a cat, a man & two women by Tanizaki Junichiro

Reissued by New Directions, a cat, a man and two women was originally published by Kodansha International, translated by Paul McCarthy, this new edition also includes his original Preface, this translation received the Japan - U.S Friendship Commission Prize. New Directions have done a great job with this edition with a striking new jacket including art from Tsuguhara Foujita, and also of note is the mention on the reverse that two more novels yet to have been translated into English are on the way, which is news to look forward to. Recently they've also given attractive new covers to Mishima's Confessions of a Mask and also Death in Midsummer.

a cat, a man and two women collects three of Tanizaki's short fictions, the last Professor Rado is in two parts as it was originally published in two installments, as was the title story. The second story is The Little Kingdom/Chiisana okoku, which when you discover that it first appeared in 1918, the same year as Akutagawa's Hell Screen, makes you wonder agape again at the span of Tanizaki's writing career, which takes in three era's of modern Japanese history. The Little Kingdom follows the fortunes or misfortunes of a provincial teacher caught in a power game within the children of his class which he himself becomes entangled with. As Paul McCarthy mentions in his informative Preface themes of domination and submission appear in the story, themes that preoccupied Tanizaki throughout his writing.

It's been sometime since I've read Tanizaki, but reading a cat, a man and two women brought the realization of how Tanizaki incorporates the epistolary into his writing as all though I've not checked, a number of his pieces seem to either open or feature letters written by or between his central characters, it seems that this is a perfect vehicle to open scenarios and windows into his character's consciousness and psyches. In the title story this is done to great affect in Shinako whose letter at the opening of the story requesting the handing over of the cat that Shozo is so enamoured with sets the shifting of the story. Essentially the story is a menagerie a trois with the additional central character of Lily, the cat, who becomes the pivotal factor in the relationships between Shozo and the two women in his life, his divorced wife, Shinako and new wife, Fukuko. Tanizaki's usage of Lily in Shinako's care and the shifting of her empowerment within affairs is masterly conveyed. Another aspect of the story of note is that of it being set firmly in the Kansai area, rather than that of Tokyo, Tanizaki famously moved to the area. Envisioning the stories here, it's quite easy to picture them as early black and white films, it comes as little surprise to know that early in his career Tanizaki was a script writer for Taishō Katsuei, or literary consultant as it's Wikipedia page mentions. Although coming from a background of reasonable comfort, Shozo appears as a rather feckless character who eventual succumbs to the encroaching web of conflicting affections between the three.

The last story out of the three is Professor Rado which seems to display the hallmarks usually associated with Tanizaki - masochism and off beat sexualities, the story was originally published in two parts, the first in Kaizo in 1925 and the second in Shincho in 1928. In a way it could be said that it displays some early aspects of the Ero guro. The story is conveyed by a journalist assigned to interview the Professor who when they meet displays an affected appearance and strange mannerisms and conversational manner, question marks and rumours emerge over the Professor's household. In the second part the journalist catches up with the Professor again at a variety performance where the Professor begins to show an extra special interest in one particular performer who is rumoured to suffer from the symptoms of syphilis, the journalist agrees to gain more information about the performer who appears to always remain quizzically silent during performances and has a mysterious past. The story has a certain voyeuristic quality to it as the revealing scenarios of the plot are relayed by the journalist in a clandestine manner. a cat, a man and two women offers an interesting showcase of Tanizaki's styles and themes, and it's great that New Directions have rescued it from lapsing into being out of print, very much looking forward to the two forthcoming novels.

a cat, a man and two women at ndp  


 

Manganese Dioxide Dreams

Manganese Dioxide Dreams sounds like it could be a story from Haruki Murakami, although it was written by Tanizaki Junichiro in 1955, it's Japanese title is Kasankamangansui no yume, the title intrigued me, not being very scientifically minded I turned to the internet to find out what Manganese Dioxide actually is, after learning what it is my mind couldn't figure how Tanizaki had worked this into his short story. The story is narrated by what we guess is a man advanced in his years, he worries about his blood pressure, and like Tanizaki mentions in his In Praise of Shadows he has a western style toilet fitted in his house. On an excursion to Tokyo with his wife, Tamako and the maid, Fuji, during the August heat, to arrange wedding dresses for Etsuko, who's presumably their daughter. Departing from the women he visits the cinema to watch the film 'Blue Continent', afterwards heading back to the inn they are staying at he finds himself unable to relax, disturbed by the heat, and the noise of building work adjacent to the inn, reluctantly he takes some of his sleeping pills, and dozes for a short time. Many of Tanizaki's works are peopled with characters prone to masochistic tendencies, being one of Tanizaki's later works, you get the impression that the narrator of the story has a sense of lethargy about him, instead of appearing outwardly masochistic himself, Tanizaki has inserted the masochism by means of the narrator giving us quite an in depth synopsis of Henri-Georges Clouzot's film Les Diaboliques which he goes to see later in the story, his characters here seem to be spectators. Sex being another of Tanizaki's story's common subjects features here too, but again as something which is viewed, his wife and Tamako persuade him to take them to a strip show, he disagrees at first thinking that a man accompanying his wife would be in poor taste, but then hearing that the film is not too risque, he takes them, the venue is mostly filled with foreigners. During the film his wife nods off to sleep, and afterwards the only thing he can remember about the film is an episode featuring a bath scene with the actress Harukawa Masumi. In the evening they have a Chinese dinner. The next day the women sort out the wedding dresses, and he watches Les Diaboliques, he learned of the film whilst watching a trailer for it before seeing the film Nana. Before catching the train home to Atami, that evening they have a large Japanese dinner in Tsujitome of Kyoto cuisine of Hamo, you get the impression he's a slight misanthrope, as he observes on the journey home, 'At that hour the second class coaches shouldn't be crowded, but tonight they were full as far as Ofuna, the ripe smell of humanity making the damp heat all the worse'.

The segment of the story set at home is when Tanizaki makes some startling connections within the narrative, his wife sometimes suffers from nightmares, and he has to wake her, sometimes she finds it hard to breath when she comes out of her dreams, she feels 'gripped by an indescribable sensation', fearing she may die on the spot. Usually a sound sleeper, even after visiting the toilet in the night he can usually get back to sleep, but tonight he has trouble and takes a Rabona and two Adalin, he gradually slips into a realm between sleep and unconsciousness, 'I enjoy the myriad vague imaginings,now forming, now vanishing, like foam on the sea, until at some point they merge with real dreams'. The image of the 'hamo:the pure white flesh of the eel, the impid, slippery-liquid that encased it', from this image comes that of Harukawa Masumi in the bathtub, but this changes to the murdered (?) Michel in the bath from the film Les Diaboliques. Another 'weird figment' comes to him of his western toilet, something seen here recalls an encounter of eating red beets for breakfast, and then the image of Simone Signoret, which in turn leads to an image of a Grecian torso, leading finally to an account from Records of the Grand Historian, (The Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien). It's one of those story's, that when you come to the end of, you marvel at where the narrative has taken you, Manganese Dioxide Dreams can be found in The Gourmet Club, a sextet of stories from Tanizaki, translated by Anthony H. Chambers and Paul McCarthy, I'll leave it to you to discover where the Manganese Dioxide enters the story.