and the women who are looked at in the text also look for themselves through the eyes of the hero. The Lake is not only about the male protagonist's journey of self-awareness, but also about the struggle of women to awaken to themselves as subjects and not necessarily as objects of gaze and desire. References 1954 novels Japanese-language novels 20th-century Japanese novels Novels by Yasunari Kawabata Novels set in Nagano Prefecture Novels set in Tokyo