2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of writer Yasunari Kawabata. On April 16th, Dai Huan, a scholar and translator of modern and contemporary Japanese literature and a teacher of the Japanese Department of Chinese Min University, and Zhou Wanjing, a young writer, art critic and teacher of Beijing Second Foreign Chinese College, visited PAGEONE Beijing Fang store to talk about the "Beauty and Sorrow of Yasunari Kawabata" and his works.
In 1968, Yasunari Kawabata became Japan's first Nobel Prize winner for literature with three masterpieces representing the pinnacle of Japanese aesthetics, "Snow Country", "Ancient Capital" and "Thousand Cranes". In their acceptance speech, the Nobel Prize judges commented that he "expressed the essence of the Japanese psyche with extraordinary acumen and superb novel skills." Yasunari Kawabata also had a profound influence on several generations of Chinese writers, including Yu Hua and Mo Yan. To this day, Yasunari Kawabata's works are still widely read around the world.
On the day of the event, the spring was bright, the flowers were blooming outside the window, and the trees had budded, just like Yasunari Kawabata's well-known and beautiful work, "The Dancing Girl of Izu". This is also the first meeting between Dai Huan and Yasunari Kawabata.
Teacher Dai Huan was at the event site
In Dai Huan's view, compared with the plot, the beauty of Kawabata literature lies in the full and complex emotions in the works, so it also requires life experience as the basis for continuous careful tasting, often reading and new. Yasunari Kawabata's literary approach is also novel, with a sense of impact and substitution comparable to that of a film, which is particularly evident in the opening chapter of "Snow Country". The beautiful girl's face reflected in the window glass of the car in the twilight, the scenery outside the window is the rapids of emotion - compared to the figurative depiction, the emotional touch of the moment can always carve deeper traces in the memory. This is the reason why Yasunari Kawabata's literature still has a deep and wide influence around the world today.
Teacher Zhou Wanjing was at the scene of the event
Zhou Wanjing frankly said that Yasunari Kawabata was a necessary door for her generation, and "Snow Country" also brought a lasting influence to her future literary creation. When I reread it now, I am even more amazed by Kawabata's exquisite capture and grand description of small scenes. After repeated reading and thinking, she deeply realized the sincere background of Kawabata literature, and especially loved the work "Mountain Sound" - in self-examination, she constantly deepened her feelings and understanding of life and the world. For Zhou Wanjing, who is also a creator, the admiration of Yasunari Kawabata is not only his ever-changing creative style throughout his life, but also his spiritual strength and sincere self-analysis until his later years.
Commenting on the significance of re-reading Yasunari Kawabata's literature today, Dai Huan, as the translator of the new edition of "Snow Country", shared his new discoveries in the translation process. She believes that Yasunari Kawabata's poetic language with endless afterglow can constantly hone people's sensibility, and unconsciously gain the power to discover the beauty of life in the process of reading. In Zhou Wanjing's view, Kawabata is not only good at extending the aesthetic tentacles to nature, but also constantly retracing the classics of his own country through creation, and exerting the traditional Japanese aesthetics of material mourning to the fullest, so as to activate modern culture, this kind of contemplation of nature and traditional culture is worth learning from young people.
This literary dialogue event was held by New Classics. The two-hour dialogue was fleeting, and the live broadcast platform accumulated nearly 100,000 online viewers. In the process of the wonderful sharing of the two guests, the readers also enthusiastically left messages and questions, and the response was very warm. Dai Huan said that today's young people still love Yasunari Kawabata so much, which is quite surprising to her, which is a testament to the classic and enduring charm.
Group photo of guests at the event
After the event, the two guests moved to the first floor of PAGEONE Beijing Fang Store to watch the "House of Flowers Sleepless: Kawabata Yasunari's 50th Anniversary : Spring Limited Exhibition" on the 50th anniversary of Yasunari Kawabata's death. It is reported that the exhibition and dialogue are part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Yasunari Kawabata. In addition to the commemorative set of "Yasunari Kawabata Collection (Bunkomoto)" that has already met with readers, the new classics will continue to launch new translations of Yasunari Kawabata's works such as "Snow Country".
Nandu reporter Huang Qian