Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

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First English-language collection
(publ. North Point Press, 1988)

Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (掌の小説, Tenohira no shōsetsu or Tanagokoro no shōsetsu[a]) is the name Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata gave to 146 short stories he wrote during his long career.[1][2][3] The earliest stories were published in the early 1920s, with the last appearing posthumously in 1972. The first Japanese edition to collect these stories appeared in 1971.[4] The title refers to the brevity of the stories – many of which are only two to three pages long – which would "virtually fit into the palm of the hand".[3]

Style and themes[]

For Susan J. Napier in the Monumenta Nipponica, Kawabata's brief stories express the facets of his novels, while at the same time "providing an intensity of focus that is the essence of Kawabata's celebrated 'haiku-esque' style", working with "evocations and suggestions".[3] Often, the stories focus "on feelings rather than understanding", presenting "the chaos of the human heart", and depict "epiphanies, transformations and revelations".[5] Reviewers also pointed out a "delicate lyricism"[1] and "warmth and fragility" as well as a "cool formalism" and "sharp experimental intention and edge".[2] Kawabata reportedly claimed to feel most at ease with the short-story form[3] and explained that, while other writers tended to writing poetry in their early years, he wrote his Palm-of-the-Hand Stories.[2]

English translations[]

In 1988, North Point Press published the first substantial volume of English translations as Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (scattered individual stories had previously appeared in English). It contained a total of 70 stories drawn from the early 1920s until Kawabata's death in 1972, translated by and J. Martin Holman.[2][6][5]

In 1998, Holman's translations of another 20 of the Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, that had been published originally in Japanese before 1930, appeared in the anthology The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories, published by Counterpoint Press.[7]

Adaptations[]

The story Thank You was adapted for the film Mr. Thank You by director Hiroshi Shimizu in 1936.[8]

Four stories from Palm-of-the-Hand Stories were adapted for an anthology film of the same title that premiered in October 2009 at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was officially released on 27 March 2010. The film contained the stories The Man Who Does Not Laugh, Thank You, Japanese Anna, and Immortality, with each episode directed by a different director (Kishimoto Tsukasa, Miyake Nobuyuki, Tsubokawa Takushi, and Takahashi Yuya).[9]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Kawabata preferred the reading tanagokoro for the 掌 character.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Metevelis, Peter (April 1994). Translating Kawabata's Thenar stories. 41/#2. Tokyo: Japan Quarterly. p. 181. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Anderer, Paul (November 1989). "Book Reviews–Japan". The Journal of Asian Studies. 48/#4. pp. 865–866. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Napier, Susan J. (Spring 1989). "Book Reviews". Monumenta Nipponica. 44/#1. Tokyo: Sophia University. pp. 113–115. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  4. ^ Kawabata, Yasunari (1971). 掌の小説 (Palm-of-the-Hand Stories). Shincho Bunko.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Bradbury, William (4 July 2015). "Yasunari Kawabata's 'Palm-of-the-Hand Stories' are taut tales of the human heart". The Japan Times. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Palm-of-the-hand stories". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  7. ^ "The dancing girl of Izu and other stories". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  8. ^ "有りがたうさん (Mr. Thank You)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  9. ^ "掌の小説 (Palm-of-the-Hand Stories)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 July 2021.
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