num_pages: 202
description: Kaname, a young man from Tokyo, escapes from a loveless marriage into the arms of Louisa, a Eurasian prostitute, tactfully permitting his wife to take a lover. His father-in-law, sensing the marriage is failing, tries to revitalize it by drawing the couple into an appreciation of classical Japanese arts, especially the puppet theater, which Tanizaki describes magnificently. Kaname's conflict-whether to embrace the traditional aesthetic and emotional satisfactions that are the mainstay of Japanese culture or to accept the more superficial westernized ways represented by Louisa-is symbolized by the parallels between the puppets of the traditional Japanese theater and the human puppets of the domestic conflict. It is a tale of sexual passion and disorientation that explores modern Japan's conflict between the values of Western culture and Occidental tradition.
language: English
title: Some Prefer Nettles
titlecomplete: Some Prefer Nettles
characters: Misako, Kaname
genres: Fiction, Asia, Japan, Japanese Literature, Literature, Classics, Novels, Asian Literature, 20th Century, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 4260
places: Japan, Osaka
publisher: Perigee Trade