| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Diary Of A Mad Old Man (Vintage Classics) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
At once hilarious and sad, Tanizaki's last novel - written during his final illness - echoes his own life.
Product Description
While recovering from a stroke, seventy-seven-year-old Utsugi turns to his diary to wryly record his struggle with his ageing body and his growing desire for his beautiful daughter-in-law Satsuko, a chic, Westernised dancer with a shady past. Shining with a self-effacing humour, Tanizaki's last novel is a tragicomedy about desire and the will to survive.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Tanizaki was one of those early Japanese writers to become influenced by Western authors. As a direct result of this, or not, his writing has an intimate, personal and possibly confessional tone - it is accessible and readable. This makes a huge difference for a non-Japanese reader, to see things through Japanese eyes or mind, rather than relying on the vague speech and implied messages which is the norm for Japanese communications.
While this is true here, the difficult subject of this book makes it a difficult, unsettling read. It is debatable whether the old man is mad, but he certainly is old, ill and dying. His pain, his physical restrictions and endless rounds of medication and treatments are also real and portrayed in detail and with stark honesty. Nothing is overplayed for effect - everything is on the level, making it so much harder to ignore or dismiss. This is a horror story, one from which it is difficult to avert the eyes!
The central character is a prototype 'Grumpy Old Man' - it is impossible not to sympathise with his family and servants. He can be short, unreasonable, argumentative, stubborn and down-right rude! Partly this may be the result of all the pain, frustration at his condition, or perhaps rage against death. But some of his behaviour, I feel is the result of his character, or rather his will to observe the niceties of politeness has deserted him - yes, at times his behaviour is childish and unrestrained, and strangely honest.
At other times he is content, relaxed and humorous.
The one exception in his relationships is that with his daughter-in-law - she in turns seduces and scolds him, he is tantalized and aroused by both. He is well aware that his desire and behaviour is inappropriate yet that too seems part of the appeal. It is this desire, this rebellion, which causes him to question his sanity, and at the same time give him his one remaining appetite for living!
The story's simplicity is deceptive. It is powerful because it does not compromise. It is disturbing, not so much from lewdness, but more from the encroaching shadow of death - a subject we prefer to avoid!
Not the most pleasant read due to the subject, but this is more than compensated for by the brilliant execution.
While this is true here, the difficult subject of this book makes it a difficult, unsettling read. It is debatable whether the old man is mad, but he certainly is old, ill and dying. His pain, his physical restrictions and endless rounds of medication and treatments are also real and portrayed in detail and with stark honesty. Nothing is overplayed for effect - everything is on the level, making it so much harder to ignore or dismiss. This is a horror story, one from which it is difficult to avert the eyes!
The central character is a prototype 'Grumpy Old Man' - it is impossible not to sympathise with his family and servants. He can be short, unreasonable, argumentative, stubborn and down-right rude! Partly this may be the result of all the pain, frustration at his condition, or perhaps rage against death. But some of his behaviour, I feel is the result of his character, or rather his will to observe the niceties of politeness has deserted him - yes, at times his behaviour is childish and unrestrained, and strangely honest.
At other times he is content, relaxed and humorous.
The one exception in his relationships is that with his daughter-in-law - she in turns seduces and scolds him, he is tantalized and aroused by both. He is well aware that his desire and behaviour is inappropriate yet that too seems part of the appeal. It is this desire, this rebellion, which causes him to question his sanity, and at the same time give him his one remaining appetite for living!
The story's simplicity is deceptive. It is powerful because it does not compromise. It is disturbing, not so much from lewdness, but more from the encroaching shadow of death - a subject we prefer to avoid!
Not the most pleasant read due to the subject, but this is more than compensated for by the brilliant execution.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Diary of a Mad Old Man is the story of a few months in the life of Utsugi, an old, stubborn, sick, impotent man tormented with physical pains he cannot sooth away and sexual desires he cannot really fulfull. Utsugi writes down about his pitiful schemes and plans to get some physical affection from his beautiful daughter-in-law, about his twisted interpretation of the behaviour of his family members, and also about his pains, fatigue and the medication he tries. In this novel Tanizaki manages to build an accurate and creepy picture of desires and future plans coldly interrupted by the limitations of the physical body.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A sharp and skillful narrative brings the reader into the wicked mind of an old man willingly drifting into his "second childhood", allowing delirium to take over common sense, present over past without regrets.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
