| The Master of Go Contributor(s): Kawabata, Yasunari (Author) |
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ISBN: 0679761063 ISBN-13: 9780679761068 Publisher: Vintage OUR PRICE: $15.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 1996 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Literary Criticism | Asian - General - Fiction | Historical - General |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Lexile Measure: 950 |
| Series: Vintage International |
| Physical Information: 0.55" H x 4.56" W x 8.49" (0.47 lbs) 208 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Go is a game of strategy in which two players attempt to surround each other's black or white stones. Simple in its fundamentals, infinitely complex in its execution, Go is an essential expression of the Japanese spirit. And in his fictional chronicle of a match played between a revered and heretofore invincible Master and a younger, more modern challenger, Yasunari Kawabata captured the moment in which the immutable traditions of imperial Japan met the onslaught of the twentieth century. The competition between the Master of Go and his opponent, Otak , is waged over several months and layered in ceremony. But beneath the game's decorum lie tensions that consume not only the players themselves but their families and retainers--tensions that turn this particular contest into a duel that can only end in death. Luminous in its detail, both suspenseful and serene, The Master of Go is an elegy for an entire society, written with the poetic economy and psychological acumen that brought Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature. Translated from the Japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker |