The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man

In The Key, a middle-aged professor plies his wife of thirty years with any number of stimulants, from brandy to a handsome young lover, in order to reach new heights of pleasure. They record their separate adventures, but whether for themselves or each other becomes the question. Diary of a Mad Old Man records, with alternating humor and sadness, seventy-seven-year-old Utsugi's discovery that even his stroke-ravaged body still contains a raging libido, especially in the unwitting presence of his chic, mysterious daughter-in-law.

Junichiro Tanizaki was born in Tokya in 1886 and lived there until the earthquake of 1923, when he moved to the Kyoto-Osaka region, the scene of The Makioka Sisters. By 1930 he had gained such reknown that an edition of his complete works was published. Author of more than twelve novels, he was awarded Japan's Imperial Prize in lLiterature in 1949. Tanizaki died in 1965.