The voice is insistent, attractive, persuasive - the voice of a cultured Osaka lady, unfortunately widowed young. Sonoko Kakiuchi's story, however, is unsettlingly at odds with her image. It is a tale of infatuation and deceit, of deliberate evil. Its theme is humiliation, its victim Sonoko's mild-mannered lawyer husband. And at its center - seducing, manipulating, enslaving - is one of the most extraordinary characters ever created by the great Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, the beautiful and totally corrupt art student Mitsuko.Partly a black comedy - the plot sometimes resembles bedroom farce - partly an exploration of sexual obsession and pain, Quicksand is the last major Tanizaki novel to be translated, largely because of the extreme difficulty in capturing the narrator's precise tone in English. In this Howard Hibbett has succeeded brilliantly. As a master-work on the level of Some Prefer Nettles and Diary of a Mad Old Man, and as a triumph of the translator's art, Quicksand is both important and utterly engrossing.
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Quicksand
The voice is insistent, attractive, persuasive - the voice of a cultured Osaka lady, unfortunately widowed young. Sonoko Kakiuchi's story, however, is unsettlingly at odds with her image. It is a tale of infatuation and deceit, of deliberate evil. Its theme is humiliation, its victim Sonoko's mild-mannered lawyer husband. And at its center - seducing, manipulating, enslaving - is one of the most extraordinary characters ever created by the great Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, the beautiful and totally corrupt art student Mitsuko.Partly a black comedy - the plot sometimes resembles bedroom farce - partly an exploration of sexual obsession and pain, Quicksand is the last major Tanizaki novel to be translated, largely because of the extreme difficulty in capturing the narrator's precise tone in English. In this Howard Hibbett has succeeded brilliantly. As a master-work on the level of Some Prefer Nettles and Diary of a Mad Old Man, and as a triumph of the translator's art, Quicksand is both important and utterly engrossing.
Aktuelle Rezensionen(1)
Rezension von kenpacked with twists and turns, lies, deceit, and all manner of frustration for everyone involved, Quicksand is one of those novels where everyone has a startling flaw about them that clouds and disrupts personal relationships. when the blurb describes this novel as "savagely funny" i don't think it means that the humour is 'savage' but rather the events are funny in its savagery. from Sonoko to Mitsuko, to Watanaki, and most importantly, Sonoko's husband Kotaro and Ume, the characters in this novel are largely out here for personal gain. but at the core of it all is Mitsuko. she weaves the web that connects and entraps everyone. dramatic, zealous, and aware of her beauty, Mitsuko is the type of character that inspires dread in me. she is the most unreliable out of all of them. especially Watanuki thought so: <blockquote>...Mitsuko would never expose her own vulnerability, no matter how much she was attracted by someone; she'd want to manipulate the other person into falling in love with <i>her</i>. Since she was as vain as she was beautiful, she felt somehow deprived unless she was being worshipped. She seemed convinced that it diminished her value to yield to anyone...</blockquote> if speaking only on causality, without a doubt Mitsuko is the villain. but we're all adults here. it's high time to stop pointing fingers. a fascinating use of (misogynistic) descriptors for the men (Kotaro and Watanuki both). at first glance, Watanuki is described as "effeminate" and "unpleasantly womanish, weak but insistent". Kotaro, at the tail-end of the book, was described as a "second Watanuki", and is "womanish, crafty, mean-spirited". for a story about lesbian(/bisexual?) love, the derision towards women cannot be masked for one second. altogether a fascinating read, if one enjoys novels rife with tension and replete with duplicity.