“The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.” (Margaret Benson)

/ madamebibilophile

This is my contribution to Reading the Meow hosted by Mallika at Literary Potpourri, a fantastic week-long celebration of literature inspired by our feline friends!

A Cat, A Man and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki (1936, transl. Paul McCarthy 2015) is published by the ever-wonderful Daunt Books and I really liked the simple cover:

There seems to have been a flurry in recent years of slightly whimsical stories about cats and I thought ACAMATW would be one of these, I’m not sure why. The prospect was fine with me, I don’t mind whimsy if I’m in the right mood and I adore cats. But in fact this wasn’t whimsical at all. It was a psychological study – albeit a gentle one – of three people and the catalyst (no pun intended but I’m happy its there 😀 ) of their shared pet.

I would just like to pause (paws?) here to let you know that my typing is being severely hampered by my calico cat sitting on my lap, demanding attention – and my tuxedo cat (her brother) has just arrived and there’s a bit of a turf war ensuing…

The titular cat of this novella is Lily, adored companion of Shozo. The story opens with his ex-wife Shinako appealing to his new wife Fukuko to let her have Lily. Her letter emphasises Shozo’s adoration of Lily and Shinako deliberately sets a cat among the pigeons (ha! I’m only a little bit sorry for this 😀 ) of the new marriage,

Even Shozo, feckless in the extreme, notices the change.  

“Could Fukuko be jealous of Lily? He considered this possibility for a moment but then dismissed it as making no sense. After all, Fukuko herself was basically fond of cats. When Shozo was living with his former wife, Shinako, he had sometimes mentioned her occasional jealousy of the cat to Fukuko who had always made rather scornful fun of this silliness.”

Shozo requests his wife cook meals she doesn’t enjoy, so he can share them with Lily. I’m not surprised Fukuko is annoyed:

“Fukuko had been prepared to sacrifice her own taste for her husband’s sake, while in fact it was for the cat that she cooked; she had become a companion to the cat.”

(Update: turf war won by the tuxedo. Calico has stalked off in disgust. Tuxedo determined to rest on my dominant hand and impede my typing.)

The tensions in the marriage centre around Lily, but really have nothing to do with her. She merely highlights Shozo’s lack of drive and inability to engage fully in relationships, except with his cat.

“When he heard people with no knowledge of a cat’s character saying that cats were not as loving as dogs, that they were cold and selfish, he always thought to himself how impossible it was to understand the charm and lovableness of a cat if one had not, like him spent many years living alone with one.”

Shozo isn’t unsympathetic. His mother is manipulative and choosing Lily seems to be one of the rare independent choices Shozo has made. He has had a longer relationship with Lily than either of his wives and his bond with the cat is meaningful to him.

“It was Lily, with whom he’d lived so long, who was more intimately bound up with many memories of his; who formed, in fact, an important part of Shozo’s past.”

Tanizaki does a great job of portraying Lily as a very believable feline, without attributing human motivations or emotions to her. He leaves this to his three human protagonists, who fail to see she is not a strategist in these adult negotiations.

Shinako gets her wish, and the cat she was indifferent to arrives at her sister’s home, where Shinako now has a room. Gradually, she finds herself discovering new emotional territory, thanks to Lily:

“When she thought of the link that bound them together, her anger faded; and she felt, rather, that both of them were to be pitied.”

“Other people had told her so often that she was hard hearted, she had come to believe it herself. But when she considered how much trouble she had put herself to recently for Lily’s sake, she was surprised, wondering where these warm and gentle feelings had been hiding all this time.”

But will Shozo want his cat back? Will Shozo and Fukuko’s marriage survive without Lily to blame for the irritations and lack of understanding?

Tanizaki has a great understanding of cats and of people which makes this novella really shine. The humour is gentle and the psychological observations astute. The ending is left very open which didn’t wholly work for me but this is a minor quibble in regard to this engaging and insightful novella.

ACAMATW was adapted into the film A Cat, Shozo and Two Women in 1956. The summary on Wikipedia makes me think the filmmakers opted for a less open-ended conclusion to the story. From this clip the cat actor looks a lot more tolerant than my two would be 😀

20 thoughts on ““The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.” (Margaret Benson)”

  1. Thank you for this lovely post Madame Bibi–I especially loved the puns (intended and un) and that your two made some contributions while you wrote.
    Tanizaki does sound like he knows his cats well as it seems he does his people and the various manipulations and motivations entering into relationships. I have another of his waiting on my TBR (not a cat one) but will be sure to add this one too!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. One of my three cats is curled between my arms, purring, as I lean over to type this comment, which is to say that I love the part about cooking for the cat rather than the person. I sometimes call our female cat “the other woman.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. A lovely review Madame Bibli – I enjoyed reading it and chuckled at the puns. Great to have the contributions of Calico and Tuxedo too!

    I was wondering whether, in the interests of equality for canines, there should be a Reading the Woof! Unless, you already know of one?!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks so much! I’m not sure if they contributed or impeded but it was nice to have them around 😁

      I’m not aware of a Reading the Woof – great idea! Last year I did follow up with a doggy read – I’ll have to see if I have any others lurking in the TBR…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Isn’t this the third book, in a short spell, that was expected to have (or described as having) a spark of whimsy and light-hearted-ness, but which ended up being unexpectedly serious? I’ve had that happen with a Japanese story about a cat, too; I’ve not yet recovered. (Not naming, to avoid spoilers, but if I ever see it in one of your stacks I will warn you. lol)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I was so tempted by this event too but ran out of time. This sounds quite wonderful.
    My two young cats are just like the cat in the video. They aren’t lap cats but you can hold them anyway you want. Especially her. They are half-Ragdoll so I guess that’s where it comes from. Colette wrote a lovely book about a cat and female jealousy. You might have read it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.