Beauty and Sadness (1964) - Yasunari Kawabata




Beauty and Sadness (美しさと哀しみと; Utsukushisa to Kanashimi to) is a 1964 novel by Yasunari Kawabata. Opening on the train to Kyoto, the novel in characteristic Kawabata fashion subtly brings up issues of tradition vs. modernity as it explores Oki Toshio's, a Japanese writer, reunion with a young lover from his past, Otoko Ueno, who is now an artist and recluse. Ueno is now living with her maid, Keiko Sakami, and the unfolding relationship between Oki, Otoko, and Keiko form the plot of the slowly, delicately unfolding novel.

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