A Cat, a Man, and Two Women

A novella and two shorter pieces are variations on a favorite theme: dominance and submission in private relationships. The "man" in the title piece is a typical Tanizaki hero caught up in a war between his former wife and her willful young successor. "The little kingdom" describes the shifting relationship between a hard-pressed schoolteacher and a small but indomitable pupil determined to establish his own rule. The book ends with a sly portrait of a self-important academic, seen from the point of view of a journalist. In a series of interviews where the professor responds to questions merely with grunts the journalist discovers a scandalous hidden side.