Junichiro Tanizaki

Author Tanizaki's Book Reviews	Message Board
Diary of a Mad Old Man Seventy-seven-year-old Utsugi, a retired businessman, is the protagonist and diarist of this book. Various aches and pains plague him, but his spirits are buoyed by a growing erotic obsession with his daughter-in-law, Satsuko, a former nightclub dancer married to his workaholic son. She carelessly flirts with Utsugi off and on. This short novel alternates between descriptions of our hero's haggling with the medical establishment and various medicines, fi... In Praise of Shadows A short treaty on aesthetics, first published in 1933, bemoaning the Westernisation of the then modern day Japan. Taking in architecture, toilets, jade, food, lacquer bowls, the beauty of the complexion of Japanese women, and the warm use of shadows in old buildings Tanizaki wanders amongst the beauty of the past. He welcomes the darkness of old style Japanese houses lit only by the duskiness of candlelight casting layers of shadow amongst the rooms....	View these reviews in summary mode Junichiro Tanizaki Message Board Talk about the novels, new and used books that Tanizaki has written!