Japan is a
majestic country, the winter time is harsh but magical. The novel “Snow
Country” tells the mystic story of love and disappointment, the forgotten time
which is somewhere in the air … the life which is closed in the abyss of
memories. The life is harsh, as harsh as the winter, as cold as winds that blow
and sweep away the hope, the tears and the smile. Harsh winter eventually eases and welcomes
hot-spring, the spring symbolizes not only the rebirth of the frozen land but
also fertility and love, something unstoppable and wonderful, something that
happens only once in a life time. The girl who experiences it is now ( at the
very beginning of the book) a mysterious girl, someone the reader is eager to
meet, to follow, even to fall in love with.
“…
The snowy cold poured in. Leaning far out in the window, the girl called out of
the station master as though he were a great distance away. The station master
walked slowly over the snow, a lantern in his hand. His face was buried to the
nose in a muffler… (…) It is that cold …”
“…
‘The Girl’ something in her manner suggested an unmarried girl…”
The novel
concentrates on the landscape descriptions which are meticulous, beautiful,
extremely picturesque. The title refers to the notion “… white under the
dark sky…”. The narrator seems to be an experienced man, an observant, what
intrigues him is a friendship, a relation between a very young girl and her
fellow she looks after. To his notion she is far too young and far too
inexperienced to be accompanied by him, surely she is unmarried. Shimamura
observes, judges and with photographic exactitude remembers and records the
gestures, body language of his companions. He wants to remember every single
detail.
“…
The girl leaned attentively forward, looking down at the man before her (…) her
strength was gathered in her shoulders that the suggestion of fierceness in her
eyes was but a sign if an intentness that
did not permit her to blink …” The narrator sees an “inexpressible beauty…”
The narrator
is a bit annoyed by the manner the girl
is looking after her companion, the routine that is so repetitive it could kill
with boredom. The narrator needs a companion himself, he is tired with loneliness
and “everlasting reading” of the images. For that reason he starts an affair
with a geisha – Komako. The affair is an abyss both of the lovers are tired of
but afraid to break up in order not to sink in loneliness again.
“…He
found himself longing for a companion. It was therefore friendship more than
anything else that he felt for a woman …”
Shimamura
background is deeply focusing, he has got a family in Tokyo, he is well-read, well-acknowledged
gentleman, an intriguing character. His attraction to the sick man he traveled
with, the young girl who was looking after the sick man –Yoko and Komako has got a universal
meaning, it is love, it is a triangle of unshakable friendship and
understanding. He is enchanted by the beauty of Yoko, her strength and her
innocence.
He is also an entrepreneur,
he looks for a new industrial opportunities, new branches of investment and development. He is not afraid to
take the risk, to take the advantage to build something new and strong, he
wants to give people the opportunities to grow, to live, to thrive.
The “Snow
Country” tells the story of reflections and passion, the story of untold love,
admired beauty that happens only once. The winter so much admired by Yoko
brings her her fate, the heavy snowfall led to a tragedy, Yoko falls down from
one of the warehouse balconies, the reader will never find out whether she is
dead or alive, instead, reads about the pain, the pain roars in description so
vividly like a rainbow.
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