Novel
House of the Sleeping Beauties
眠れる美女
Yasunari Kawabata · 1961
Synopsis
Eguchi, an old man, goes to a nameless inn in a hot-spring resort, according to an American documentary database, where elderly men pay to spend the night beside young girls who are naked, drugged and asleep. The rule forbids attempting anything improper, and the sleepers do not wake. He is given a different girl at each visit, and his nights mingle the dreams he has beside them with the memories their presence brings back from all his life.
Context
The text appeared as a serial from 1960 to 1961, then in book form in 1961; the same documentary base counts five of Eguchi's stays, from autumn to the depths of winter. Kotobank places it among the author's late works and sees in it the troubled and waning desire of an old man. A novel by Gabriel García Márquez was inspired by the house it describes. The English version dates from 1969, and René Sieffert gave the French translation with Albin Michel as early as 1970.
Who it is for
A short narrative made up of recurring nights, for readers who accept a motionless atmosphere and an unease sustained without respite.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English in 1969, the narrative inspired two films, in 2006 and 2011, as well as an opera staged in 2009.