Novel
The Key
鍵
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki · 1956
Synopsis
A university professor and his wife Ikuko, some ten years younger, each keep a diary that each claims to keep secret. The husband hides his own and the key to the drawer in the hope that she will find them; Ikuko, who has found the key without reading the notebook, begins her own diary, according to The Modern Novel. The couple see in Kimura, a teacher, a possible husband for their daughter Toshiko, who takes no interest in him, and the husband senses an attraction growing between Kimura and Ikuko, whose jealousy excites him.
Context
The novel appeared in 1956 in the magazine Chūō Kōron, starting with the January issue, which sold out at once, then in volume form from Chūō Kōronsha the same year. The title refers to the key to the compartment where the professor keeps his notebook. Howard Hibbett translated it into English in 1961, and the first French translation, by G. Renondeau, appeared from Gallimard as early as 1963 under the title La Confession impudique; Anne Bayard-Sakai produced a new version in 2003.
Who it is for
A short novel made of two intersecting diaries, for those who like stories in two voices where each writes for the other.
Prizes and reception
The novel has been adapted for the screen several times, from 1959 to 2022, in Japan as well as in Italy.
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