3 Review(s)

One of the most important writers in contemporary Japanese literature presents twenty-three stories in this newly translated collection. "He employs devices from those long poetic traditions in order to create in modern prose his remarkable effects: juxtaposition of image upon image to open up the depths of feeling lurking behind placid surface reality," says the translator. Associated Press We owe Martin Holman this insight because it was he who revealed to us that the author in his childhood was already the mature Yasunari Kawabata by translating these significant early writings into English. The acute awareness, deceptive simplicity, and profound melancholy that characterise most of Kawabata's art are all evident in this collection.