Yasunari Kawabata

  • 6

    Catalog books

  • 8

    Works

  • 1980 to 2006

    Strongest span

Who This Author Is

Yasunari Kawabata’s short prose distills emotion and image into spare, shimmering moments. Palm-of-the-Hand Stories gathers compact pieces that move between memory and sensation—each tale a small, precise encounter that reveals longing, loss, and the fragile beauty of everyday life without exposition or flourish.

Across these brief narratives Kawabata favors suggestion over explanation, crafting scenes that linger like a single, sustained breath. The stories’ quiet surfaces conceal tense currents of desire and regret, inviting readers to slow down and read between lines where meaning accumulates in gesture, landscape, and silence.

Best Place To Start

Author At A Glance

Best known for: Concise, poetic short fiction • Subtle explorations of memory and loss • Evocative sensory detail

Genres and themes: Short stories • Modernist prose • Intimacy and longing • Nature and impermanence

Who this author is best for: Good for readers who prefer lyrical, compressed writing that rewards slow, attentive reading.

Start with the Palm-of-the-Hand Stories collection to sample many of his brief, polished pieces and identify themes you want to explore further.

Top Books To Start With

  1. House of the Sleeping Beauties - and Other Stories

    Kodansha Amer Inc • 1993 • quick commitment

    UPB note: one of the most common used-copy publishers for this author • year signal: 1993 • 152 pages.

  2. The Lake

    Kodansha Amer Inc • 1980 • quick commitment

    UPB note: one of the most common used-copy publishers for this author • year signal: 1980 • 168 pages.

  3. Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

    Farrar Straus & Giroux • 2006 • standard commitment

    It helps anchor a specific period of this author’s publishing run instead of blending into the undated shelf clutter.

  4. The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories

    Counterpoint • 1998 • quick commitment

    UPB note: year signal: 1998 • 161 pages.

  5. Beauty and Sadness

    Random House Inc • 1996 • standard commitment

    UPB note: year signal: 1996 • 206 pages.

  6. Thousand Cranes

    Random House Inc • 1996 • quick commitment

    UPB note: year signal: 1996 • 147 pages.

How The Picks Compare

  • House of the Sleeping Beauties - and Other Stories is the easier short commitment, while The Lake asks for more reading time up front.
  • The Lake gives you an earlier look at this author’s shelf, while House of the Sleeping Beauties - and Other Stories leans later in the catalog.
  • Palm-of-the-Hand Stories is also useful if you want a different publishing lane from House of the Sleeping Beauties - and Other Stories.

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