Red Roofs and Other Stories

Tanizaki Jun'ichiro (18861965), the author of Naomi; A Cat, a Man, and Two Women; and The Makioka Sisters, was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. The four stories in this volume date from the first and second decades of Tanizakis long career and reflect themes that appear throughout his work: exoticism, sexuality, sadomasochism, contrasts between traditional and modern societies, disparities between appearance and reality, the power of dreams, amorality, an interest in cinema, and a fascination with the techniques of storytelling. The storiestranslated into English here for the first timeare: The Strange Case of Tomoda and Matsunaga (Tomoda to Matsunaga no hanashi, 1926), A Night in Qinhuai (Shinwai no yo, 1919), The Magician (Majutsushi, 1917), and Red Roofs (Akai yane, 1925).