The key (Tanizaki)

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The key ( Japanese 鍵 ) is a novel by Tanizaki Jun'ichirō ( 谷 崎 潤 一郎 ) from 1956.

content

Shame and convention prohibit a married couple from talking about their sex life. On New Year's Day, both partners start to write their thoughts and longings in a diary. He raves about the fact that his wife is too shameful and forbids him to touch her everywhere and to look at her in the light, whereby she shows an insatiable desire. She, on the other hand, detests his face when he has taken off his glasses and his weak constitution.

When Kimura visits, Ikuko passes out after drinking too much cognac in the bathroom. Her husband and Kimura undress her and put her to bed. For the first time, her husband can look at and touch her body, which makes him more aroused than he has ever been before. He sleeps with her. This repeats itself a few times and he begins to photograph her. He leaves the development of the pictures to Kimura.

As history progresses, both partners' health deteriorates. She suffers from pulmonary tuberculosis, he from high blood pressure. But since the newly found love game means more to him, he decides not to change his lifestyle. After Toshiko finds pictures of her mother on Kimura, she begins to support the affair between the two.

Ikuko lives a double life; her husband accepts this, because she doesn't let it show at home and gives herself to him in the evening - which is her duty. On April 17th, the professor had a stroke while sleeping with his wife. He dies on May 2nd.

shape

The book consists of diary entries that start on January 1st (his diary) and end on June 11th (her diary).

main characters

  • The main character is a 56-year-old professor.
  • 45-year-old Ikuko is his wife.
  • Toshiko is the daughter of the house who detests her father's inclinations and leaves the house. She makes sure that Kimura and Ikuko can meet undisturbed.
  • Kimura is a teacher Toshiko's father chose as her future husband. However, this takes a greater liking to Ikuko, the mother, and later begins an affair with her.

literature

  • Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: The key . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Reinbek near Hamburg 1971, translated by Sachiko Yatsushiro and Gerhard Knauss , ISBN 3-499-11463-1 .
  • Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: The key . cass Verlag, Löhne 2017, translated by Katja Cassing and Jürgen Stalph, ISBN 978-3-944751-13-9 .