| NOTA |
(★)(Translated by Howard Hibbett／ Titulo original : 瘋癲老人日記 [Fuuten Roojin Nikki]／ In the last book he wrote before he died, Junichiro Tanizaki returns to a theme that dominates much of his earlier work : the relationship between sexual desire and the will to live. ´Diary of a Mad Old Man´, first published as ´Fuuten Roojin Nikki´ in 1962, is the journal of Tokusuke Utsugi, a 77-year-old man of refined tastes who is recovering from a stroke caused by an excess of sexual excitement.／ He discovers that even while his body is breaking down, his libido rages on, unwittingly sparked by the gentle, kindly attentions of his daughter-in-law Satsuko, a sophisticated, flashy, cosmopolitan dancer with a shady past. Utsugi records both his past desires and his current efforts to bribe his daughter-in-law to provide sexual favors in return for Western baubles. Pitiful and ridiculous as he is, he is without a trace of self-pity, and much of the book, especially the scene in which Satsuko explains the difference between necking and petting, shines with humor. Here in this short novel is much of the tragicomedy of human existence.／ ◆Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965), widely considered one of Japan´s finest modern writers, was born in Tokyo and lived there until the earthquake of 1923. In that year he moved to the Kyoto-Osaka region, the setting for his great novel The Makioka Sisters. His most important novels and stories, many reflecting his taste for sexual perversity, his eye for social comedy, and his bitter humor, were written after his move to the Kansai. Tanizaki received the Imperial Prize for Literature in 1949. He was the first Japanese to be elected an Honorary Member of the American Academy and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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