A review by emsemsems
Devils in Daylight by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

2.0

“My desire to die at her hands, I assure you, is not a case of sour grapes.”

If a 3-star rating means that I actually like this novella, then that is a star too high. I’m rating this based on my reading experience and my personal level of affection for this novella – and it is at most a 2.5 rating. Cleverly written, and well-structured but the plot only managed to hold my attention very weakly. For such a small piece of writing, it took me too many sessions to finish. I can see why and how others might enjoy it more than I do; it’s not ‘bad’ writing per say. Also, I’m not someone who is very fond of Edgar Allan Poe, so this did absolutely nothing for me.

“Of course Devils in Daylight is itself a kind of translation of "The Gold Bug." Tanizaki takes the bare outlines of his plot and the narrative frame from Poe, and changes the setting from swampy Sullivan's island offthe North Carolina coast to the streets of Taisho-period Tokyo. Poe's tale is told from the perspective of a narrator whose friend "William Legrand" is a lot like Tanizaki's Sonomura-brilliant but "disposed to lunacy." – Afterword/Translator’s Notes (J. Keith Vincent)

I tried [b:The Makioka Sisters|34449|The Makioka Sisters|Jun'ichirō Tanizaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514374792l/34449._SY75_.jpg|841208] a few years ago but lost interest even quicker than I did with this (which I’m still surprised I finished). I tested this one out just to see if it was the writing/style that I had a problem with (and not the translation). It made me realise that it was both the writing/style and plot. The characterisation was nothing spectacular. Something about the ‘tone’ felt somewhat repetitive and ineffective in building any sort of momentum within the plot. I prefer my writing to be a little more ‘poetic’, and the descriptions of just about everything in this novella fell quite flat and dull for me. I would go as far as to say that I probably enjoyed the translator’s notes as much as I enjoyed the novella. And doesn’t that just render the act of reading the novella itself absolutely pointless?

“But Devils is about much more than the relation between cinema and literature. It is a tale of the rivalry between literature and a number of other media forms. The murder scene that plays out in front of Sonomura and Takahashi's eyes combines elements of cinema, literature, photography, and live theatre. But this be¬ing Tanizaki, the point is less to see which one wins than to enjoy the effects produced by multiple layers of mediation. Why stay at home writing a novel, Sonomura asks Takahashi, when you have a chance to watch an actual murder being committed?” – Afterword/Translator’s Notes (J. Keith Vincent)

Sure, I thought ‘Eiko’ in this novella was interesting at first, but then I realised that she’s basically just a supporting act in Sonomura’s story. Even though she holds the most ‘power’, it didn’t feel like it was hers to have; and almost like her ‘beauty’ – it felt like it was just conveniently there without any transgressive/striking quality to it – hence taking away its true value, almost. I’ve recently read Mishima’s [b:Star|41081322|Star|Yukio Mishima|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541625833l/41081322._SX50_.jpg|63082770] (my review) so naturally I compared her to Kayo from that novella. Kayo has nothing but ‘connection’ and maybe a bit of ‘clout’ which are all superficial ‘power’/possessions. But somehow Kayo in all her ‘ugliness’ still feels more powerful and in control than Eiko who is described as being even more beautiful than an actress/a geisha.

“She is a heroine ripped from the pages of a detective novel, a devil incarnate; a demon who has long been nesting in the fantasy world inside my head. She is the fantasy I have longed for, now manifested in the real world and come to comfort me in my loneliness. I believe she has come into existence for my sake alone.”

Would it be fair for me to compare this to Shirley Jackson? Another writer that I’d wanted to love but had found it very hard to do so (still not giving up on her though). Whenever I read something ‘Gothic’ or ‘Horror’, I want to actually feel something. I went in expecting a vague form of ‘shock’ at least, and it’s like I held my breath for nothing. Like this is it? That is all you have to offer? Like what the fuck? It is so anticlimactic in my opinion. The kind of writing/books that I can appreciate for the ‘vibes’ alone are books that depend on the setting and creative narrative/dialogues – like Murakami; and a writer I’ve recently discovered and enjoyed, Eu-Jin Jang who wrote a brilliant book, [b:No One Writes Back|17591572|No One Writes Back|Eun-Jin Jang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379899813l/17591572._SY75_.jpg|24532485] (my review) . Also, this is just my personal opinion – but books like Tanizaki’s (in my own opinion) are the reason why ‘younger’ people are not interested in older literature. It doesn’t help at all that I’m reading Luke Kennard’s [b:The Answer to Everything|56321877|The Answer to Everything|Luke Kennard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617626360l/56321877._SY75_.jpg|89201283] on the side (that I find to be a far more enjoyable book than Tanizaki's; and honestly, it feels too much like a treat that I don't even have to worry about enjoying too much of) – which is of a completely different horror (more domestic and suburban, less urban and ‘noir’ if I could put it that way).

“My entire fortune is yours if you will use your own hands to kill me like you did before. But this time for real.”

As I didn’t actually enjoy it, I won’t go on criticising the novella any longer since I’m only basing my criticisms on how much pleasure/enjoyment it had brought me. Having loved, and still having a lot of love for Mishima, I feel more open and less resistant to the exploration of other Japanese writing of the same period of time. Since Tanizaki is clearly not the writer for me, I’ll probably go for Kobo Abe and Kenzaburo Oe next; and eventually – Osamu Dazai (a writer who is almost as intimidating as Mishima). Reading this also makes me feel so lucky that I have only read one Mishima, which only means that I still have the rest of Mishima’s work to savour with the most decadent pleasure.

Despite my lack of satisfaction from reading the novella, I thought that these three songs are perfect companion music to the reading experience of it anyway:
4AM – Taeko Onuki
killer tunes kill me – KIRINJI ft. YonYon
Kokoro – Yujiro Kudo

"It's beautiful because it's frightening, silly! Don't they say that demons are just as beautiful as gods?"