Japanese Prose: Junichiro Tanizaki
Tanizaki’s Quicksand and Some Prefer Nettles* are intricate stories of human lives and passion in the early 20th century Japan. What had fascinated me in these novels and what I endeavoured to deliver in my illustrations was the striking contrast between philosophical silence and explosive emotions, which is characteristic of the author’s style.
* The English titles and the text fragments for the double-page sample layouts were taken from the English translations of Quicksand by Howard Hibbert and Some Prefer Nettles by Edward G. Seidensticker.
