Kawabata Yasunari

June 11, 1899, Mr.. - April 16, 1972

Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata was born in Osaka in the educated and wealthy family. His father, a doctor, died when Yasunari was only 2 years. After mother's death, followed a year after the death of his father, the boy was taken to the upbringing of his grandfather and grandmother on the maternal side. A few years later died of his grandmother and sister and the boy remained with his grandfather, who was very fond of. Although childhood to. dreamed of being an artist, at age 12, he decided to become a writer, and in 1914, shortly before the death of his grandfather, begins to write an autobiographical story, which is published in 1925. entitled "Diary of sixteen."

Continuing to live with relatives, K. goes to the Tokyo high school and begins to study European culture, fond of Scandinavian literature, familiar with the works of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Paul Cezanne.

In 1920. young man goes to the University of Tokyo in the School of English literature, but in the second course is taken for the study of Japanese literature. His article in the student magazine "Sineyte" ( "new direction") attracted the attention of the writer Kan Kikuchi, . proposed the K., . which at that time (1923) studied in the last year, . become a member of the editorial board of the literary magazine "Bungey syundzhyu" ( "Literature of the epoch"),
.

In these years to. with a group of young writers who founded the magazine "Bungey jidai" ( "Contemporary Literature) - a shout modernist trend in the Japanese literature, . known as "sinkankakuha" ( "neosensualisty), . which was strongly influenced by modernist writers of the West, . especially those, . as James Joyce and Gertrude Stein.,

. The first literary success brought the young writer's novel "The Dancer of Izu" (1925), which tells about the student, fell in love with a young dancer
. The two main characters, the autobiographical hero and innocent girl-heroine go through all the work to. Subsequently, the student to. Yukio Mishima spoke about typical for creativity to. "cult of the Virgin" as a "source of its pure lyricism, creating at the same time the mood somber and hopeless". "Because of virginity can be likened to the deprivation of life ... In the absence of limbs, reachability have something in common between sex and death ... "- wrote Mishima.

. In the book "Birds and animals" (1933) tells about a bachelor who refuses to communicate with people and finds peace among the animals, cherishing the memories of the girl he loved in his youth
. In 30-ies. creativity to. becoming more traditional, he renounces his early literary experiments. In 1934, Mr.. writer begins work on "Snow Country", a tale about the relationship of Tokyo rake middle-aged and overgrown village geisha. Written with the implication in an elliptical style (in the spirit of the haiku, a Japanese syllabic poetry of the XVII century.), "Snow Country" is not a coherent, well-planned plot, consists of a series of episodes. K. long worked on the novel: the first version appeared in print in 1937, and last, the final - only ten years.

During the Second World War and the postwar period to. I tried to be aloof from politics, not reacting to what happened in the country. He traveled to Manchuria for a long time and a lot of time devoted to the study "Sagas of Genji", a classic Japanese novel XI in. The mysterious tale to. "Tysyachekryly Crane" (1949), which is based on a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, traced elements of "Sagas of Genji". That story "Tysyachekryly Crane is best known in the West, though many critics believe that the" Stone Mountain "(1954), a family crisis in sixteen episodes, is the product of a more perfect.

Story By. "Lake" (1954), which describes an erotic obsession and used reception "stream of consciousness", American novelist and essayist Edmund White has called "an equally concise and rich as it is a natural and sound like the perfect tea garden."

. In "House of Sleeping Beauty (1961) tells about the old man, who in a fit of extreme desperation sent to a brothel where the girls are under such a strong narcotic intoxication, he did not even notice his presence
. Here he tries to find meaning of life, get rid of loneliness. In this work, wrote the critic Arthur G. Kimball, "Skill to. manifested in a combination of thoughts about death with a mosaic of life, combined with the escalation of tension flowery retreat ... From the standpoint of Edgar Allan Poe, this is the perfect story, in which the author seeks a multivalued effect.

In 1931, Mr.. K. Hideko marries and lives with his wife in the ancient capital of Japan's samurai, in g.Kamakura, north of Tokyo, where they have a daughter. Summer they are usually carried out at a mountain resort Karuydzava cottage in the Western type, and in the winter living in the house of the Japanese style zushi. Near zushi with K. an apartment, where he worked in a traditional Japanese kimono and wooden sandals.

In 1960, Mr.. supported by the U.S. State Department to. touring several American universities (which include and Columbia University), which conducts seminars on Japanese literature.

. In his lectures, he pointed to the continuous development of Japanese literature from the XI to the XIX century. As well as the profound changes that have taken place at the end of last century, when Japanese writers was strongly influenced by their Western fellow writers.

. Probably due to the increased influence of Mishima (writer, actor and political activist, right orientation) to
. in the late 60-ies. broke with the political neutrality and with Mishima and two other writers signed a petition against the "cultural revolution" in communist China.

In 1968. K. received the Nobel Prize for Literature "for the literary skill, which captures the essence of the Japanese consciousness". As the first Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize, K. in his speech said: "All my life I wanted to be beautiful and will strive to the death". With typical Japanese modesty, he said that does not understand why the choice fell on him, yet he expressed his deep gratitude, saying that the writer "the glory of becoming a burden."

. In 1970, . after an unsuccessful attempt to organize an uprising in one of the Japanese military bases, . Mishima committed hara-kiri (ritual suicide), . Two years later, seriously ill K., . that just came out of hospital, . where he studied as a drug addict, . also commits suicide - he was poisoned by gas at his home in zushi,
. This act shocked the whole of Japan, the whole literary world. Since the writer had left suicide note, the reasons for suicide remain unclear, although suggestions were made that perhaps a similar act of suicide due to his friend, deeply shocked the writer.

. Ironically, in his Nobel lecture to
. said: "Whatever the degree of alienation of man from the world, suicide can not be a form of protest. Whatever may have been the perfect man, if he commits suicide, it is far from holiness.
In the novels of GK, which differ in the second plan and reticence, interwoven modernist techniques and elements of traditional Japanese culture. In an article published in The New York Times, Takashi Oka noted that in the works to. "Western influence has turned into something purely Japanese, and yet the book to. remain in the mainstream of world literature. "

In addition to the Nobel Prize. also received the prize "For the development of literature" (1937), the Literary Prize of the Academy of Arts (1952). In 1954, Mr.. He was admitted to the Japanese Academy of Arts, and in 1959. Frankfurt was awarded the Goethe Medal. In addition, in 1960. writer received a French order of Arts and Letters, France's award for Best Foreign Book and the Order of Culture from the Japanese government in 1961. K. was president of the Japan PEN Club from 1948 to 1965, and after 1959. became vice-president of International PEN.