| Tanizaki Junichiro I should save Tanizaki Junichiro (1886-1965) for January of next year, when he'll be a character in the story the countess tells in Bridge 13 of my novel, but he comes second in this series of major 20th-century Japanese novelists, beginning in the generation following Soseki that he shares with the great short-story writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927who died young, by committing suicide), and, since Tanizaki lived long, on into the generation he shares with Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972). I'll discuss three of his novels briefly, recommending all: 1) his first, Naomi ; 2) the one I read first, and still like best, Some Prefer Nettles ; and 3) his longest, and the one considered best (perhaps even the best 20th-century Japanese novel) by most informed critics, The Makioka Sisters a stunning film version of which should also be available at your local mall. I begin with Naomi , not just because it was Tanizaki's first real novel-length work of fiction, but also for three personal reasons. First, I've just finished reading it myself, in English translation, for the first time. I'd never read it before because the translation was published in 1985, about ten years after I was doing most of my reading in Japanese fiction. I didn't even recognize the title when a friend loaned me a copy, since the Japanese title, Chijin no Ai , had been more literally translated as A Fool's Love in the commentaries I'd become familiar with. Second, Naomi is my wife's name. We discovered that it is a relatively common woman's name in Japanthough my wife's name comes from the | |
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