The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
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Description
These two short novels, published in the early 1930's ranked high in Tanizaki's own estimation of his work. The contrast is stark, but in their controlled complexities of tone, both bear the unmistakable stamp of Tanizaki's hand. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi deals with the dark sexual obsessions of a sixteenth-century warlord, accidentally initiated in his youth into the morbid rites attendant upon battle. Based on invented documents that overlap with historical reality, the show more story unfolds a masterly balance of irony and melodrama, elegance and brutality, civilised ritual and vengeful barbarity. Arrowroot too touches on the pursuit of legend. The narrative blends the stories of two friends on an expedition into the mountains south of Kyoto, one of them haunting the traces of a medieval myth, the other in search of a more recent and more private past. show lessTags
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193+ Works 12,627 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi
- Original title
- 武州公秘話; Bushukō hiwa
- Original publication date
- 1932
- Important places
- Japan
- Important events
- Sengoku period
- First words*
- Über die Person der Nonne Myokaku, Urheberin der Schrift "Traum einer Nacht", ihre Herkunft oder den Zeitpunkt, zu dem sie derlei verfasst haben mochte, lässt sich nichts Genaues sagen.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Das ist es, worin das eigentliche, klammheimliche Anliegen des Autors dieser Schrift besteht.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 895.6 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Japanese
- LCC
- PL839 .A7 .A23 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Japanese language and literature Japanese literature Individual authors and works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 89
- Popularity
- 354,651
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 11
