{"product_id":"the-maids-9780811228749","title":"The Maids","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Maids\u003c\/em\u003e, Tanizaki's final novel, sparkles like a jewel. Over the years--before, during, and after WWII--many women work in the pampered, elegant household of the famous author Chikura Raikichi, his wife, and her younger sister. Though the family's quite well-to-do, the house is small; the proximity of the maids helps perhaps to explain Raikichi's extremely close, and somewhat eroticized, observation of all their little ways. In the sensualist patrician Raikichi, Tanizaki offers a richly ironic self-portrait, but he presents as well an exquisitely nuanced chronicle of change and loss: centuries' old values and manners are vanishing, and here--in the evanescent beauty of all the small gestures and intricacies of private life--we find a whole world passing away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTanizaki, Junichiro:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Author of \u003cem\u003eThe Makioka Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eIn Praise of Shadows\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eA Cat, a Man, and Two Women\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eJunichiro Tanizaki\u003c\/strong\u003e (1886-1965) is arguably the greatest Japanese writer of the twentieth century.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCronin, Michael P.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eMichael P. Cronin\u003c\/strong\u003e is assistant professor of Japanese at the College of William and Mary.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50461265330450,"sku":"9780811228749","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9d802847-f0a0-4128-b72c-3aee0f5a06c3.jpg?v=1730061817","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-maids-9780811228749","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}