A Cat, a Man and Two Women (Hardcover)

What distinguishes this wonderful new collection--the title story and two shorter pieces--is its lightheartedness, its comic realism. The 'man' in the title piece is a typical Tanizaki hero--spoiled, self-indulgent, and obstinately ineffectual--caught up in a war between his vindictive former wife and her willful young successor, both rivals of the fourth party in the title: Lily--seductive, elegant, and magnificently in control--a tortoiseshell cat.