Beauty and Sadness (novel)

Beauty and Sadness (Japanese: 美しさと哀しみと, Hepburn: Utsukushisa to kanashimi to) is a 1961–63 novel by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. The novel is narrated from the present and past perspective of the characters and how they differed from each other's point of view.

Beauty and Sadness
AuthorYasunari Kawabata
Original title美しさと哀しみと
Utsukushisa to kanashimi to
TranslatorHoward Hibbett
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
GenreNovel
Published1961–63 (magazine)
1965 (book)[1]
Published in English
1975
Media typePrint

Plot

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 lesbian lover, Keiko Sakami, and 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.

Publication history

Beauty and Sadness was first serialised between January 1961 and October 1963 in Fujin Kōron and published in book form in 1965 by Chūō Kōronsha. An English translation provided by Howard Hibbett was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975.[1]

Film adaptations

The novel was made into films by Masahiro Shinoda (With Beauty and Sorrow, released 1965) and by Joy Fleury, starring Charlotte Rampling (Tristesse et beauté, released 1985). It has also repeatedly been adapted for Japanese television.[2]

Bibliography
  • Kawabata, Yasunari (2011). Beauty and Sadness. London: Penguin Modern Classics. ISBN 978-0-141-19261-1.

References
  1. Yamanouchi, Hisaaki. The Search for Authenticity in Modern Japanese Literature. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 201.
  2. "美しさと哀しみと" [Beauty and Sadness]. TV drama database (in Japanese). Retrieved 3 December 2021.


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