Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki

Some Prefer Nettles

Junichiro Tanizaki

Beautifully told tale of a disintigrating marriage set in Japan in the 1920s. Unusual, keenly observed and quietly compelling.

Extract

Today was not the first time they had been faced with this difficulty. Indeed, whenever they had to decide whether or not to go out together, each of them became passive, watchful, hoping to take a position according to the other's manner. It was as if they held a basin of water balanced between them and waited to see in which direction it would spill.

Parallels

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

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