Childhood Years: A Memoir (Japan's Modern Writers)

By Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Book Overview

In Childhood Years, originally published serially in a literary magazine between 1955 and 1956, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō (1886-1965) takes a meandering look back on his early life in Tokyo. He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4770023227
• ISBN13: 9784770023223
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 0.5" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Every man thinks his mother beautiful

Tanizaki's memoirs are more for the Japanese. They discuss profusely Kabuki theatre performances or great Kabuki interpreters, as well as Japanese eating habits or geographical changes in old Tokyo. But on the other hand, they show how a writer finds inspiration and characters for his books in his daily life encounters. His memoirs are also a tribute to his mother ('so strong is the influence of one's mother in early childhood') or some of his school teachers, who left deep and enduring marks on young Tanizaki. They also give indirectly a more global portrait of Japan in the late 19th and the beginning 20th century: poverty (people give away their children), geishas and pederasty. This book shows also the sometimes unsurmountable translation difficulties. After giving a book excerpt Tanizaki remarks: 'In such passages the most important is the combination of Japanese and Sino-Japanese sounds...' A book for the Tanizaki aficionados.