Red Roofs and Other Stories

Tanizaki Jun'ichir? (1886–1965), the author of Naomi; A Cat, a Man, andTwo Women; and The Makioka Sisters, was one of the great writers ofthe twentieth century. The four stories in this volume date from the firstand second decades of Tanizaki’s long career and reflect themes thatappear throughout his work: exoticism, sexuality, sadomasochism,contrasts between traditional and modern societies, disparities betweenappearance and reality, the power of dreams, amorality, an interestin cinema, and a fascination with the techniques of storytelling. Thestories—translated into English here for the first time—are: ""The StrangeCase of Tomoda and Matsunaga"" (""Tomoda to Matsunaga no hanashi,""1926), ""A Night in Qinhuai"" (""Shinwai no yo,"" 1919), ""The Magician""(""Majutsushi,"" 1917), and ""Red Roofs"" (""Akai yane,"" 1925).

“We still have far too little of Tanizaki's work from the teens and twenties.The four stories collected here show the variety of exoticisms Tanizakiwas critically exploring at this time. ‘The Strange Case of Tomoda andMatsunaga’ treats the contemporary fascination with the West, ‘RedRoofs’ is about youth culture in Tokyo, ‘A Night in Qinhaui’ trains anexoticist eye on China, and ‘The Magician’ is pure, unadulterated fantasy.The translations are flawless—no surprise coming from Chambers andMcCarthy—and the selection fills an important gap in the list of availableEnglish translations of Tanizaki. They round out our picture of Tanizaki’sdevelopment as a writer, providing early sketches, as well as intriguingpostscripts to some of his most important works.” - J. Keith Vincent, Boston University, award-winning translator ofOkamoto Kanoko’s A Riot of Goldfish

Anthony H. Chambers is Professor Emeritus of Japanese at Arizona StateUniversity, USA.Paul McCarthy is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Culture atSurugadai University, Saitama, Japan.