Customer Reviews

House of the Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories (Japans Modern Writers)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories" contains three variations on the same theme, encompassing the soul-sick loneliness of old age, and the longing for ideal companionship, one with no judgments or confrontation, but merely peace and the contentment that comes from loving someone. According to Kawabata, this longing increases with age, and one romances ghosts from the past, using the present to conjure up their memories from the depths of a forgetting mind.

The leading story, "House of the Sleeping Beauties," is among the best, most powerful Kawabata stories I have ever read. It shows an author in full command of his style, able to arouse a startling depth of emotion using a limited palette of words and scenery. The story is simple in conception, disturbingly erotic in nature, and stunning in execution. An old woman runs a brothel for impotent old men, housing unnaturally sleeping virgins who have no performance expectations of the old man, nor incriminations for their inabilities. The old men may lie with them, hold them and drink in their youth and beauty free from the hard reality of their own impotence. The sleeping girls will never know who was with them, or what was done. The only forbidden act is sex.

The story is pure eros without sex, the desire of the impotent. The leading figure in the tale, Eguchi is "still able to function as a man," unbeknownst to the brothel keeper. He knows what it is to desire more than the girls are willing to give, and the tension between his desires, the rules of the house, and the depressing reality of Eguchi's future impotence combine and take form under Kawabata's guiding hand. With each girl he sleeps next to, Eguchi wanders through his memories, remembering his youth and the girls he shared it with. Such a story can only come to one ending, and reality comes crashing into his fantasy. A stark and gripping tale.

The remaining stories, "One Arm" and "Of Birds and Beasts," suffer in the aftermath of the powerful "House of the Sleeping Beauties." "One Arm" in particular is a disappointment, perhaps due to its too-surreal situation, and an old man who borrows a young woman's arm (given quite willingly) then proceeds to romance and fall in love with the limb. As with "House of the Sleeping Beauties," this is eros without sex, desire without lust, but it lacks the honesty and fantasy/reality blend that makes the former story so strong.

"Of Birds and Beasts" is good enough, and a better story than "One Arm." Completely lacking in eroticism, this is another tale of an old man who seeks companionship, this time in all sorts of dogs and birds. His house is full with his menagerie, and he and his lone maid tend to the creatures with something less than love. Each new animal holds his attention for a few weeks at most, before it is filed away and forgotten in the background. Like "House of the Sleeping Beauties," each new animal summons up memories, this time of the birds that the old man kept accidentally killing, then buying a new set. A sad and lonely story to be sure, but with the same emotional depth one expects from Kawabata.

"House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories" is worth buying for the lead story alone, which is widely considered amongst Kawabata's finest. Author Yukio Mishima ("The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea") considered it his personal favorite. Edward Seidensticker's translation is subtle and enjoyable, far superior to his somewhat heavy handed translation of "Snow Country."

Kawabata's magisterial short novel is a beautiful but sad reverie about life and death, young and old, sex and coming impotence.

Sleeping with sleeping girls ('a deathlike sleep') was 'a fleeting consolation, the pursuit of a vanished happiness in being alive.'
'The sleeping beauties are for an old man the recovery of life, but also a sadness ... that called up a longing for death. The aged have death and the young have love, and death comes once, and love comes over and over again.'

Kawabata's writing is subtle (the old man is tempted to breach the house rules) and intimistic (the descriptions of the ethereal bodies of the sleeping virgins).
But, as the great Japanese writer Yukio Mishima expresses it perfectly in his introduction, this book is a pregnant reflection on 'the terror of lust by the approach of death.'
A masterpiece.

Every time I enter the realm of magical realism I feel as though there's no going back. The intense and sometimes disturbing descriptions in the stories make you think and reflect on the surrealism and powerful message behind the writing. Having read House of the Sleeping Beauties, I realize that no other category of literature is as profound as this one. I love all of the stories in this book, especially "One Arm." This incredible and strange story awed me. There is a recurring theme in the stories: men's perverse obsession with women, particularly young girls. The message is very ambiguous, which means that you have to read between the lines in order to grasp the meaning. Yasunari Kawabata's work is very similar to Banana Yoshimoto's. These Japanese authors write stories filled with interesting language and mystical messages. I strongly suggest that you read this!

These strange and haunting stories of strange love are written with a disturbingly quiet and even hand. It's a genius read. Kawabata is the master of beautiful disaffection. His characters do not feel pain when you think they should, and one recoils, but is drawn back in to the stories. At the core of Kawabata's work is a pessimism about the value of life itself-even while the protagonists are involved in secret obsessions. Fascinating, beautifully written, haunting.

these 3 short stories are masterpieces of twisted erotica and deep psychological insight as only kawabata could create. i never tire of kawabata's juxtaposition of the beauty of japan and the complex, tormented minds of his characters. why do japanese masterpieces like this always translate into such gripping english? seidensticker deserves high praise for rendering this work with such grace.

In three short stories, Kawabata creates a world that is chilling, uniquely lonely and undoubtedly beautiful. He makes bizarre possibilities (parting with an arm for the night, for instance) seem part of the flow of normal life - outliers, perhaps, but part of the usual. Each story makes ones ears buzz and eyes widen. Masterpieces all.

By all means read the stories when you're young. The exquisitely sparse prose, even in translation, takes on the plasticity of Japanese pottery.

But the full impact of the book--especially the lead story--would only be felt with a little aging. Once, I would have considered the actions of the vampish old men despicable. Now I empathize with their quiet desperation.

In House Of Sleeping Beauties, beauty and death lie side by side in the same room. Old Eguchi, the protagonist, resuscitates the remnants of his youthful sexuality in physically manipulating sleeping girls like inflatable dolls. The one-way communication both excites and repulses him.

Eguchi and his horde of old companions descend upon the hapless girls with fangs creeping out from every pore of their skin. Like eunuchs, they substitute their impotence with sexual aggression of mind and spirit. The withered, rotting flesh of the old men press against the fragrantly smooth skin of the young girls, sucking life out of them through osmos-synthesis. It's an act drenched with desperation and vulgarity. But this clinging on to life at all costs is a basic fact of existence. Life feeds on life.

Read the stories when you're older and feel a shiver run down your spine.

This is an excellent story, although it is a little different from much of Kawabata's work. I gave this book four stars only because of the bizarre nature of the "other" stories. The main story is outstanding, written with wonderful detail and descriptive prose. It is an intriguing story that will hold your attention until the end. It is well worth purchasing the book for that story alone. Kawabata has a way of examining human feelings and exposing those elements that are common to all people. His characters often have me visualizing concrete individuals that I have known, including myself. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a touch of eroticism that stimulates both the higher and lower recesses of human nature. I would caution readers that the introduction by Yukio Mishima contains spoiler material, and should perhaps be read after reading the first story.

I enjoyed the writing style, poetic and eerie. But the overall creepiness kinda got to me. I knew what I would get going into this, but I couldn't read the whole thing myself, just the first story. I would, however recommenced the book if for no other reason to push your boundaries.

I was a little reluctant to begin this book, but proceeded anyway, and was blown away by its haunting beauty. Despite the premise, I did not find the title story at all erotic. While Eguchi likes to think of himself as not yet old and senile, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that his self-awareness is suspect. The old procuress who first ushers him to the crimson velvet room tells him, "listen to the waves. And the wind" and initially, when Eguchi feels the stirrings of passion, the wind roars and the waves crash. The reader questions, are they real, external? or internal? As the story progresses and Eguchi begins to be more at peace, the roaring wind and crashing waves give way to soft raindrops on a quiet sea, or gentle breeze and fallen leaves.

I think it's a mistake to read this novella on a purely literal level. In my opinion, the story is less about an old man paying to sleep with naked girls than it is about a dying man coming to terms with death. By the end of the book, the reader may question whether the events were real, whether Eguchi is in a "house of sleeping beauties" or a "house of old men" (page 92), a nursing home where he hallucinates between daily medications.

The novella succeeds beautifully on several levels, and the writing is masterful. Pay attention to details, to the 'petal dropping camellia' and the overwhelming red dahlias, to the seasons and the 'reproductions' on the wall.

A beauty of a story if you can set aside your distaste for the premise on the surface.