In 1968, Yasunari Kawabata became the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature with three masterpieces representing the pinnacle of Japanese aesthetics, namely "Snow Country", "Ancient Capital" and "Thousand Cranes". In their speech, the Nobel Prize judges commented that he "expressed the essence of the Japanese psyche with extraordinary acumen and superb novel skills", and the sadness and nihilistic beauty in his tone echoed the aesthetics of material sorrow rooted in Japanese culture.
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 Fangdian with the theme of "The Beauty and Sorrow of Yasunari Kawabata", talking about Yasunari Kawabata's literary works, sharing their impressions and understandings of their literary works, and also discussing the significance of re-reading Yasunari Kawabata's literature today from the perspective of translators and teaching.
Zhou Wanjing (left) and Dai Huan at the "Beauty and Sorrow of Yasunari Kawabata" event on April 16.
"The real living conditions of the people of the Snow Country,
It's like sludge under the snow."
Yasunari Kawabata's persistent pursuit of beauty has influenced generations of people. In the minds of many, Yasunari Kawabata's writings represent Japanese aesthetics in a sense. So, what was the impression of reading Yasunari Kawabata's works for the first time as a reader?
Dai Huan first read Yasunari Kawabata's work as "The Dancing Girl of Izu", in which the 19-year-old "I" met a group of wandering artists on the way to Izu on his trip and fell in love with the little dancer Fumiko. Dai Huan, who was a Japanese language student at the time, was very eager to know the development of the plot, but there was no ripple in the end.
Stills from the movie The Dancing Girl of Izu (1974).
After becoming a teacher, Dai Huan suddenly realized that Yasunari Kawabata was actually describing a mental journey of a college preparatory student, "He was an orphan with a somewhat distorted personality, and during a journey, through his interactions with wandering artists, his soul was healed and released." Dai Huan believes that reading such works actually requires a certain amount of experience, and he will be able to better appreciate the subtle and complex emotions.
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. "Snow Country" is Zhou Wanjing's first exposure to Japanese literature, and the first experience of reading this work, Zhou Wanjing thought it was "heart pounding". But it was this coincidence of mistakenly hitting and bumping into Kawabata that made her meet Yasunari Kawabata and the New Sensation School. Zhou Wanjing said that "Snow Country" is a very interesting incision for her writing, as well as her view of contemporary Chinese literature and the development of Chinese and Japanese literature from a comparative perspective. 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.
In Dai Huan's view, "Snow Country" is also a work that gives her a new understanding of Yasunari Kawabata, "It is a novella, but it is written like a poem, and the structure is very distinctive." It leaves a lot of white space like poetry, suitable for repeated reading, so that you can read more and more beautifully. As the translator of the new version of "Snow Country", which plot can impress Dai Huan more? Dai Huan believes that it is the opening part of the novel, "The Mirror of Twilight", "The most interesting thing about this structure is that it is not just a beginning, it is a bit like the opening paragraph of the movie, foreshadowing the technique and structure of the entire novel of "Snow Country". Later, we can slowly find out why Shimamura did not dare to look directly at the leaves, and he dared to look at them in the window, because that was Shimamura's feeling, the inner world of Shimamura, not the real world. ”
Stills from the movie Snow Country (2022).
Dai Huan said that the whole novel of "Snow Country" is almost about Shimamura's personal feelings, not about Komako, about Snow Country, but about Shimamura, "In a sense, Shimamura is a filter." The novel shows us the snow country and the colt through filters. On the other hand, the fun of this novel is that he also uses the desire and stop of the character dialogue, the sound of the strings, and between the lines of the words, we can see the colt in the real situation beyond the filter. And this is the most interesting part of "Snow Country" for Dai Huan, "Shimamura feels like snow in the snow country, and the real situation of komako, the real life situation of the people in the snow country, is like the sludge under the snow." This novel is mainly about snow, it is really about snow, but it is not only about snow, but also about the sludge under the snow. "Combining snow and sludge, allowing the reader to find a balance between the lines, this is the biggest charm of this work that Dai Huan feels."
Zhou Wanjing was particularly fond of Yasunari Kawabata's late novel Mountain Sound. In the novel, there is a particularly interesting detail, the 210 days after Lichun, for the Japanese people will blow typhoons, and in "Mountain Sound", the author initially said that it is going to be 210 days in Lichun, and it may be a typhoon. Then, two chapters later, there was another typhoon, and the author said that there was no typhoon for 210 days, but it was blown the day before. In Zhou Wanjing's view, Yasunari Kawabata used a sentence to bring the terroir particularly clean, and this treatment has both time changes and japanese people's own observations of daily life, which is very exciting.
Yasunari Kawabata (Bunko ben), by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Ye Weiqu and Tang Yuemei, New Classic 丨Nanhai Publishing Company, February 2022 edition.
Why do you like "Mountain Sound"? Zhou Wanjing said that Yasunari Kawabata's introspection ability is very strong, which is rare among the average male author. Shingo in "Mountain Tone" is an old gentleman who lives in Kamakura. He said that he couldn't stand his wife Baozi snoring in his ear every night, and he would push her as soon as his wife snored. This plot Zhou Wanjing thinks is particularly true. At the same time, Zhou Wanjing said that Shingo also sincerely faced another female daughter-in-law in his family, Kikuko, and his attitude towards Kikuko was a bit like his previous attitude towards young girls, and Kikuko was more like his ideal daughter or woman should be, rather than his real daughter house. In the process, Zhou Wanjing felt a sense of restraint in Shingo, "There is a calm power. ”
"Women are the ones who can make him feel good"
People who are familiar with Kawabata Yasunari's works may have a feeling that Kawabata Yasunari likes to write about dancers, and likes to write about girls. So, how to understand the beauty of women in Yasunari Kawabata's pen? In this regard, Dai Huan said that in his reading feelings, Yasunari Kawabata always writes about a person's feelings, usually a male feeling, "When he expresses his feelings and memories, women are a presence that can cause him to feel good." ”
Two years before Yasunari Kawabata won the prize, The Japanese critic Ito recommended Yasunari Kawabata to the Nobel Prize judges. In his introduction, Ito said that Kawabata's works expressed his values. What are Yasunari Kawabata's values? It is that "life is like an illusion, only the memory of love and beauty is the most important." Here, Dai Huan prefers to change "memories of love and beauty" to "memories of true feelings and beauty", because the word "love" is different for everyone. Dai Huan believes that Yasunari Kawabata's literature is actually not writing people and stories, but writing people's memories and feelings about true feelings and love.
Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972)
Here, Dai Huan uses the short story "Water Moon" as an example. "Water Moon" tells how a mirror brings happiness to a couple in distress. In the story, the husband is sick in bed, and the wife takes care of him and wants to plant a vegetable field. The husband feels that his wife is happy in the vegetable field, but he feels very lonely. So the wife took a small mirror and put it on her husband's pillow, let him look at the vegetable field through the mirror, look at the outside world, and also look at the wife in the vegetable field, the world in the mirror brought a new nature and world to the husband, "In fact, the world in the mirror is a new world they created together with loving eyes." ”
Since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, Yasunari Kawabata's works have been read, understood and felt by generations of scholars and general readers. For us today, is there any significance in re-reading Yasunari Kawabata? Dai Huan said that she personally does not quite agree with Yasunari Kawabata's outlook on life, but he has a pair of eyes that find beauty and can help us find the art of life.
From the perspective of a female reader, Zhou Wanjing believes that she can give Yasunari Kawabata a chance to see him describe women. When you re-read Snow Country, you will find that when the colt screams to save the leaves, there is something different, this character is not a paper man. Zhou Wanjing said that the character of Komako is a very powerful woman, releasing all the things about her fiancé, about the leaves, and about the master that she had been hiding and bearing before at that moment.
Here, Zhou Wanjing agrees with Dai Huan's point of view, "She broke through and rushed out of Shimamura's emotions, and Shimamura could no longer cover her, so I think it is very wonderful to realize herself." Although the ending is a bit dramatic, I think it is also true, because this character figure stands here, so many women in it can read it again. "In "The Dancer of Izu", when you see Ah Xun, what does she look like? Like a small sycamore. Zhou Wanjing said that if you feel yasunari Kawabata's emotions related to nature, you will find that his depiction of women is still wonderful.
In addition, Zhou Wanjing believes that for readers and young writers, how to find the point of inheritance and retrospection in their own country and national culture, and write out that point, Yasunari Kawabata is definitely of reference significance. Of course, Zhou Wanjing also stressed, "Don't underestimate another writer in China, Shen Congwen. Cuicui in "Border City" can be read together with "Snow Country"; "The Dancing Girl of Izu" can be read together with Shen Congwen's "Husband". She further said that Shen Congwen's writing about the state of nature is no less than that of Yasunari Kawabata.
Author 丨He An'an
Editor 丨 Zhang Ting
Proofreading 丨 Liu Baoqing