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.
Kawabata Yasunari liked tranquility and had a special liking for Buddhism. His hobby in his later years was calligraphy and he was good at writing Chinese characters. He is very lively, but he is extremely conflicted in his heart. He feels very disgusted with the honors and admirers that come after winning the award. This is related to his childhood psychological isolation. He lost his temper with his wife, "My home is not a hotel, and neither am I." Live for the guests. " He greatly admired the mantra of Harue Koga, who died of suicide, "There is no higher art than death. Death is life.
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Kawabata Yasunari chose "the highest art" - suicide in extreme depression and contradiction.
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What is Kawabata Yasunari called? Do you know who you are referring to? He was unfortunate in his early years, and his father, mother, sister, and grandfather became ill one after another. His cousin called him a "master of attending funerals." He is famous in literature, but he does not have much prestige.