Sunday, June 14, 2020

Junichiro Tanizaki, The Makioka Sisters **** 1/2

Split the difference between Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy, then filter it through a Japanese attention to tradition and class. The primary concern of The Makioka Sisters is finding a husband for the third sister Yukiko while fretting about the dalliances of the fourth sister Taeko. So far so Austen. The story takes place in Osaka in the years immediately preceding the Second World War; dinner conversations hint at the looming crisis in Europe and the ongoing "China Incident." The characters are concerned about tradition, but we readers know that big changes are on the way very soon. (The story ends in April 1941.)

The characters are very well drawn, especially those of the four sisters, and the milieu feels authentic. The plot is fairly repetitive, consisting of repeated miai (matchmaking dinners) for Yukiko interspersed with questionable behavior from Taeko, but the thoughts and feelings of the characters are distinct enough each time to keep things interesting.

P.S. As a digestif, I watched the 1983 Kon Ichikawa film version. Not surprisingly, the film version compresses Yukiko's many miai into a couple and loses much of the subtle character work. Surprisingly, the film leaves out the most dramatic events (the flood, the critical illness, the pregnancy). It looks beautiful, especially the ladies' kimonos, but feels rushed to someone who just finished the 500-page book. Taeko suffers most in the transition; she comes across as merely petulant. The film adds erotic tension between Yukiko and Teinosuke, which gives their characters additional shading. The actress playing Yukiko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) conveys a lot about this enigmatic character with just her facial expressions. I'm not sure whether the film would stand alone, but it worked as an adaptation for readers of the novel.

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