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The Dark Room
The narrator's settled life of material comfort and easy sexual pleasure is suddenly disturbed by unwelcome memories and premonitions and by the inexplicable new demands of his previously docile women
172 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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About the author
Junnosuke Yoshiyuki
23 books11 followersJunnosuke Yoshiyuki (吉行 淳之介) was a Japanese novelist and short-story writer.
Yoshiyuki was born in Okayama, the oldest child of author Yoshiyuki Eisuke, but moved to Tokyo at age 3. He attended Shizuoka High School, where he grew interested in Thomas Mann's stories, and in 1945 entered the University of Tokyo. He left the university without a degree, however, and began working fulltime as a magazine editor, while spending much of his leisure time gambling, drinking, and frequenting prostitutes. Sexuality and prostitution would form a consistent theme in his writing.
Yoshiyuki's first published fiction was Bara Hanbainin (薔薇販売人, The Rose Seller, 1950), followed by the novels Genshoku no Machi (The City of Primary Colors, 1951, revised 1956), Shu-u (驟雨, Sudden Shower, 1954), for which he won the Akutagawa Prize, and Shofu no Heya (Room of a Whore, 1958). His novel Anshitsu (暗室, The Dark Room, 1969) won the Tanizaki Prize. Another of his most celebrated works, Yugure Made (夕暮れまで, Until Evening, 1978), took 13 years to write but once published quickly became a best-seller and won the Noma Literary Prize.
Yoshiyuki was born in Okayama, the oldest child of author Yoshiyuki Eisuke, but moved to Tokyo at age 3. He attended Shizuoka High School, where he grew interested in Thomas Mann's stories, and in 1945 entered the University of Tokyo. He left the university without a degree, however, and began working fulltime as a magazine editor, while spending much of his leisure time gambling, drinking, and frequenting prostitutes. Sexuality and prostitution would form a consistent theme in his writing.
Yoshiyuki's first published fiction was Bara Hanbainin (薔薇販売人, The Rose Seller, 1950), followed by the novels Genshoku no Machi (The City of Primary Colors, 1951, revised 1956), Shu-u (驟雨, Sudden Shower, 1954), for which he won the Akutagawa Prize, and Shofu no Heya (Room of a Whore, 1958). His novel Anshitsu (暗室, The Dark Room, 1969) won the Tanizaki Prize. Another of his most celebrated works, Yugure Made (夕暮れまで, Until Evening, 1978), took 13 years to write but once published quickly became a best-seller and won the Noma Literary Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 23, 2019
This slim novel is quintessentially enjoyable in the same way that the author’s stories are. It is also easy to criticize. Like Oscar Wilde said: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.”
This book is beautiful and grotesque, and I believe that it is an effective psychological condensation, a profound depiction of narcissism and an eerie tale of obsession. It is not surprising that this author was a translator of Henry Miller. It is a shame few of his works have found their way into English.
Many people will dislike this book and the main character. Reading Paul Auster and even Orhan Pamuk will reveal similar characters embodying perversions, or at least dwelling in this frame of mind for protracted periods of time, but in this simple novel, the sensuality is far more palpable to me. I found this work moving and do not think it is necessary to justify the standpoint of the writer or the fictional persona.
It has the sensibility of a Tanizaki novel and the narrative distance is incredibly close. Whereas Tanizaki can still be mentioned in polite conversation, it's risky to bring up Yoshiyuki. But Junnosuke’s scenarios are just as memorable. They have a wonderful consistency. I found myself unable to stop turning pages. That was why I finished the novel in only a couple sittings. If only there was more of this author's work in English! One gets a sense of the times while really sinking into the plight of the main character, who only knows one way to live. By being a womanizer he is portrayed as a sad individual, but one that does not grate on my patience. He is almost as trapped by his flaws as the females he uses. They are all human and real. I sensed that the author labored over this book, that it took him many months to get the feel right, and to perfectly capture the aura of decadence he was going for. It could be true, but what it became was a powerful document dredged from the depths of his soul.
This book is beautiful and grotesque, and I believe that it is an effective psychological condensation, a profound depiction of narcissism and an eerie tale of obsession. It is not surprising that this author was a translator of Henry Miller. It is a shame few of his works have found their way into English.
Many people will dislike this book and the main character. Reading Paul Auster and even Orhan Pamuk will reveal similar characters embodying perversions, or at least dwelling in this frame of mind for protracted periods of time, but in this simple novel, the sensuality is far more palpable to me. I found this work moving and do not think it is necessary to justify the standpoint of the writer or the fictional persona.
It has the sensibility of a Tanizaki novel and the narrative distance is incredibly close. Whereas Tanizaki can still be mentioned in polite conversation, it's risky to bring up Yoshiyuki. But Junnosuke’s scenarios are just as memorable. They have a wonderful consistency. I found myself unable to stop turning pages. That was why I finished the novel in only a couple sittings. If only there was more of this author's work in English! One gets a sense of the times while really sinking into the plight of the main character, who only knows one way to live. By being a womanizer he is portrayed as a sad individual, but one that does not grate on my patience. He is almost as trapped by his flaws as the females he uses. They are all human and real. I sensed that the author labored over this book, that it took him many months to get the feel right, and to perfectly capture the aura of decadence he was going for. It could be true, but what it became was a powerful document dredged from the depths of his soul.
August 30, 2012
Jaded Japanese guy having aimless sex with people! I didn't find this very satisfying.
I love old Japanese male writers (especially when they are doing more than "jaded Japanese guy having aimless sex with people"), but they wouldn't be the first place I'd look for believable lesbians. Know what I mean?
I Love This Bit:
"Around that time, a new and major change took place in Natsue's body. It showed itself in the feelings I had as I lay on top of her. It wasn't just something I happened to have overlooked so far: it was a sudden, definite change as though she's acquired a completely different set of sexual organs.
Natsue had always functioned admirably in that respect. But now the functions began to intensify and diversify.
There was one thing in particular that was noticeable.
As the penis reaches the womb, then follows its outline in deeper until its glued against it, it very occasionally happens that something like a fine, soft feeler stretches out and engages with it. The effect is of a lot of tiny bubbles fizzing against one's flesh."
It sounds like the thing in that woman's armpit in David Cronenberg's "Rabid".
Good:
"Living just because there's nothing better to do."
Those jaded Japanese guys, they should just do each other and leave the women alone:
"'A man's sex organs are relatively frank and straightforward,' I'd said, 'but a vagina has something very evil about it,"
Interesting:
'Tsubushi' is the name for women moving their bodies in such a way as to strangle the child at birth. They used to do this in northern Japan, apparently. Tsk, those pesky vaginas.
March 31, 2009
Dark Room by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke is a daring look into the mind and life of a middle-aged writer who has done his best to avoid lasting relationships with women. Not only does he seek to live without any attachment to anyone, he also rarely gets emotionally involved.
This work explores a man's life of narcissistic abandonment from all responsibility with the women he obtains physical pleasures from. It is psychologically gripping story of overpowering lust in the sadistic world of a calculating egocentric. However, all good things are not meant to last. He loses one woman after another until there is only one left. This reduces him to a state of insecurity and anxiety.
This is not an easy work. It is deftly written and the characterization of the protagonist is intriguing and probing. If you can find a copy it is well worth your time.
This work explores a man's life of narcissistic abandonment from all responsibility with the women he obtains physical pleasures from. It is psychologically gripping story of overpowering lust in the sadistic world of a calculating egocentric. However, all good things are not meant to last. He loses one woman after another until there is only one left. This reduces him to a state of insecurity and anxiety.
This is not an easy work. It is deftly written and the characterization of the protagonist is intriguing and probing. If you can find a copy it is well worth your time.
June 13, 2024
Writing was so good just a big shame that it is very perverse and base with very little sentimentality or eroticism. I love this book but i also hate it deeply!
October 14, 2009
Yoshiyuki won the Tanizaki Prize for this book in 1970. He has written other books, and translated Henry Miller's Nights of Love and Laughter. Not surprisingly, this book is an exploration of male and female connections, connections of convenience (for sex and other purposes), sexual obsessions, male views of women, and the mystery (from the narrator's point of view) of lebianism. Yoshiyuki works in a number of sexual scenes, frequently involving the couple 'playing' at something, such as slavery. None of the sex, no matter how explicit, is erotic. Rather it seems cold and detached - which saves some parts from being ugly and offensive. Neither partner appears to be adequately engaged to either be a monster or a victim. The narrator's point of view was quite a barrier for me and yet I could appreciate the style of the writing. I find his approach to sex very similar to that of Oe - dispassionate and cerebral. And, at least in this case, based on antiquated views of men and women. It was well done, for what it was.
August 22, 2013
The Dark Room by Junnosuke Yoshiyuki is about a single man who lands a job opportunity to write false journal entries for a magazine, and he inspires himself by jumping into different affairs. Misogynistic, sexist, and made me nothing but angry. I felt like it was a waste of my time. Not Recommended.
October 6, 2012
This book is simply outdated. It doesn't stand the test of time. It also proves that just a collection of cynicisms doesn't make a good novel. But if you're interested into mysoginistic men who consider themselves a blessing for women, go for it.
July 20, 2021
This just wasn't it chief. While the narration style was provocative the main character was just so far from the realm of any man I would ever take seriously.
Tbh I left the book on purpose at the airport.
Tbh I left the book on purpose at the airport.
November 13, 2015
I can't recall if I found this on site for under read books or on Barthelme's shortlist of novels, probably the former, but found it as a read the equivalent of steak tartare. There's a rawness and a realness within the perspective that kept me interested. The novel plots a strange course and while the reader can wear Nakata's callousness like a kind of armor,its passing interests include infanticide, abortion, orphanhood, genetic disorders, it is situated within the worldview of a cuckolded widower outliving the psychological scars he earned in WWII-era Japan and denoues (if that's a word) in a kind of sexual moiré where the narrator is trapped by his own sexual desire. While the book has little to do with photography, its outlook reminded of Eikoh Hosoe, Daido Muriyama and the other Yoshiyuke.
March 4, 2023
'It's in the blook. The Nakata blood.'
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews