Beauty and Sadness (2nd Edition)

Yukio Mishima──

The male protagonist in the book is a novelist. It is rare to see in Kawabata's other works such literary theory-like passages scattered throughout, discussing the relationship between the novel and the model, and the entanglement between the novel and life. ... This novel helped me understand many secrets of Kawabata's literature.

Listening to the 108 New Year's Eve bells from the Buddhist temple is meant to dispel worries and sorrows, to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

However, the sound of the bells stirred up their old memories, and the beauty and sorrow of love.

The married writer Oki Toshio had an affair with the sixteen-year-old Ueno Otoko. Otoko became pregnant, but the child died due to premature birth. Otoko was devastated and attempted suicide by taking sleeping pills, but failed. She then suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. This bitter love affair ended without resolution. Otoko's mother took her to live in Kyoto; Oki wrote about his romance with Otoko in a novel titled "Sixteen or Seventeen Year Old Girl," which became Oki's most popular and best-selling work.

For twenty years, the two lost all contact. One day, Oki chanced upon an article in a magazine about Otoko becoming a well-known painter with an elegant demeanor in Kyoto. He conceived the idea of listening to the New Year's Eve bells in Kyoto with Otoko. He thought he would meet Otoko alone, but to his surprise, it was Otoko's disciple and lover, the young and beautiful Keiko, who came to greet him...

Time did not dilute their affection; Otoko's love for Oki had never faded. Keiko, driven by jealousy, sought revenge for Otoko. Even though Otoko tried to stop her, Keiko seduced Oki's son, Taichiro, and even stayed at a hotel in Enoshima with Oki Toshio...

Adultery, same-sex love, revenge... Yasunari Kawabata perfectly blended multiple themes in this work, a portrayal of intricate love affairs and a mix of love and hate. It is also a novel that best showcases Kawabata's central ideas, writing techniques, and offers a glimpse into his darker inner self.