Yasunari Kawabata
Biography
a Japanese novelist, born June 11, 1899, in Osaka, and who studied at Tokyo Imperial University, died April 16, 1972. Considered one of the greatest Japanese novelists and first to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature wayback 1968, he won because they cited that his "narrative mastership, which great sensibility expresses the Japanese mind." In the 1920's he was known to be with a group of young writers known as neosensationists, who used lyricism and impressionnism and favored over the prevalent social realism. He began being a standbearer for European expressionism in Japan. He gradually evolved his own painstaking, episodic style. He sometimes made himself concerned in exploring loneliness, that resulted in a remarkable probing of the feminine mind and other exploits of human sexuality. HIs lyricism was shown, beginning with "The Dancing Girl of Izu" and continued with "Snow Country", that is all about a self-centered businessman, and is best known among Western readers. Other works include, "Thousand Cranes", "The Sound of the Mountain", "The Master of Go", and "The Old Capital". Ill and depressed he took his life in his own hands in 1972.
References:
1. Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia
2. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge
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