Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the visual and audio representations in Tanizaki Junichirō's "Longing for Mother" (1919). The story unveils the influence of silent film on Tanizaki's literary writing. It also shows the ambiguity of Japanese modernity.

Paper long abstract:

"Longing for Mother" is told in a dream narrative by a middle-aged Japanese man who, in his dream, becomes his younger self and goes on a phantasmagorical journey looking for his deceased mother. The story mixes the protagonist's childhood memories with Tanizaki Junichirō's (1886-1965) aestheticism of the vernacular culture of the Edo period (1603-1868). It is also known for its famous depiction of a beautiful Japanese woman as a Japanese fox with supernatural power. Previous studies show that this famous dream narrative demonstrates Tanizaki's enchantment with Edo vernacular culture, Japanese folklore, and the mother figure, who is beautiful, mysterious, dangerous and powerful. Acknowledging past scholarships, I read the story from the perspective of film studies and affect studies. I show that the protagonist immerses himself in the aura of the Edo past through his sensory experiences with space and sound in his dream. Tanizaki's narrative technique to craft this dream narrative is reminiscent of the film techniques he discusses in detail in his essays on film-making, published in the 1910s and 1920s. Tanizaki was involved in the Pure Film Movement of the 1910s and early 1920s. Cooperated with Thomas Kurihara (1885-1926), the famous film director of Taishō film Cooperation Company, they produced at least three silent films together. Cinematic effects are everywhere in the story, from the surreal description of the bright moonlight against the darkness that feels artificial to the continuous ambient sound of the shamisen song that guides the protagonist to his mother. These effects create a fantasy world that dissolves the border between present and past, dreams and reality. I argue that the story's nostalgia for Edo is not about calling for a return to a "lost" feudal past. Instead, it recreates an imagined, feminized cultural past that lives in the present and is built on one's fragmented personal memories against the backdrop of modern Japan's development in modernization, urbanization, and militarism.