In this thrilling collection, celebrated Japanese writer Jun’ichirō Tanizaki explores the paper-thin line between the sublime and the depraved. Meticulous and sensual, the 3 stories gathered here distill the essence of Tanizaki’s shorter fiction.
In “The Qilin,” the sage Confucius visits a cultured duke, whose pursuit of virtue is threatened by the desires of his dazzling, malicious consort. Yet even the master’s philosophy cannot halt the orgy of violence which follows her reassertion of control.
In “Killing O-Tsuya,” a naïve servant elopes with his master’s daughter, only to be plunged headlong into a world of murder and corruption, which will end in the death of his lover.
And closing with “The Siren’s Lament,” a young prince finds himself obsessed with a sorrowful, beguiling mermaid brought to China by a travelling Dutchman. But can she reciprocate, or are both their hearts doomed to yearn unfulfilled?
