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60th out of 239 books
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The Master of Go
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 invinvible Master and a younger and more modern challenger, Yasunari Kaw...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
May 28th 1996
by Vintage
(first published 1954)
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How Kawabata combines a journalistic narrative voice with such a rich literary tradition baffles me more than the intricate game of Go and it's complex representation of the structural game in society the novel is supposed to explore, and what a beautiful structure Kawabata takes us through, peeling such thin layers of meaning with each inflection and each crafty Go move between the classic master and the iconoclast challenger.
With no such intention in mind, I rather fell out of the frying pan on this one. I had to get away from Yourcenar and a glance at the shelves made me think nothing could be further from Hadrian than a book about Go.
My very first Go move, and it’s a mistake. There I was, reading yet another book where the author has taken a true story and turned it into a novel. Yet another book where admiring fans talk of how real the novel is. I'm a historian, so the whole idea of the biopic, or bio...more
My very first Go move, and it’s a mistake. There I was, reading yet another book where the author has taken a true story and turned it into a novel. Yet another book where admiring fans talk of how real the novel is. I'm a historian, so the whole idea of the biopic, or bio...more
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Short review: The Master of Go, go nowhere fast...
Long:
An account of a legendary game of 'go," an ultra-complex Japanese strategy board game that has been compared to chess but which, evidently, is infinitely more complex. The game occured between a sort of an old grand master and a younger, less-rated opponent for half a year in 1938. A break for illness by the old man in the fall foreshadowed his own loss of the game and his death soon thereafter. None of this is a spoil...more
Long:
An account of a legendary game of 'go," an ultra-complex Japanese strategy board game that has been compared to chess but which, evidently, is infinitely more complex. The game occured between a sort of an old grand master and a younger, less-rated opponent for half a year in 1938. A break for illness by the old man in the fall foreshadowed his own loss of the game and his death soon thereafter. None of this is a spoil...more
One sign of a master writer is the ability to match subject and style. I can think of no better example of this than The Master of Go, by Kawabata. The careful elegance of Kawabata's writing slowly, almost imperceptibly, creates layers and patterns of meaning in a very similar way to how a game of go might develop. To the untutored eye, the first stones placed on the board seem to fall at random, but the master already sees the battle to come and these first stones plant the seeds of the war. So...more
Gran libro para iniciar el año. Lo empecé a leer hace unas semanas y desde que lo tomé entre mis manos, no quería soltarlo. Por desgracia tuve que dejarlo por asuntos personales (mudanzas, limpieza, trabajo, doctores)pero cada vez que tenía la oportunidad, regresaba a él con el mismo ánimo. Ayer que al fin terminé de mudarme, me senté en MI sillón de lecturas y lo terminé. Es increíble como, narrando sólo una partida de Go y diciendo de antemano los resultados, se pueda escribir una novela tan e...more
Ce livre relate le dernier tournoi d'un grand maître du jeu de Go. Le jeu de Go est un jeu peu connu en Occident mais très populaire dans les pays asiatiques, principalement au Japon en Chine et en Corée. Il est articulé autour de règles très simples mais paradoxalement extrêmement complexes à maîtriser. Pour illustrer cela, on peut évoquer les programmes informatiques joueurs. S'ils sont capables de surpasser aux échecs les plus grands maîtres - on se rappelle de Deep Blue -, ils ne parviennent...more
This novel was a true surprise and unlike any I have read with respect to its structure. Kawabata's narrator is a Go reporter for Tokyo's Nichinichi newspaper, which has put up a large purse for Japan's greatest Go master to play a final sunset game against the best challenger drawn from a tournament of top players.
The game itself is no fiction, and is a historical match played by only lightly fictionalized participants. The "color commentary" Kawabata invents for the newsp...more
The game itself is no fiction, and is a historical match played by only lightly fictionalized participants. The "color commentary" Kawabata invents for the newsp...more
Its just a game; get over it! Apparently not when the game is Go and the Master of the game, a figure revered by the author as if a prophet (the episode about the single strand of hair on the Master's eyebrow treads on the hilarious, though), is playing his last fateful game against an upstart Otake. The author uses the backdrop of this single game to depict the lifestyle of a passing era in Japan. An era when a game was more than atheistically calculated 150 odd moves on a 19-by-19 matrix board...more
The Master of Go, by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata, is probably a richer literary experience for older Japanese readers than Western readers. The book is a fictionalized account of a six-month Go match between a physically failing, elderly Go master and a young upstart with visions of becoming Master. Set in 1938, the match seems to illustrate a shifting in Japanese culture, with the Master, schooled in the old ways, being discomforted by the style and attitude of the younger challenger.
...more
This book has a distinctly "Japanese-y" feel, which, if you haven't read much Japanese fiction (or seen many Japanese dramatic films) can be off-putting to Westerners. Among other things, the ending (and I've found this to be common in Japanese stories/movies) seems to come rather suddenly and offers little or no resolution. Someone once told me to approach Japanese literature from the perspective that the writer is trying to create a mood or vibe rather than tell a traditional Western...more
All of the subtlety and understated grace one expects from Kawabata, covering subject matter that is at once different and familiar.
One really gets a sense of the old world Japanese mentality, where discipline and self-sacrifice for a higher goal or 'art' garners vast amounts of respect. The Master of Go eventually sacrifices his life to his calling, but this is cast neither as a tragedy or a triumph by Kawabata -- rather it is the natural result of a life devoted to pushing one's l...more
One really gets a sense of the old world Japanese mentality, where discipline and self-sacrifice for a higher goal or 'art' garners vast amounts of respect. The Master of Go eventually sacrifices his life to his calling, but this is cast neither as a tragedy or a triumph by Kawabata -- rather it is the natural result of a life devoted to pushing one's l...more
Nick
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I am grateful ... because of Kawabata's writings, I now better understand the Japanese culture. I've read in his works about important Japanese traditions and symbols (the game of Go in this book, the tea ceremony in Thousand Cranes, the visiting of the hot springs in winter - in Snow Country). I am a GO player myself, so this book actually added value on another plan as well (i.e. the comments included in the novel are of technical value to me as a player). That being said, of course, these suc...more
I thought the Master of Go was a nice book. Nice. I can't say that it thrilled me to pieces, but then, every book doesn't have to be thrilling. My enjoyment may have been hindered by a lack of understanding of the game of Go. I gather it's one of those "minute to learn, lifetime to master" games. But still... I couldn't get over how they were playing chess in order to unwind after the Go match.
The most interesting theme to me was the young-versus-old conflict. This is why I...more
The most interesting theme to me was the young-versus-old conflict. This is why I...more
I likes all the descriptions of the game of Go itself, and some of the moments are compelling, but I think this one might just be a little too subtle and predicated on understanding Japanese culture for me to fully appreciate the nuance. Nice parallel between the development of the epic game between master and challenger and the reflection of their psychological states.
The Master of Go chronicles the progress of a championship Go match, one which spanned nearly half a year. When I picked out this book, I wondered will I need to know anything about the game Go for this book to meaningful to me? As I flipped through the pages I saw illustrations of the placement of the stones on the Go board showing the games progression. This was not encouraging. I was leery. My knowledge of Go would not make a hurdle for even a pygmy amoeba. Furthermore, I do not really like...more
When I told my husband that I was reading a book chronicling a Go match that happened over the course of six months, he looked at me with a 'huh' kind of face. If I hadn't heard of this book and somebody told me the same thing, I think I would have had the same reaction.
This book is really slow paced, with almost no plot involved except on how the game itself developed (complete with charts) and the deterioration of the Master's health as the game went along. There was an intriguing ...more
This book is really slow paced, with almost no plot involved except on how the game itself developed (complete with charts) and the deterioration of the Master's health as the game went along. There was an intriguing ...more
I cannot help but wonder whether I would have enjoyed the novel more if I had understood Go. Not just know how to play the game, but truly comprehend it as only a Japanese person could. And as this thought passes through my mind, I feel slightly saddened, because I really would have liked to completely lose myself in Kawabata's story. Instead, I flowed along for about two-thirds of it, and then it started wearing me down. In the eyes of a Go-player, the images of the updated game board that are ...more
This is an ultra-short literary novel fictionalising the famous Go match between Honinbou Shuusai and Kitani (renamed "Otake" in this novel), considered by the author (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968) as his finest work. Go is a game simpler yet far deeper than Chess; as an indication, the eponymous master (Meijin) Shuusai plays Shougi (Japanese Chess) - a game more complex and deeper than Chess - to relax during breaks.
In this version of events, Shuusai is a...more
In this version of events, Shuusai is a...more
Kawabata's novel is a semi-fictionalized account of a Go match that took place in the late 1930s between an undefeated Go master and his challenger. For a non-Go player (like me), the book will be more of an abstract character study of the differences and conflicts between the two players. Kawabata characterizes the tension of the match and parallels that tension with the societal tension of Japan of the time. Meiji/Taisho Japan vs. Showa era; feudal and aristocratic vs. scientific and techno...more
Mm, no actualizo desde ¿junio? Ahora va a ser difícil recordar todos los libros que he leído. Este lo acabo de terminar, no mucho que decir, lo que más me gusta, más allá de la sensación de perdida y ruptura del Japón tradicional hacía el Japón moderno, representados en el maestro de Go y su rival, lo que más me gusta, decía, es la compasión humana que Kawabata muestra por todos los personajes. Tanto el maestro como Otake son bañados de comprensión por la mano del escritor. Es grande la precisió...more
A wonderful tale that brings to light the passing of the guard from the old era into the new. Through this tale of the Master's last match we see this passing. The game of Go is changing, with new rules, such as the "Sealed play". With these new rules, come new tactics. It is these tactics that win the game for the younger player. The Master sees the game as a piece of art. He is upset by the smearing of the canvass by play 131. He makes the fatal error at play 140.
The story...more
The story...more
A brilliant book, looking at the last competitive game of the elderly twenty-first holder of the Honinbou title against a young challenger. The novel balances scenes that develop characterization (both during and outside the game) with the exigencies of a plot that hinges upon the measured placement of successive go stones.
The familiar metaphors of go as battle and go as conversation are explored deftly in several scenes, while elsewhere the narrative takes a pragmatic look at the mi...more
The familiar metaphors of go as battle and go as conversation are explored deftly in several scenes, while elsewhere the narrative takes a pragmatic look at the mi...more
One of the most boring books ever. My version had an intro on how the book was a commentary on the Old Japan versus the New Japan of pre WWII years. Generally, books with agendas turn me off for many reasons. Even outside of this I think the subtleties were lost on me though. I prefer more imaginative authors, like Mishima or Murukami, with plenty going on.
Of note I thought was the comparing of the 'amateurs' in China to the 'professionals' in Japan. The Master struck me as amate...more
Of note I thought was the comparing of the 'amateurs' in China to the 'professionals' in Japan. The Master struck me as amate...more
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Kawabata writes a factual account of a Go match, which at one level could be compared with the sort of journalism you see in a magazine like New in Chess. He presents all the moves in the game, and comments the play. Somehow he turns it into an emotionally gripping meditation on life, art, fate and the inevitable destruction of traditional Japanese society. He apparently thought this was his best book - remember that he won the Nobel Prize.
It would be easy to say that this is a uniqu...more
It would be easy to say that this is a uniqu...more
“I could not pretend to know much more about Go than Kume did; but even so it seemed to me that the unmoving stones, as I gazed at them from the side of the board, spoke to me as living creatures. The sound of the stones on the board seemed to echo vastly through another world.”
This book was a meditation. It did not teach me how to play Go. I knew and still know nothing about the game of Go other than it is played with black and white stones on a board with a 19 x 19 grid. What this ...more
This book was a meditation. It did not teach me how to play Go. I knew and still know nothing about the game of Go other than it is played with black and white stones on a board with a 19 x 19 grid. What this ...more
El Go es un juego de origen chino que los japoneses han elevado a "arte", una mezcla entre el arte, la filosofía y el ritualismo occidental.
Soy demasiado torpe en el Go como para poder entender todas las palabras de Kawabata, sólo puedo mirar a los personajes con cierta envidia porque ellos son capaces de entender y de mirar cosas que yo no puedo ni imaginar.
El libro es una partida de Go que enfrenta la tradición con la modernidad, donde un joven pelea por la ju...more
Soy demasiado torpe en el Go como para poder entender todas las palabras de Kawabata, sólo puedo mirar a los personajes con cierta envidia porque ellos son capaces de entender y de mirar cosas que yo no puedo ni imaginar.
El libro es una partida de Go que enfrenta la tradición con la modernidad, donde un joven pelea por la ju...more
Well, I still don't know if the problem is Kawabata's writing or Seidensticker's translating, but I have a feeling it's the latter. This is the second Seidensticker translation I've read ("Snow Country" was the first), and the lack of flow is very noticeable. There's no rhythm or melody to his writing, so you feel you are walking along an incredibly uneven path that makes unexpected turns all the time. This reinforces my belief that translators must not only be adept in both languages,...more
I'm just learning Go myself and maybe that's why I was so interested in this book. Also, it is very relaxed and slow moving and I like that sort of thing. I know very little about Japanese culture, or Asian culture more generally but I have always wanted to know more and so there is a third reason that I was interested in this book.
To me the book appears to be a struggle between two ways of playing the game of Go. The Master's way--the old way--focuses on the intrinsic beauty of the game...more
To me the book appears to be a struggle between two ways of playing the game of Go. The Master's way--the old way--focuses on the intrinsic beauty of the game...more
It's a chronicle-novel, it's faction, it's creative non-fiction, it's a non-fiction novel ... and it's published 15 years before "In Cold Blood" invented the genre.
I couldn't finish the Wikipedia article on the game of Go.
And then Kawabata gives the final scores at the start of the second chapter.
But he keeps this story interesting by giving us the rooms, the people, the autumn trees, the fraught wives, the gardens, the smell of burning paulownia w...more
I couldn't finish the Wikipedia article on the game of Go.
And then Kawabata gives the final scores at the start of the second chapter.
But he keeps this story interesting by giving us the rooms, the people, the autumn trees, the fraught wives, the gardens, the smell of burning paulownia w...more
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Yasunari Kawabata (Kawabata Yasunari, 14 June 1899 - 16 April 1972) was a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal and are still widely read.
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