The Old Capital

Rating:
Summary: a different perspective on life
Review: I have enjoyed reading Japanese novels lately and I am certainly aware that our cultures are different. "The Old Capital" makes that even clearer. Consider the plot. A teenage girl discovers that her parents stole her from another family when she was an infant. She discovers this, more or less, as the result of meeting her twin sister. They become acquainted with one another and even confuse a young man who couldn't keep track of who was who. There is certainly a lot that can be done with that concept. Yet in Yasunari Kawabata's highly acclaimed novel, the reader is given the sense that there is no shock when the main character discovers these thing. Indeed, there seems to be more emotion expended over the selection for a Kimono pattern. I found myself enjoying the novel yet trying to comprehend this radically different perspective on life. I haven't figured out the Japanese mind as yet but "The Old Capital" is another step along what has proven to be an interesting journey to find out.

Rating:
Summary: a departure, but still beautiful
Review: rather than the usual study of twisted eroticism and revenge, this story is amazingly calm, gentle but still wonderfully crafted. the emotions of muted longing and subtle sadness match perfectly with the descriptions of kyoto. well worth a read for kawabata fans.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful... just wonderful...
Review: This is my favorite Kawabata book and I've read quite a few. I think it is much better than more famous "Snow Country". It is also much more complex than other Kawabata books, which are somewhat similar in their repetitive descriptions of the relationship between weak man and unhappy woman. This book is mysterious, eerie, awe-inspiring, beautiful, touchingly tender and somewhat weird. At the center of the story is two female twins, their incomprehensible inner universes and strange sensibilities. "Old Capital" is Kyoto - ancient center of Japan and cradle of the beautiful Heian culture. The city is portrayed as a place where past is mixed with present and aestetical sensitivities is combined with everyday routine of protagonists, who are but simple people with their life centered around family, work and small bussinesses.

Reading this book in both Russian and English translations made me realize that a lot of meanings in the book are lost when it is translated in English, because of the complex system of dialogues where the manner of speech is changed accordingly to the status of people conversing and their relationship to each other. Russian, being a much more hierarhical and polite language than English, produces better translation, but than again - as I dont know Japanese, I cant really say how much inferior the translation is compared to the original work.