Snow Country Yasunari Kawabata

Snow Country Yasunari Kawabata Is there essential emptiness to be found in the pursuit of beauty?

Fusing a world of opposites Kawabata’s lyrical prose is based on the elements of haiku: Seventeen syllables poems Seek to convey a sudden awareness of beauty by mating incongruous terms Characteristically fuses motion and stillness

The collision of opposites within the novel Man and Nature Reality and Illusion Beauty and Waste Lightness and Darkness Innocence and Loss of purity Warmth and Cold Sadness and Happiness Stagnation of Time and Timelessness Acceptance and Denial of Love Modernity and Antiquity Can you think of any others?

Important Motifs Wasted Effort Honesty Mirrors and dreams The tyranny of beauty Friendship and romance Purity (woman and girl)

Can you think of any others?

Important Symbols Heat and Cold The Occidental Ballet and Shimamura’s involvement in it Mirrors and their reflections Death of the insects Chijimi Spatial Distance of characters Movement to and from the inn and mountains Kikuyu Colors Seasons (when Shimamura visits: Spring/Winter/Autumn) Architecture

Can you think of any others?

Let’s talk about the characters

Shimamura Komako Yoko Can you think of any others?