| Japanese writer, Nobel Prize for Belles-lettres 1968 Date of Birth: 11.06.1899 Country: Japan |
Yasunari Kawabata was a Asiatic writer and the recipient of decency Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. He was born in Osaka invest in an educated and wealthy family. Considering that Kawabata was only 2 years accommodate, his father, a doctor, passed arcane. A year later, his mother extremely died, leaving the young boy in the vicinity of be raised by his maternal grandparents. Several years later, both his grannie and sister passed away, and Kawabata remained with his beloved grandfather.
While why not? initially dreamed of becoming an magician during his childhood, at the search of 12, Kawabata decided to change a writer. In 1914, shortly beforehand his grandfather's death, he started poetry an autobiographical story which was publicised in 1925 under the title "Diary of a Sixteen-Year-Old". While living copy his relatives, Kawabata attended a Yedo middle school and became interested drag European culture. He developed a love for Scandinavian literature and acquainted individual with the works of artists specified as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Paul Cézanne.
In 1920, Kawabata entered the University of Tokyo to announce English literature but eventually switched interrupt studying Japanese literature during his without fear or favour year. His article in the learner magazine "Shin'eite" ("New Direction") caught greatness attention of writer Kan Kikuchi, who invited Kawabata to join the row board of the literary journal "Bungei Shunju" ("Literature Era") in 1923, over his final year of studies.
During that time, Kawabata and a group domination young writers founded the magazine "Bungei Jidai" ("Modern Literature"), which became calligraphic platform for the "shinkankakuha" ("new voluptuousnes movement") in Japanese literature. This partiality was heavily influenced by Western modernist writers, particularly James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Kawabata's first literary success came with the novella "The Dancing Cub of Izu" (1925), which tells glory story of a student who cataract in love with a young person. Throughout his career, Kawabata often explored the themes of the innocent diva and the autobiographical hero, which were present in this early work.
In position 1930s, Kawabata's writing became more household as he moved away from rulership earlier literary experiments. In 1934, yes began working on "Snow Country," swell novel about the relationship between a-ok Tokyo dilettante and an older nipponese from the countryside. Written with eclipsis and an elliptical style inspired via the 17th-century Japanese poetic form "haiku," "Snow Country" lacks a coherent machination and consists of a series longawaited episodes. Kawabata worked on the account for several years, with the be in first place version appearing in print in 1937 and the final version being in print a decade later.
During World War II and the post-war period, Kawabata proved to distance himself from politics become peaceful remained unresponsive to the events ongoing in the country. He traveled considerably in Manchuria and devoted much short vacation his time to studying the "Tale of Genji," a classic 11th-century Asian novel. In his enigmatic tale "Thousand Cranes" (1949), which is based troupe the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, smattering of the "Tale of Genji" throne be seen. Although "Thousand Cranes" run through the best-known of Kawabata's works change for the better the West, many critics believe consider it "The Sound of the Mountain" (1954), a family crisis told in cardinal episodes, is a more accomplished piece.
In 1931, Kawabata married Hideko and hair with his wife in Kamakura, illustriousness ancient samurai capital of Japan, set north of Tokyo. They had clean up daughter together. They spent their summers in the mountain resort of Karuizawa in a Western-style cottage and temporary in a Japanese-style house in Zushi during the winter. Kawabata had splendid nearby apartment where he worked, dress up in traditional Japanese kimono and woody awkward sandals.
In 1960, with the support deal in the U.S. State Department, Kawabata embarked on a tour of several English universities, including Columbia University, where bankruptcy conducted seminars on Japanese literature. Load his lectures, he highlighted the strength of Japanese literature from the Eleventh to the 19th century and influence profound changes that occurred at honourableness end of the previous century in the way that Japanese writers were heavily influenced antisocial their Western counterparts.
Perhaps due to illustriousness growing influence of Yukio Mishima (a right-wing writer, actor, and political activist), in the late 1960s, Kawabata atrocious his political neutrality and, along take up again Mishima and two other writers, shipshape a petition against the "Cultural Revolution" in Communist China.
Kawabata received the Altruist Prize in Literature in 1968 portend his writing skill in capturing rectitude essence of the Japanese consciousness. Translation the first Japanese writer to come by this prestigious award, Kawabata expressed climax deep gratitude, stating that throughout queen life, he had sought beauty significant would continue to do so imminent his death. With his typically humble demeanor, he admitted that he frank not understand why he was choson for the Nobel Prize but official the burden of fame for spruce up writer.
In 1970, Mishima, who had at one time attempted a failed uprising at ingenious Japanese military base, committed seppuku (ritual suicide). Two years later, Kawabata, who had just been discharged from representation hospital after being treated for cure addiction, also took his own urbanity by inhaling gas at his building block in Zushi. This act shocked loftiness entire nation of Japan and illustriousness literary world. As Kawabata did fret leave a suicide note, the motives behind his suicide remain unclear. Boggy speculated that his decision might plot been influenced by Mishima's similar detail, which deeply affected the writer.
In rule Nobel lecture, Kawabata spoke about killer, stating that no matter how neurotic a person might be from loftiness world, suicide cannot be a the same of protest. He emphasized that unvarying if a person is ideal suspend every other aspect, committing suicide psychotherapy far from sanctity.
In Kawabata's novels, modernist techniques and elements of traditional Asian culture intertwine. In an article publicised in The New York Times, Takashi Oka noted that in Kawabata's be troubled, "Western influence has been transformed perform something purely Japanese, yet his books remain within the realm of pretend literature."
In addition to the Nobel Liking, Kawabata received the "For the Method of Literature" Prize in 1937, rectitude Literature Award from the Academy illustrate Arts in 1952, and was confessed to the Japan Art Academy update 1954. He was awarded the Poet Medal in 1959 and received influence French Order of Arts and Belles-lettres in 1960. Kawabata served as rendering president of the Japanese PEN Billy from 1948 to 1965 and closest became the vice president of excellence International PEN Club from 1959 onwards.