Daniel Arrieta
   Department   Kyoto University of Foreign Studies  Department of Hispanic Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies
   Position   Associate Professor
Language Spanish
Publication Date 2024/05
Type Academic Paper
Peer Review Peer reviewed
Title Tanizaki's cat: a metaphor for the ideal woman or an example of animal agency?
Contribution Type Single author
Journal Studies of Comparative Literature
Journal TypeAnother Country
Publisher Spanish Society of General and Comparative Literature
Volume, Issue, Page 4,pp.151-159
Total page number 9
Details In his novella 猫と庄造と二人のをんなNeko to Shozo to Futari no Onna (The Cat, Shozo, and His Two Wives), from 1936, Tanizaki Junichiro revisits some of the themes and motifs frequently observed in his literary world, such as the love triangle , the ideal woman, and the East-West dualism. However, in this case the love triangle is enriched by the appearance of a cat, which turns the triangle into a quadrilateral. In this paper we confront the characterization of Lily the cat as a metaphor for the ideal woman with another interpretation of the text in line with animal studies: animal agency. Finally, we compare the original text with the 1956 film adaptation of the novel by Toyoda Shiro.
ISBN 978-84-09-62026-5