In the early years of the 11th Century,
noblewoman and lady-in-waiting, Murasaki Shikibu, composed the classic work of
Japanese literature, “The Tale of Genji”. Given this work is close to one
thousand years old, there is of course conjecture as to the authorship, I’ll
leave those debates and assertions to the scholars and analysts of style. The
work is complex and lengthy (with Royall Tyler’s 2001 English translation
running to 1,256 pages). Putting the significance of this work into context, it
was written about 600 years before Cervantes “Don Quixote”, a similar amount of
time to the publication of Shakespeare’s “First Folio” in 1623, and about 350
years before Chaucer (sometimes called “the Father of English literature”!!!). Therefore,
it is not a hard stretch to say that “The Tale of Genji” is a significant work
in the history of human literature.
Junichiro Tanizaki, (1886-1965) dedicated six-years (from
late 1935 through to 1941) devoted to his translation of “The Tale of Genji”
into modern Japanese, only one original work was produced during this six year
period, “A Cat, a Man, and Two Women”. Prior to taking on his translation he
had sixteen published works, and since 1965 now has an annual literary prize
named in his honour and with a large oeuvre of works translated into English,
he is a well known figure in the west when debating Japanese literature.
Therefore when this book appeared on my doorstep it was a welcome invite to
enjoy his world of early 20th Century Japan.
This collection actually contains three works, the title
story “A Cat, a Man, and Two Women”, and two shorter pieces, “The Little
Kingdom” and “Professor Rado”. I’ll look at each separately, although the
themes of dominance and submission in relationships are to the fore in each
work. The “Introduction” by translator Paul McCarthy gives wonderful detail and
context to the three works, including enlightening information on Japanese
cultural and social norms that are relevant in these works.
Our title work opens with a letter to Fukuko, Shozo’s new
wife, from his ex-wife. This letter is asking...pleading, for Fukuko and Shozo
to give up the cat Lily. In the letter the seeds of doubt are sown about the
pecking order of Shozo and his relationships, the cat comes first, his women
second. “I might be able to do without you,...but do without Lily? Never!”
However this is not a simple love quadrangle, the cat Lily
is the key to all the relationships in this story, including Shozo’s mother.
Now, Fukuko was a cousin of
Shozo’s; and, given the circumstances under which she became his wife, there
was no need for her to worry about pleasing a difficult mother-in-law. So form
her second day of married life, she did just as she pleased in everything. All
the same, she could hardly stand by and watch her husband trying to wield a
kitchen knife, so in the end she made marinated fish for both of them, though
under protest. To make matters worse, they had been dining on mackerel for five
or six days running. Then, two or three days ago, it had struck her: Shozo wasn’t
even eating the food he’d insisted on having, ignoring his wife’s complaints;
instead , he was giving it all to the cat! The more she thought about it, the
clearer it all became: the mackerel were small, with little bones, easily
chewed; there was no need to fillet them, and they could be served cold; and
one got a lot for one’s money – in other words, they were an ideal food to
serve to the cat on a daily basis. They weren’t Shozo’s favourite dish, but
that cat’s! In this household, the husband ignoring his wife’s preferences, planned
the evening menu with his pet alone in mind. Fukuko had been prepared to
sacrifice her own tastes for her husband’s sake, while in fact it was for the
cat that she cooked; she had become a companion to the cat.
The seed of doubt sown by Shozo’s first wife, Shinako, were
beginning to sprout, however it is not a simple case of giving up Lily to
Shinako as this would mean she has gained the upper hand, however Fukuko cannot
allow for herself to be lower on the pecking order than Lily, she needs to
wrangle some power too. This story quickly becomes a tale of supplication, of
domination, dominance and submission, a like the order in the title itself, the
top of the pyramid is Lily, the cat!
When Shozo stroked her head and
said “There’s nothing to worry about, You’re going to be a mother, that’s all,”
she placed her forepaws on his knee as if to cling to him, uttered one
“meeoww,” and looked at him as though trying her best to understand what he was
telling her. Shozo carried her back to the closet and placed her in the box.
“Now you stay right here, okay? You’re not to come out. Okay? You understand?”
Having made this little speech, he closed the door and started to stand up,
when there was another plaintive “meeeoow.” It seemed to be saying “Wait a
moment. Don’t go away.” Shozo melted at the sound and opened the door just a
crack to peek in. There in the farthest corner of the closet, which was filled
with a jumble of trunks and cloth-wrapped bundles, was the box with Lily’s head
sticking out. “Meeooow,” she cried, gazing at him. “She may be just an animal,”
thought Shozo, “but what a loving look she has in those eyes of here!” it was
strange, but Lily’s eyes shining in the closet’s dim recesses were no longer
those of a mischievous little kitten. In that instant they had become truly
feminine, full of an inexpressible sadness and seduction. Shozo had never seen
a woman in childbirth; but he was sure that if she were young and beautiful,
she would call he her husband with just the same pained, reproachful look as
this. Any number of times he closed the closet door and began to walk away,
only to go back for another look; and each time Lily would poke her head out of
the box and peer at him, like a child playing peekaboo.
After many power struggles the cat is eventually returned to
Shinako and despite her drastic measures to win her affection and keep her,
Lily simply runs away....to learn of Lily’s fate you’ll have to read this
novella yourself.
“The Little Kingdom”, follows the story of school-teacher
Kaijima Shokichi, a man with six children and another on the way, his meagre
salary as a “licensed schoolmaster” is not enough to support a family.
Kaijima’s father, however, died
when he was twenty-four, and shortly afterward he married; little by little his
former drive and ambition were worn away. In the first place, he was very much
in love with his wife. Up till then he had been so engrossed in his studies
that he never even looked at a woman. Now, as he experienced more and more of
the joys of married life, he gradually became contented with his not very
distinguished lot; without even being aware of it, he was becoming more like
the lass of ordinary men. Meanwhile, children were born, his salary rose a
little, and in the end he lost all of his earlier determination to success and
make a name for himself.
A new pupil Numakura arrives in his class and within weeks
he has the whole class as followers, does the teacher Kaijima crush or develop
this leadership skill? Another tale of domination, manipulation, submission and
supplication.
Our collection ends with “Professor Rado” a story of a
sadomasochist with a foot fetish. A wonderful character study of an arrogant
man who keeps his desires hidden, a man who barely speaks in public, a renowned
scholar with an interesting set of desires. Quite obvious that again the theme
of domination, repression, submission, comes to the fore.
These stories are cheeky in style, an author who seems to be
poking fun as he peels back the layers of these characters, not at all reading
like a work that is eighty years old and addressing what we would think are
contemporary issues. It is very obvious that Tanizaki was a cat lover, with his
“Lily” in the title story being the central theme, to such an extent that my
back cover quotes Choice – “One of
the finest pieces of literature concerning cats ever written.”
Review copy courtesy of New Directions.
No comments:
Post a Comment