- Paperback: 168 pages
- Publisher: Kodansha America; Reprint edition (Oct 17 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0870113658
- ISBN-13: 978-0870113659
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 10.9 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,139,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"... one senses here the presence of an intensely Japanese, yet universal, master of the erotic. " -- SR/World
"A work of so unusual a nature as to throw new light on the whole of Kawabata's distinguished career." -- Donald Keene
"Compact and immense ... hypnotic and shocking." -- New York Times Book Review
"Seizes the reader's imagination from the first page...." -- Village Voice
"This unusual and striking story probes the mysterious relation between beauty and evil." -- Publishers Weekly
"A work of so unusual a nature as to throw new light on the whole of Kawabata's distinguished career." -- Donald Keene
"Compact and immense ... hypnotic and shocking." -- New York Times Book Review
"Seizes the reader's imagination from the first page...." -- Village Voice
"This unusual and striking story probes the mysterious relation between beauty and evil." -- Publishers Weekly
Book Description
The Lake is the history of an obsession. It traces a man's sad pursuit of an unattainable perfection, a beauty out of reach, admired from a distance, unconsummated. Homeless, a fugitive from an ambiguous crime, his is an incurable longing that drives him to shadow nameless women in the street and hide in ditches as they pass above him, beautiful and aloof. For their beauty is not of this world, but of a dream--the voice of a girl he meets in a Turkish bath is "an angel's," the figures of two students he follows seem to "glide over the green grass that hid their knees." Reality is the durable ugliness that is his constant companion and is symbolized in the grotesque deformity of the hero's feet. And it is the irreconcilable nature of these worlds that explains the strangely dehumanized, shadowy quality of the eroticism that pervades this novel.
In a sense The Lake is a formless novel, a "happening," making it one of the most modern of all Kawabata's works. Just as the hero's interest might be caught by some passing stranger, so the course of the novel swerves abruptly from present to past, memory shades into hallucination, dreams break suddenly into daylight. It is an extraordinary performance of free association, made all the more astonishing for the skill with which these fragments are resolved within the completed tapestry.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Gimpei Momoi arrived in Karuizawa at the end of the summer season, although up there it seemed more like autumn. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Gimpei Momoi arrived in Karuizawa at the end of the summer season, although up there it seemed more like autumn. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Chasing real life.,
By
This review is from: Lake (Paperback)
The main character of this novel, Gimpei, chases unsuccessfully young girls with eyes like a lake. His father also drowned in a lake.The lake is a symbol for life. Gimpei is chasing real life, but can't conquer it. His deformed feet, soiled by all possible infamies of the world, are a symbol of his Sisyphus run. He abandons a prostitute with a child. This novel with an unsympathetic protagonist is captivating because of its poetic vigour.
4.0 out of 5 stars
somewhat memorable,
By
This review is from: Lake (Paperback)
This _The Lake_ is not as well known as Yasunari's _Master of Go_ or _Snow Country_, but I found it a pleasant and profound reading experience.It's the story of Ginpei. He is a former schoolteacher who has been dismissed for having a relationship with a student, or making advances to a student. Ginpei is truly pathetic; he is more or less an ordinary guy, but he truly cannot help himself. He follows around women all the time. He is truly seeking some kind of affection from women, and needs a boost to his confidence. He thinks he is ugly, and he had feet which look like the feet of a monkey. The story itself is not exciting or extraordinary, but Yasunari probes the soul of Ginpei to provide a very interesting character study. Also the author does a very fine job of describing nature, whether it be lakes, trees, streams, etc. Perhaps this is not the masterpiece by Yasunari. I suppose that title falls to one of the other novels. But _The Lake_ is a good solid novel (although it is short on plot) and not a bad introduction to the author. ken32
5.0 out of 5 stars
It Stays With You,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lake (Paperback)
I have read other books by Kawabata and "The Lake" is generally not considered one of his best works but this was the one that had the most effect on me. It stayed with me like a pleasant sunny afternoon that suddenly erupts into rain or an acquaintance that reveals a disturbing side to their personality. Make no mistake. This is a shocking book made even more so by the relaxed Knut Hamsun-style narrative tone and the sensuality of the natural world surrounding the characters (more on display in "Snow Country"). Like Henry Miller with a conscience, Kawabata tells the story of sad, perverse, complex schoolteacher Gimpei with a tone that most reminds me of "Victoria" by Hamsun. The relationship between him and his female student Hisako is memorable. What I most liked is the author's refusal to cop out and produce a neat, conventional ending. Nothing is resolved (as it should be).
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