Worldwide Horror Book Review: The Siren’s Lament: Essential Stories by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, 谷崎潤一郎
Translated by Bryan Karetnyk
Genre: Literature - Classics
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
This book wasn’t for me. I’m glad I’ve read it, especially as it comes from one of the major writers of modern Japanese literature, and I think the prose itself is good, I just wasn’t a fan of the stories themselves. There are three stories here, “The Qilin”, in which Confucius tries to help a duke seeking virtue, Killing O-Tsuya, a novella in which a servant, in love with his employer’s daughter, ends up caught in a web from which he struggles to escape, and “The Siren’s Lament”, a short story where a young prince falls in love with a mermaid.
The two short stories read like fairy tales or folklore, and work in this context, whereas the novella is fairly different. The short stories lean more towards fantasy, with “The Qilin” taking on an element of horror, but the novella is more like crime fiction. I’m not sure if these three are always included together, but the novella placed with the other two feels like a strange choice.
Let’s start with “The Qilin” – the duke seeking virtue, who enlists Confucius’ help. But what could be stopping the duke finding virtue? Turns out, it’s his beautiful, pleasure-obsessed consort. There was some interesting imagery here, but it was hard to read past the portrayal of the consort, as a woman who uses sex and her beauty – and nothing else – to get what she wants, and who has the duke bewitched, or something? It could be there’s something lost in the translation, but it felt very much like the message at its core was “the only thing standing in the way of a man being good is a beautiful woman”.
Okay, so, that could have been a one-off. Except there’s a similar feel to Killing O-Tsuya; the protagonist is naïve, but portrayed as fairly innocent and trusting. His employer’s daughter convinces him to elope, despite the servant thinking the whole time of what a terrible, awful idea it is. Not that he does anything to prevent it. Shinsuke is pushed and prodded along the plot by O-Tsuya, his lover. There are some intriguing moments here and it’s atmospheric, but Shinsuke is naïve in a way that’s frustrating, constantly questions the situations he’s in, then it’s everyone else to blame for the horrific acts he commits, especially O-Tsuya. Again, a ‘good man’ falls because of the influence of a woman?
“The Siren’s Lament” is the final story, and it’s actually quite sweet. A prince is bored with his lifestyle, until a European merchant arrives and offers him a mermaid, who the prince immediately falls in love with. It reads more fairy tale than the other two, but it’s a ‘nice’ story to end the collection on.
Overall, like I said, I’m glad I read it, especially as I want to read more translated works, but I was left feeling unimpressed by these specific stories.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
I received this ebook from Pushkin Press via NetGalley for review consideration.
