House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories
10 journalers for this copy...
'''An esoteric masterpiece.'
Yukio Mishima'
From the inside flap of the dustjacket:
'Nobel prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata is noted for his combination of a traditional Japanese aesthetic with modernist, often surreal trends. In these three tales, superbly translated by Edward Seidensticker, erotic fantasy is underlaid with longing and memories of past loves.
In the title story, the protagonist visits a brothel where elderly men spend a chaste but lecherous night with a drugged, unconscious virgin. As he admires the girl's beauty, he recalls his past womanizing, and reflects on the relentless course of old age.
In One Arm, a young girl removes her right arm and gives it to the narrator to take home for the night; a surreal seduction follows as he tries to allay its fears, caresses it, and even replaces his own right arm with it.
The protagonist of Of Birds and Beasts prefers the company of his pet birds and dogs to people, yet for him all living beings are beautiful objects which, though they give him pleasure, he treats with casual cruelty.
Beautiful yet chilling, richly poetic yet subtly disturbing, these stories make compelling reading and reaffirm Kawabata's status as a world-class writer.'
This is a trade paperback edition, albeit a fancy one with a dustjacket and everything. :-) Published in 2004 ... the book was originally published in 1969. The three stories in the book were originally published separately in 1961, 1964 and 1933.
I haven't read anything by this author yet, but I will definitely read this book. It sounds fantastic. Update will follow, sooner or later ... :-)
I bought this book at the thrift store Askeladden in Sandvika in Bærum outside of Oslo on Thursday, October 4th, 2007.
This book is ready to travel now ... ! :-)
Released 9 yrs ago (12/20/2014 UTC) at -- By post or by hand/ in person, RABCK , bookring/ray, Oslo fylke Norway
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Thanks also for the chocolate.
Bookworm-lady (Spain - can post internationally)
Bibliovore
erpax (Finland - can post anywhere)
ruzena (Finland - can post anywhere)
romy86 (can post anywhere)
gaboyd (New Zealand - can post international)
Thanks for taking the time for wrapping it so nicely, and thanks for the lovely postcard from Smaland...
Looking forward to reading this one, so I will try not to take long.
Thanks for sharing!! :)
I really liked the title story; it reminded me of a very similar Spanish film, "Bellas durmientes", which I caught one night on TV, and I found most intriguing.
The premise is the same; but though it is beautifully written, I always got the impression that I was missing something... maybe the translation?
On the other hand, I struggled with "One Arm", and after some tries decided to give up.
Thanks for sharing, babelfisk, this is a book I might not have chosen, but I definitely enjoyed reading the first short story.
Soon to continue on its way to bibliovore.
Thanks for sharing... and have a safe trip, little book! :)
2016-02-11 -- Still no sign from erpax. I'll PM the next in line.
2016-02-16 -- For the first time in my BookCrossing career, I feel linked to all those who read or are about to read this little book. In my mind, this translates as a kind of commitment -- I don't know how to express it better.
"Old" Eguchi... We're repeatedly told he's old, but he's not that old, like the others who go to the House, that he can no longer strangle a sleeping young woman. That strange confusion between masculinity and violence -- what does it mean? What does it mean, for Old Eguchi, to lie down in a womb-like room (all these red curtains), in the heat of an electric blanket and the cold of death? A vampire for youth, beauty and life, Eguchi can only impart death to others, and be brought back to his own end.
This is a deeply unsettling book by Kawabata, but then, most of Kawabata is that way.
Superb foreword by Mishima.
It reminded me of Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez, but this was more staggering. Can't say I enjoyed either of them.
Bibliovore above made good remarks.
The rest of the stories were awesome too, but caused less personal suffering. :D
-ruzena
Released 8 yrs ago (3/20/2016 UTC) at bookray/bookring, A Bookray -- Controlled Releases
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Looking forward to reading these stories (although ruzena already pointed out something). Kiitos! :)
Edit:
29.3.2016
I didn't really enjoy reading the book, but I definitely wanted to read it. It is probably one of the most disturbing books I've ever read, and found it hard to get through at some places, even though it is beautifully written. Especially while reading Of Birds and Beasts, I felt very uncomfortable. I guess these stories will haunt me for some time.
Thanks for sharing!
Released 8 yrs ago (3/29/2016 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
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I'm wondering if the movie "sleeping beauty" staring Emily Browning might be loosely based or influenced on this story. I saw it some time ago and I've forgotten the little details, but I remember she played a girl who does this job to get money to pay for college.
I remember being less disturbed by the movie than by this, which I guess is a bit odd!
It's very well written with a lot of detail for a 100 page story (like others, I didn't bother with the two shorter stories tacked on the end. I started on "the arm" and it just seemed too peculiar to me, plus I could see it was extremely short, which I also dislike, so I decided to base this review on the main story). I couldn't say I loved it, but I was interested enough to keep reading. The recollection about the 14 year old prostitute gave me the icks, though.
I will contact the next reader shortly and get this on its way. Thank you again for including me. I am glad I had a chance to read this.
Released 7 yrs ago (4/26/2016 UTC) at Perth City, Western Australia Australia
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Released 4 yrs ago (11/30/2019 UTC) at Darwin, Northern Territory Australia
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