What is a National Writer? On Yasunari Kawabata: Focusing on “Thousand Cranes”

Abstract

Today I will talk about a Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) and his novel “Thousand Cranes” (1949) which is used as a material of “Foreign Literature” at Ukrainian schools. The theoretical topic of my lecture will be “What is a national writer?” As the first Japanese Nobel Prize winning author, Kawabata once played a prominent role as a national writer and is still regarded as one of the most important writers who helped create modern Japanese literature. But what is a national writer? What is s/he expected to create? What conditions does s/he have to meet to be regarded “national”? And lastly why do we need a national writer? I think these questions will be relevant for many countries including Ukraine. My speech will consist of three parts: 1) introduction, 2) the general features of Kawabata’s literary works, 3) “Thousand Cranes” as the novel by a national writer.