Transculturally Visualizing Tanizaki: Manji in Liliana Cavani’s Interno Berlinese

  • Daniele Resta (著者)
    Daitō Bunka University Tōkyō
    Assistant Professor

Identifiers (Article)

Identifiers (Files)

Abstract

Manji (1928–30) is probably one of Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s best known works. The novel is structured as the confessional monologue of Sonoko, a married upper-class young woman who, at some point in her heterosexual life, falls in love with Mitsuko, a seductive fellow student. Their sapphic relationship is complicated by the intrusion of the ambiguous, impotent Watanuki, Mitsuko’s ex-fiancé, and Kotarō, Sonoko’s anhedonic husband. In an attempt to put an end to his wife’s momentary bewilderment, even Kotarō will find himself entrapped in Mitsuko’s web of voluptuosity and deception. As many of other Tanizaki’s stories, Manji has been adapted to film several times. This article focuses on one of the most controversial of these adaptations, namely the 1985 film Interno berlinese (The Berlin Affair). Directed by the Italian auteur Liliana Cavani, the film has, among others, the peculiarity of transplanting the original Ōsaka four-way love affair into Nazi Germany. This and other unusual adaptation choices will be discussed, in an attempt to grasp Cavani’s understanding of the story and, more broadly, of Tanizaki’s poetics.

Statistics

loading

References

Primary sources

TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1982 [1928–30]): La croce buddista. Italian translation by Lydia Origlia. Milano: Guanda.

TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1994 [1928–30]): Quicksand. English translation by Howard Hibbett. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1981): Tanizaki Jun’ichirō zenshū 谷崎潤一郎全集. Vol. 1–30. Tōkyō: Chūōkōronsha.

CAVANI, Liliana (2006 [1985]): Interno berlinese. DVD, Rai Cinema – 01 Distribution.

Secondary sources

[Anonymous] (1985): “Volto esotico per la Cavani”. In: La Stampa, 19.02.1985.

ALESSI, Rino (1985): “Tanizaki nel Terzo Reich”. In: la Repubblica, 22.07.1985.

ARRIETA DOMÍNGUEZ, Daniel (2014): “Un libro y cinco películas: variaciones de la seducción femenina en Manji de Tanizaki Junichirō”. In: CARBONELL I CORTÉS, Ovidi (ed.): Presencias japonesas: la interacción con Occidente en la literatura y las otras artes. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca: 89–98.

ANTONELLI, Lamberto (1985): “La Berlino della Cavani parla anche giapponese”. In: Stampa Sera, 29.07.1985.

AUTERA, Leonardo (1986): “Fischiato a Berlino il film della Cavani”. In: Corriere della Sera, 18.02.1986.

TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1985): Pianto di sirena e altri racconti. Italian translation by Adriana Boscaro. Milano: Feltrinelli.

BRUNETTA, Gian Piero (2003): Guida alla storia del cinema italiano. Torino: Einaudi.

CAVANI, Liliana (1985): “Perché mi ha ispirato un film”. In: Tuttolibri, 03.08.1985.

CERVONE, Paolo (1985): “Liliana Cavani: ‘Eros in kimono’”. In: Corriere della Sera, 17.04.1985.

CHIBA, Shunji 千葉俊二 (1994): “Tanizaki Jun’ichirō Manji no ‘katari’ o megutte 谷崎潤一郎『卍(まんじ)』の〈語り〉をめぐって”. In: Kokubungaku kaishaku to kanshō 国文学解釈と鑑賞. Vol. 54, No. 4: 108–114.

GANGLOFF, Eric J. (1976): “Tanizaki’s Use of Traditional Literature: A Comparison of Manji and Shinjū Tenno Amijima”. In: The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. Vol. 11, Nos. 2–3: 217–234.

HALFORD, Aubrey S. and Giovanna M. (1956): The Kabuki Handbook. Tōkyō; Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle.

HIBBETT, Howard S. (1973): “Fantasy in the Fiction of Tanizaki Jun’ichirō”. In: Nihon bunka kenkyū kokusai kaigi gijiroku 日本文化研究国際会議議事録. Vol. 1: 160–64.

HUTCHEON, Linda (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge.

ITO, Ken K. (1991): Visions of Desire: Tanizaki’s Fictional Worlds. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

KŌNO, Taeko 河野多恵子 (1976): Tanizaki bungaku to kōtei no yokubō 谷崎文学と肯定の欲望. Tōkyō: Bungei shunjūsha.

MAEDA, Hisanori 前田久徳 (1998): “Manji no buntai 「卍」の文体”. In: Kokubungaku: kaishaku to kyōzai no kenkyū 国文学:解釈と教材の研究. Vol. 43, No. 6: 70–74.

MARRONE, Gaetana (2000): The Gaze and the Labyrinth: The Cinema of Liliana Cavani. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

MORI, Anna Maria (1985): “Passione a quattro con idolo in kimono”. In: la Repubblica, 18.04.1985.

NADEAU, Chantal (1995): “Sexy Girls on a Wired Screen: Cavani’s Cinema and Lesbian S/M.” In: GROSZ, Elizabeth, Elspeth PROBYN (eds.): Sexy Bodies: The Strange Carnalities of Feminism. New York: Routledge: 211–230.

O’HEALY, Áine (2004): “Desire and Disavowal in Liliana Cavani’s ‘German Trilogy’”. In: CESTARO, Gary P. (ed.): Queer Italia: Same-Sex Desire in Italian Literature and Film. New York: Palgrave: 133–151.

PELUSO, Alessandra (1999): “Tanizaki tra letteratura e cinema. Dalla croce buddhista di Ōsaka alla svastica di Berlino”. In: Il Giappone. Vol. 39: 135–174.

PERONA, Piero (1985): “Interno berlinese ai cinema Eliseo e Romano”. In: Stampa Sera. 30.11.1985.

PISU, Renata (1985): “Una passione privata e scandalosa nel Giappone tedesco della Cavani”. In: La Stampa, 22.02.1985.

PORRO, Maurizio (1985). “La Cavani: Più pignola di Visconti”. In: Corriere della Sera, 23.10.1985.

REGGIANI, Stefano (1985): “Cavani, le passioni congelate”. In: La Stampa, 29.11.1985.

RICHIE, Donald (1998): “The film Adaptations”. In: BOSCARO, Adriana, Anthony H. CHAMBERS (eds.): A Tanizaki Feast: The International Symposium in Venice. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Center for Japanese Studies: 163–170.

ROBYONI, Simonetta (1985): “Liliana Cavani: ‘Berlin Interior non è un film, è la mia libertà’”. In: La Stampa, 30.06.1985.

SAID, Edward (1979): Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

SAKAKI, Atsuko (1999): Recontextualizing Texts: Narrative Performance in Modern Japanese Fiction. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center.

SHARP, Joanne (2009): Geographies of Postcolonialism. London: Sage.

TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1985 [1928–30]): Svastika. French translation by René de Ceccatty and Ryōji Nakamura. Paris: Gallimard.

TORNABUONI, Lietta (1986): “Fischi per la Cavani”. Stampa Sera, 17.02.1986.

Published
2017-10-30
Language
en
Academic discipline and sub-disciplines
Japanese Literature, Film studies, Comparative Literature
Type, method or approach
Textual and film comparative analysis