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The Aesthetics of Distance and Jun'ichiro Tanizaki by Yasuko Kanayama B.A., Tokyo Women's Christian University, Tokyo, 1986 a Th

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The Aesthetics of Distance and Jun'ichiro Tanizaki by Yasuko Kanayama B.A., Tokyo Women's Christian University, Tokyo, 1986 a Th The Aesthetics of Distance and Jun'ichiro Tanizaki by Yasuko Kanayama B.A., Tokyo Women's Christian University, Tokyo, 1986 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for degree of Master of Arts in The Faculty of Graduate Studies Department of Asian Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard The University of British Columbia April 1997 ©Yasuko Kanayama, 1997 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date jfaAjtf. (6 , DE-6 (2/88) 11 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to examine the transformation and development of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's "Aesthetics of distance" in male-female relationship as well as in the main characters' perception of reality, through his three major works: Chijin no ai (Naomi), Shunkinsho (The Story of Shunkin), and Fulen rojin nikki (A Diary of a Mad Old Man). For Tanizaki, distance, whether in a spiritual, spatial, or social dimension, functions as a mechanism through which characters and readers perceive as well as measure reality. Furthermore, for him, beauty is measured by remoteness (distance) from man's existence. The alien, the unattainable, the elusive, all of which characterize his female characters, are also manifestations of or embodiments of distance. To attain, to possess the highly desired beauty (found in women), not only detracts but actually destroys the pleasure in distance. Chijin no ai shows how male-protagonist Joji destroys the pleasure of distance. Tanizaki develops his aesthetics of distance in a more sophisticated manner in Shunkinsho. In this work, he links his concept of distance to the aesthetics of shadow. By employing a historical setting, particular narrative strategies ( ambiguous description and multiple narrators), and by utilizing a blind heroine, he successfully creates a distant world in faint outline, as he calls it, "the world of shadows" which evokes reader's imagination. Imagination forms a vital link to the elaboration of the aesthetics of distance in Futen rojin nikki. Utsugi, an ailing old man, experiences pleasure in both limitation and prohibition. In living his life as "theater" (between the real and the unreal), he is able to discover an even higher form of pleasure: the pleasure of imagination. The ultimate achievement in this work is that he is able to depict "death" as something between the iii real and the unreal, the attainable and the unattainable, resulting, once again, in a sublime imaginative experience. In the literary portrayal of "death", Tanizaki finally and completely fulfills his aesthetics of distance. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iv Acknowledgement v Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Chijin no ai (Naomi): Distance and Control 5 1. Transformation of Naomi: Seen Then Possessed 6 2. Distance and Control: Naomi and the Manipulation of Distance 11 3. Reality and Fantasy: Distance and Balance 14 4. Conclusion 23 Chapter 2 Shunkinsho (The Story of Shunkin): The Aesthetics of Shadow 25 1. Distance between Shunkin and Sasuke 28 2. Shunkin's Beauty as a Blind 30 3. Distance and the Reader 32 4. Sasuke as a Manipulation of Distance as an Aesthetic Object 36 5. Conclusion 37 Chapter 3 Futen rojin nikki (A Diary of a Mad Old Man): Pleasure of Distance 39 1. Distance between Utsugi and Satsuko 40 2. Distance from Reality: Life as Theater 45 3. Satsuko 50 4. Death: The World of Imagination 54 5. Conclusion 55 Conclusion 57 Works Cited 61 Bibliography 63 V Acknowledgment 1 wish to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Kinya Tsuruta, without whose constant advice this thesis could never have been completed. My gratitude must also go to Mr.Tim Firth, Ms.Miseli Jeon and Ms.Susan Fisher, who edited my thesis with so much care and encouragement. 1 Introduction Jun'ichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) is first and foremost among modern and contemporary Japanese writers. Sei Ito remarks: " If we removed this writer from our contemporary literature, it would surely create a huge emptiness."1 However, he does not belong to the "naturalist" main stream literary circle of his day. As distinct from naturalism, especially "I-novel" (watakushi shosetsu), which are confessions of authors' experiences, Tanizaki shows his talent in creating a fictional world. He was born in Tokyo, in the old downtown merchant quarter which still retained the atmosphere of Edo period. His father failed at one enterprise after another, and it was his grandfather and mother who influenced and cultivated him. His grandfather was a successful merchant who -uncommonly for the time- lavished care and attention for his female children. While the rest of the family prayed to the Buddha, Tanizaki's grandfather kneeled before St. Maria. In his retrospective essay, Yoshojidai (Childhood Years, 1955-56) Tanizaki confessed that his worship of the West and women was influenced by his grandfather. His mother was a strong-willed and beautiful woman, who loved the Kabuki theater. She had been portrayed in woodcut prints that haunted his imagination. He started his career as a writer in 1910 when he was a student at Tokyo University. His debut work Shisei (The Tattoer), an elegantly sadomasochistic fable, was warmly received by the critics. His promising future as a writer was assured by Kafu Nagai's (1879-1959) critique Tanizaki Jun'ichiro shi no sakuhin (Mr.Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's works, 1911). Nagai, a leader of the anti-naturalists, and whom Tanizaki worshipped, was ^to, Sei. "Tanizaki Jun'ichiro." Ito Sei zenshu. Vol.20.p.8. Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1973. Translation is taken from Thien Truong Pham's Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and the Art of Storytelling, p.l. Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia, 1985. (An unpublished M. A. thesis submitted to The University of British Columbia, Faculity of Graduate Studies, Department of Asian Studies) 2 among the first to recognize his talent. Nagai pointed out that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Tanizaki's writing was that "he has a mysterious quality (shinpi yugeri) produced by carnal fear (nikutaiteki kyofu)".2 As Nagai commented, Tanizaki produced a series of works either of exotic setting or describing strange feelings or phenomenon, which earned the epithets of "estheticism", "decadence" or "diabolism". These early works showed an influence of Poe, Baudelaire, and Wilde. In the early 1920's, he lived in Yokohama's foreign quarter, and produced a certain number of dramas and screen plays, most of which reveal his adoration of the West. After the great earthquake of 1923, however, he moved to the Kansai region and began to cultivate a taste for Japanese tradition. Chijin no ai (Naomi, 1925) summed up his infatuation with the Westernized atmosphere of Yokohama. His move to Kansai and his third marriage brought about a turning point in his career. He divorced his first wife in 1930, and a brief second marriage was followed in 1935 by his enduring marriage to Matsuko Nezu, a rich merchant's former wife. His third wife became a rich resource of literary stimulation for him. Most of Tanizaki's fiction of the 1930's has a serene classical tone; much of it is set in the past, ranging as far back as medieval times. Among those, Shunkinsho (The Story of Shunkin, 1933), an unusual love story between a blind mistress and devoted servant, was one of the most warmly welcomed of all his works by critics such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata among the others. Kawabata remarked: "This is a great masterpiece, and I do not have even a word to comment on it."(109) During wartime, Tanizaki devoted himself to write his most ambitious novel, Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters, published in 1946), a leisurely chronicle of upper-class Osaka life with its central character modeled on his wife Matsuko. Though the publication of this novel (in serialized form) was prohibited by government censors during the war, he did not stop 2Nagai, Kafu. "Tanizaki Jun'ichiro shi no sakuhin." Tanizaki Jun'ichiro. Gunzo. Nihon no sakka. Vol.8, p.92-98. Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1991. Translation is taken from Edward G. Seidensticker's "Tanizaki Jun'ixhiro, 1886-1965," Monumenta Nipponica, 21 (1966):253. 3 working on it. In 1949, after its completion, he received the Imperial Cultural Decoration, the highest honor for a Japanese writer. In his later period, his thematic concerns inclined to death and sex. In 1956, he startled the literary world with Kagi (The Key), combining diary entries from both a middle-aged man and his sexually demanding wife, causing a storm of controversy: is this art or pornography? His last novel, Futen rojin nikki (Diary of a Mad Old Man, 1961) is a tragicomedy of an ailing old man obsessed with erotic fantasies. Tanizaki died in 1965, at the age of seventy nine. Despite his variety of writing styles, he is well known for his consistency of themes. Edward G.Seidensticker states: "The most remarkable thing about Tanizaki's writing is his steadfastness to a single theme through all the decades of change..."(253). Donald Keene holds a similar view: "The writings of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro are apt to surprise equally by their exceptional diversity of subject and manner and by their equally exceptional consistency of themes"(171).
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