Comparison of Yasunari Kawabata’s Snow Country and Wei Xiuren’s Flower and Moon Scars

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study of Yasunari Kawabata’s Snow Country and Wei Xiuren’s Traces of the Flowering Moon, and finds that the two novels have striking similarities in their overall character structure, while the differences between them are reflected in their diff erent tragic roots, aesthetic tendencies and content focus. In terms of ideological connotation, the root of the tragedy of “Traces of the Flowering Moon” is more about “seeking but not getting”; the root of the tragedy of “Snow Country” is more about nihilistic spirit. In terms of aesthetic tendency, “Flower Moon Scars” contains more poetic aesthetics and the beauty of secular people, and presents the overall characteristic of “happy and joyful”; “Snow Country” inherits the traditional Japanese aesthetics of material sorrow, and presents the overall characteristic of “happy and quiet, happy and sorrowful”. In terms of content focus, “Traces of the Flower and Moon” focuses on the description of human interaction; “Snow Country” focuses on the depiction of delicate psychological perception. To a certain extent, this reflects the correlation and difference between Chinese and Japanese cultures, and can give some inspiration to the mutual learning of novel creation between China and Japan.