{"product_id":"longing-and-other-stories-9780231202152","title":"Longing and Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eJun'ichirō Tanizaki is one of the most prominent Japanese writers of the twentieth century, renowned for his investigations of family dynamics, eroticism, and cultural identity. Most acclaimed for his postwar novels such as \u003ci\u003eThe Makioka Sisters\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Key\u003c\/i\u003e, Tanizaki made his literary debut in 1910. This book presents three powerful stories of family life from the first decade of Tanizaki's career that foreshadow the themes the great writer would go on to explore. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Longing\" recounts the fantastic journey of a precocious young boy through an eerie nighttime landscape. Replete with striking natural images and uncanny human encounters, it ends with a striking revelation. \"Sorrows of a Heretic\" follows a university student and aspiring novelist who lives in degrading poverty in a Tokyo tenement. Ambitious and tormented, the young man rebels against his family against a backdrop of sickness and death. \"The Story of an Unhappy Mother\" describes a vivacious but self-centered woman's drastic transformation after a freak accident involving her son and daughter-in-law. Written in different genres, the three stories are united by a focus on mothers and sons and a concern for Japan's traditional culture in the face of Westernization. The longtime Tanizaki translators Anthony H. Chambers and Paul McCarthy masterfully bring these important works to an Anglophone audience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965) was born in Tokyo and lived there until the 1923 earthquake, when he moved to western Japan. His many classic novels include \u003ci\u003eQuicksand\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSome Prefer Nettles\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eDiary of a Mad Old Man\u003c\/i\u003e. At the time of his death, he was on the shortlist for the Nobel Prize in Literature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnthony H. Chambers is professor emeritus of Japanese at Arizona State University. He has translated many works by Tanizaki, including \u003ci\u003eNaomi\u003c\/i\u003e (1985), and he is also the translator of Ueda Akinari's \u003ci\u003eTales of Moonlight and Rain\u003c\/i\u003e (Columbia, 2006). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePaul McCarthy is professor emeritus of contemporary culture at Surugadai University. His many translations of Tanizaki include \u003ci\u003eA Cat, A Man, and Two Women\u003c\/i\u003e (2015), and he has also translated other Japanese writers including Atsushi Nakajima and Mieko Kanai. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChambers and McCarthy's recent cotranslations of Tanizaki's short fiction include \u003ci\u003eRed Roofs and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e (2016) and \u003ci\u003eThe Gourmet Club\u003c\/i\u003e (2017).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50483289686290,"sku":"9780231202152","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_504ac262-0d46-4ce2-98f6-8c50a7eb626d.jpg?v=1730359274","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/longing-and-other-stories-9780231202152","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}