House Of The Sleeping Beauties And Other Stories

Three Excellent Stories Addressing The Interaction Between Romantic Ambition And Reality In A LonerS Mind From JapanS First Nobel Laureate For Literature. The Woman Of The Home Warned Old Eguchi Not To Do Anything Improper. He Was Not Allowed To Try Anything Similar, Including Sticking His Finger In The Sleeping GirlS Mouth. Eguchi Begins His Life As A Member Of A Covert Society For Elderly Guys Who Have Lost Their Sexual Prowess With His Vow To Follow The Rules. They Engage In Their Final Pleasure At An Inn Outside Of Tokyo, Lying With Lovely Young Women Who Are Already Naked When The Men Arrive. The Surprised Reader Learns When House Of The Sleeping Beauties Is Revealed In KawabataS Deft Prose That Sexual Excitement Is The Outcome Of Flirting With Death Rather Than Rejuvenescence. All Three Of The Stories In This Collection Revolve Around A Lone Protagonist And His Distinctive Brand Of Erotica. In Each, The Author Examines How Fantasy And Reality Interact In A Solitary Mind: In House Of The Sleeping Beauties, The Elderly Eguchi And His Covert Visits To His Club; In One Arm, The Peculiar Dialogue Of A Man With The Arm Of A Young Girl; And In Of Birds And Beasts, A MiddleAged ManS Memories Of An Affair With A Dancer Mixed With Hints Of His Abnormal Attachment To His Pets. These Stories Are All Published For The First Time In English Outside Of Japan. One Of KawabataS Earlier Works Is Of Birds And Beasts, Written In The Early 1930S. His Later Works Include One Arm And House Of The Sleeping Beauties, Which Yukio Mishima Has Praised As His Greatest.