{"product_id":"9781805332220-the-sirens-lament","title":"The Siren's Lament","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEssential Stories\u003cbr\u003eA new selection and translation of short stories by a hugely prominent classic Japanese writer, filled with eroticism and fantasy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A master of death and eros' \u003ci\u003eLA Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Japan's great modern novelist. Tanizaki created a lifelong series of ingenious variations on a dominant theme: the power of love to energize and destroy' \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sage Confucius visits a cultured duke, whose pursuit of virtue is threatened by the desires of his dazzling, malicious consort. A naïve servant elopes with his master's daughter, only to be plunged headlong into a world of murder and corruption. Exhausted by a lifestyle of never-ending debauchery, a young prince finds himself obsessed with a sorrowful, beguiling mermaid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese three stories, in a gorgeous new translation by Bryan Karetnyk, distil the essence of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's shorter fiction: the commingling of Japanese and Chinese mythologies, the dark side of desire and the paper-thin line between the sublime and the depraved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated by Bryan Karetnyk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJun'ichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) is widely considered one of Japan's most important writers. Born in Tokyo to a family of printers, he began his literary career in 1909 and published numerous plays, essays, novels and short stories. His writing is characterised by ironic wit, subtle interpersonal dynamics and charged depictions of sexuality and cultural identity. The Tanizaki Prize, one of Japan's most prestigious awards, is named in his honour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBryan Karetnyk is a British writer and translator. His translations for Pushkin Press include works by Gaito Gazdanov, Irina Odoevtseva and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. He is also the editor of the Penguin Classics anthology \u003ci\u003eRussian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55351103586678,"sku":"9781805332220","price":8.41,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_41145665_74f5feee-cc42-4505-8f39-d26aadaf7a51.jpg?v=1778119685","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781805332220-the-sirens-lament","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}