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The works of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1889-1965) are widely known not only in Japan but around the world. His works have been translated into many languages, and films have been made based on his novels in Europe. A most delicate stylist, an unrivaled master of literary allusions, a bold experimenter, he never feared, and often sought to shock the reader — the publication of some of his works provoked a heated public reaction, even leading to debates in the Japanese parliament about banning them as immoral and pornographic.

The novel "The Wormwood Lover" (1928) occupies a special place in Tanizaki's legacy. The protagonist of the novel is a man living in a complex time of epochal change, a man full of contradictions and dissonances, trying to reconcile traditional culture with the rapidly growing influence of Western modernization.