Quicksand, by Junichiro Tanizaki

What a unique and malicious woman! What a passion!
Tanizaki is a master in exposing human's sexual desire.

I am trying to finish all can I find of Tanizaki's books before I leave LA. Three left.

Hardcover, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. Translated by Howard Hibbett. ISBN 039458547X.

The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man, by Junichiro Tanizaki

It contains two novels: "The Key" and "Diary of a Mad Old Man".

Just finished the first one. Tanizaki's insights and skills are shocking! A master!

Extracted from the novel:
"... how we loved, how we indulged our passions, how we deceived and ensnared each, until one of us was destroyed." What a sexual game that changed to a deadly scheme.

When I started this novel, I couldn't help laughing -- Tanizaki seemed making fun of the characters and readers, but then I felt sad, for the slavery of human. When finished the novel, I was in respect of Tanizaki's writing.

7/21: Finished the second novel. When I read Yasunari Kawabata's "Thousand Cranes" years ago, I felt dirty of the old man' distorted sexual desire. But for this novel, I do not feel disgusted at all; in fact, it is understandable, even clean. Is it because I changed after those years? It is the sexual desire that keeps the old man alive, reminding him what has been lost. But I do not understand why he wants to have her footprint imprinted on a gravestone and wants to feel her tramp even after his death. To me, she is just a tool to merely satisfy the life part of the old man. In the world of death, it is the ultimate merging of all dimensions.

Paperback. Published by Vintage International, 2004. ISBN 1400079004. Translated by Howard Hibbett.

Naomi, by Junichiro Tanizaki

Couldn't help laughing when I finished the book. A funny ending, but it is so realistic. Didn't I or you once, or again and again, become the slave of sexual desire? Human is made, with (sexual) desire planted as one side of his nature (and rational as the other side). The character Joji just represents the extreme case when the single side dominates. However, his behavior looks so familiar. Naomi represents the extreme case of another dimension, greedy and lust.

To me, Tao is the process that one understands his nature, planted, assigned, inherited, and then become a master of his own.

Hardcover. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. ISBN 0394536630. Translated by Anthony H. Chambers.

A Curtain of Green, by Eudora Welty

Finally finished it -- in fact, I skipped the other story collection in the book; even for the first collection, I skip the last story. Could not endure it anymore.

The book starts with interesting stories, but quickly, it becomes an accumulation of words. The author just enjoying producing words, words, nothing substantial behind. This might be because of her limited life experience.

Modern Library hardcover, 1992. ISBN 067960027. The book contains two collections of Welty's stories: "A Curtain of Green" and "The Wide Net".

Gourmet Club, by Junichiro Tanizaki

Japanese stories, of eccentric and eroticism, which make them unique and attractive.

Hardcover, published by Kodansha. Translated by Anthony Chambers and Paul Mccarthy.