Abstract This paper compares and contrasts YasunariKawabata's "Snow Country" with Albert Camus' "The Stranger". The paper points out that, while the styles of the two novels are different, the core of both YasunariKawabata's "Snow Country" and Albert Camus' "The Stranger" is based on the theme of estrangement or alienation. The paper then highlights that, even though the thematic similarity could form the basis for a comparison of the works, there are other, more specific resemblances that should be analyzed. Thus, the paper examines how both authors use the settings of their novels as meaningful contexts, which emphasize the two strangers' absolute loneliness.
From the Paper "The Stranger and Snow Country are the products of two opposed civilizations, the West and the East. As such, the two works have sprung from an entirely different background, but, nevertheless, they are also very similar. Through their thematic, the two novels are very similar, yet their style differs very much. Thus, the core of both works is formed by the theme of estrangement or alienation: both Shimamura and Mersault are equally incapable of love and passion or of any other bond with the people surrounding them. Moreover, the two seem entirely disconnected from their immediate reality. In terms of character and how they actually view the world, the two heroes are quite different. While the thematic similarity could form the basis for a comparison, there are other, more specific resemblances that should be analyzed. The most significant one thus is the fact that both authors use the settings of their novels as meaningful contexts, which emphasize the two strangers' absolute loneliness."
Abstract This paper explores the symbolic representation that has been lost or forgotten through translations of the story from Japanese to English. The paper shows how symbolic imagery adds to the plot of the story. A discussion of the book illustrates the use of descriptive language and poignant symbolism employed by the author as tools to emphasize the main theme of unfulfilled love.
From the Paper "Yasunari Kawabata novels were set in environments depicting loneliness, emptiness, symbolizing unsatisfied yearning, and transient or unattainable love, with a backdrop of wild and beautiful nature. His novels were written in a free associative and unconventional style, usually over long periods of time. The bulk of "Snow Country" was published between 1935 and 1937, the period in which it was set, but it was not formally completed until 1947."
Tags: literature, oriental, komako, yoko, shimamuru, geisha, yukio, tokyo
From the Paper "This study will compare and contrast the role of Buddhism in Yasunari Kawabata's novel Thousand Cranes with the role of Christianity in Shohei Ooka's novel Fires on the Plain. The argument of the study will be that in each book the religious path chosen or followed by the protagonist is a reflection of the his attitude toward and relationship with the Japanese culture in general.
Despite the fact that both books were originally published in the late 1950s, Ooka writes about World War II, while Kawabata writes about the postwar period. Because of this difference, the emphases and themes of the books stand in contrast. Thousand Cranes explores intimate relationships with larger historical, social and political issues serving only as a contextual backdrop."
This paper compares the use of snow imagery in "Snow Country" by YasunariKawabata and "The Dead" by James Joyce, especially the latent or implied meanings embedded in each snow image.
Abstract This paper explains that the use of imagery in literature, especially novels, is an effective tool, whereby a writer's thoughts can be conveyed more efficiently than by only using simple description. The author points out that, in "Snow Country" and ?The Dead,? there are three similarities in the way the authors used snow imagery: To describe vividly the settings, to set the mood for the gloomy and sad resolutions of the characters, and to serve as a "memory" of their lost loves. The paper concludes that there is one difference: Kawabata uses snow imagery as a tool for characterizing Komako, while Joyce uses snow as a symbol for the impending deaths of Miss Kate and Julia and the death of his love for Gretta.
From the Paper "The use of snow implies coldness and darkness, which is compatible to the feelings that Shimamura and Komako felt when they met in ?Snow Country.? Shimamura's dissatisfaction with life and Komako's unfortunate life lead them to lead a gloomy life, intensified by the mood of the environment they are in (in the "snow country"). Meanwhile, snow imagery becomes effective in "The Dead" as an impending gloom and threat to Gabriel Conroy for his loved ones, particularly his aunts and his wife, Gretta. The snow that the characters of both stories experience and witness echo their inner feelings and thoughts about their life, which is generally gloomy and somewhat mysteriously still."
Reviews the Nobel prize winning Kawabata's most famous novel, "Snow Country", written as a loose serial over 14 years, but nonetheless retaining unity of purpose and structure.
2,025 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 6 sources, 1993, $ 71.95
From the Paper "Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country ranks as one of the most widely read and influential novels in contemporary Japanese literature. It has also been cited as the novel which more than any other gave Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. It has been called a "nihilistic fairy tale" and remains one of the most widely read texts in modern Japanese literature (Rimer 154). The story tells of a love affair between an urban man and a country geisha, and what is most remarkable about the book is its unity of purpose and structure. The book was written over a fourteen-year period (from around 1923 through 1937), though it does not read as if it were in any sense disjointed or divided into sections from different periods of time. Indeed, this is all the more remarkable given that the different sections of the book were published in different periodicals with no real ..."
Abstract This paper claims that symbolic representation has been lost or forgotten through translations of the story to English. The paper therefore explores the symbolic imagery and shows how it adds to the plot of the story. The analysis also includes historical background, a summary of the novel, and a discussion of the theme of unfulfilled love in the novel.
From the Paper "?It was such a beautiful voice that it struck one as sad.? The comparison with beauty and sorrow is made often, evoking a sense of hollowness and pity. In the end Komako is left alone to take care of Yoko with her scarred face and herself with the wounds of rejection and despair. The women are symbols of beauty crushed and disfigured by their circumstances that are ugly despite the magnificence of their environment. The novel revels in contrasts of appearance and fact and how both are changed in time. It describes potential that does not reach its promise and is presented using picturesque language instead of simple narration."
