Naomi : A Novel (Vintage International)

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Junichiro Tanizaki
Publisher:	Vintage
Release date:	10 April, 2001
List price:	~~$12.95~~
Our price:	$10.36 that is 20% off!

Naomi : A Novel (Vintage International)

Average rating: Stars

Pygmalita

'Naomi', Tanizaki's first major novel, starts off simply: a relatively young middle-class man discovers an even younger woman, who he sees as both exotic (starting with her western-sounding name 'Naomi' and Mary Pickford-esque looks) and an exciting work-in-progress, a Japanese Pygmalion. She ends up living with him, and (to no great surprise) they end up as man and wife. This is where the fun begins.

Joji begins to see the sarcastic and nasty side to Naomi, who, with his nurturing, has turned into a full-fledged 'modern girl' (or 'Moga' as the Japanese referred to them). Interested in avant-garde clothing and modern dancing, red flags go up as Joji meets her large number of intimate male friends and gradually recognizes her manipulative ways. Still, he has decided that it is not that women deceive men; rather, men enjoy being deceived by women. The rest of the story progresses as an ever-deepening spiral of manipulation and masochism as Naomi fully exploits her role as Joji's Lolita-like object of obsession.

Although this story was so shocking that its serialization was briefly halted, the idea of sexually-dominant women and submissive men is a theme repeated often in Tanizaki's works (perhaps the pinnacle of this theme in Tanizaki's work is the early short story 'The Tattooer' or 'Portrait of Shunkin').

While it's easy to generalize and say that Naomi represents the West, Joji the East, I think that might be an oversimplification and miss Tanizaki's more immediate point. First and foremost, Naomi represents the Japanese 'modern girl', an increasingly powerful and liberated creature with even more weapons to make men submit to her. This story is as much modernity vs. tradition as it is West vs. East. After all, despite Joji's casual interest in dance and even his pseudo-western name (Joji/George) he is no match for the fully modernized Naomi. When things start to go wrong, Joji tries to run for traditional safety nets (a traditional house, clothes, family structure), but Naomi doesn't let him. Modernity allows Naomi to fight back on equal (if not more powerful) footing, and permits her to be realized as an object of loathing, obsession, and desire in ways not yet seen in Japan.

No matter how you interpret the story, 'Naomi' is a sexy, humorous, and ironic tale of "a fool's love", as the original title suggests. It's a memorable book and a great introduction to the master writer Tanizaki.

Naomi : A Novel (Vintage International) - Junichiro Tanizaki

joji and naomi fear eats the soul

a 28yr old man is waited on by a 15yr old girl and immediately falls in love. he offers to make her his protege, and she accepts, poor as she is. his intentions, he assures her (and the reader), are pure.
told in the first person as a lookingback tale, our narrator (the man: kawai, joji), lets us know from the beginning that naomi is yet his wife. one of the things that i found amazing while reading this book, was that, even though i knew the ending, i kept reading the book-- i hated this book, hated him, hated her, but tanazaki kept me reading; it's debateable whether or not this skill makes tanazaki a great writer or not (pulp novels can keep a reader reading, just by leaving a little mystery), but other aspects of the novel hint toward a sense of greatness (i personally don't think the author achieves greatness, but i would certainly not seek to disabuse those who believe such).
in many ways, this novel could be viewed as a sort of forerunner of lolita; i.e., young girl manipulates older man, older man controls young girl. the west corrupts the east (or, in lolita's case, old europe).
what's also present is a sort of ongoing dialogue concerning naturenurture. kawai raises naomi, keeps her locked up, but she manages to (to paraphrase joji) maintain her innate roots.
but it's unclear as to why she acts this way, whether or not her actions are the result of some construct of dna, or instead because of how kawai handles her. our first instinct, as reader, is to blame kawai--- he is a weakwilled man, controlled by sex; mix a teenager girl with a sop subdued by sex, what do you get? the ultimate spoiled child. if the story were limited to kawai and naomi, perhaps i would agree with this assessment; however, noami's ken stretches far beyond our narrator.
what this novel also represents in a way is all sexual relationships, not only those gone awry. by giving us an extreme, tanazaki adds a subtle shading to the "normal" relationship. there is ever-present the sense of struggle--yes, the use of sex as a weapon, but also the use of money. it is inevitable for the reader to ask: why does he stay with her? yet, a conscientious reader should not forget to ask also why does she stay with him? there is a certain point when naomi need not stay with joji for financial reasons, yet she continues. why?
why cheating partners stay with their others, old men lusting after young women, manipulation, the nature of relationships, the definition of love.
four stars? despite all the above, i hated this book (i disagree with those who say that kawabata got the nobel only because tanazaki died; i think kawabata the better writer) yet i could appreciate its skill. i hated the surface of this novel, but not its underlayers--- a great book must (in my opinion) also have a great surface.

Junichiro Tanizaki - Naomi : A Novel (Vintage International)

Love?

This is my second time reading the novel, but this time it was for material for a research paper and used it for literary references to the westernization of Japan. To that effect it depicts the contemporary and westernized Moga, Naomi, and the more traditional Joji, who is in the clutchs of Naomi and is completly subservient to her. Some may take that for symbolism and either way it works out to the same point on westernization.

This book is at times funny for Joji's comments on westerners, but other then that this is not a humorous book, so pay no attention to the reviews on the cover saying its "gleeful". If you want a very intresting depiction of Japan post-WW I or you want to witness a strange and capitvating relationship between Naomi and Joji and then be able to wonder about the physcology of it all, you'll have a kind of morbid love for this novel but hate the characters. ON the writing style, Tanizaki depicts and protrays Joji's feelings and situations so real the already off the wall situation will seem quite realistic and even plausiable.

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