an electric avalanche warning system. Kawabata saw no conflict between the modern and the traditional, but saw modern inventions as part of the traditional Japan. This can be seen in the train scene, at the very beginning of the novel, during which the protagonist observes the beautiful eyes of the female passenger. The electric light of the train thus facilitates traditional esthetic expression. Various modern inventions are treated as a normal part of life in the rustic onsen town. Beauty This novel, like others Kawabata wrote, vividly depicts the psychic cost of aesthetic appreciation, as well as its effect on minds susceptible to beauty. The protagonist of the novel is often taken out of the real world and into the dream world of his own mind after witnessing beauty. Furthermore, this beauty makes the oblivious to the world around them: e.g. after observing Yoko's eyes in the train, or seeing the Milky Way during the fire at the end of the novel. This beauty often leads to Shimamura acting cold or cruel, as when he calls Komako a "good woman" after observing her in the moonlight. It can also be noted that all depictions of beauty in the novel include an element of sadness: loneliness in the beauty of nature, sadness in Yoko's beautiful voice, wasted beauty of Komako, as well as the wasted effort in an act of love. Reception Edward Seidensticker, noted scholar of Japanese literature whose English translation of the novel was published in 1956, described the work as "perhaps Kawabata's masterpiece." According to him, the novel reminds one of haiku, both for its many delicate contrapuntal touches and its use of brief scenes to tell a larger story. Snow Country received favorable reviews both at time of its publishing, and over the following years. The Times stated: "He has fashioned an idyll out of unpromising material," while Eileen Fraser of the Times Literary Supplement said of "Mr. Kawabata's beautifully economical novel," "This is a finely written book, excellently translated." Jason Cowley has called Snow Country "...perhaps his finest work." References Bibliography Revised in 2003. Publication history 1956, Snow Country. New York: Knopf. OCLC: 3623808. Paperback. (translated by Edward G. Seidensticker). 1957, Snow Country. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle. OCLC: 29197673. Paperback. 1986, Snow Country and Thousand Cranes. UK: Penguin. . Paperback. 1996, Snow Country. New York: Vintage. . Paperback. External links 1935 short stories 1948 novels Japanese-language