Challenging Narrative Foreclosure: An Interpretation of Yasunari Kawabata’s House of the Sleeping Beauties

Yasunari Kawabata appropriates narrative elements from Western fairy tales in his late work, House of the Sleeping Beauties, applying the central image of the ‘sleeping beauty’ to a dark story set at night, shrouded in the gloominess and cold that often loom in people’s late lives. Viewed through the lens of narrative gerontology, Kawabata deals with different forms of narrative foreclosure in crafting the story. At the subject level, old Eguchi, as the protagonist and main narrator, ventures into a secret place in pursuit of unusual experiences to restart his own life story and break through the narrative foreclosure in his old age. At the object level, the ‘sleeping beauties’ fall into narrative foreclosure in their deep slumber, becoming the ‘Other’, unable to speak for themselves. In his unique way, Kawabata endows them with expressive power through sincere sympathy. In addition, the writer also breaks through his own narrative foreclosure in his late career by subverting the classic fairy tale to explore and confront death, revealing an active attitude towards aging. However, Kawabata’s suicide appears to counteract all these efforts, turning them into a mystery of ending.