Naomi (novel)
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Naomi (痴人の愛 Chijin no Ai?, lit. A Fool's Love) is a Japanese novel on the Pygmalion theme by Junichiro Tanizaki. It was published in 1924.
Naomi is a comic commentary on Japanese fascination with the West. At the time, Japan was a slowly emerging country, Western contacts were still rare, and the charade of Western culture was the ultimate in daring fashion. Women were assigned specific roles, and the idea of a woman choosing her male lovers was a scandalous concept.
The Modern girl represented by Naomi was an undefined thing, where women were attempting to create something new, with no role models and fewer inhibitions. Such was the power of this novel at the time that "Naomis" followed in its wake, and "Naomi-ism" became the word to describe their new sub-culture. Hated as she is in modern times, she was an idol to oppressed girls seeking freedom.
Narrated in the first person by the protagonist, the novel is written in easy Japanese. An English translation by Anthony Chambers is published by Vintage, a division of Random House Publishing.
[edit] Plot
The protagonist, a salary-man named Joji, takes a fifteen-year old downtown waitress under his wing and seeks to transform her into a glamorous Western-style lady modeled on such figures as Mary Pickford. They move to a trendy neighborhood and Naomi proves a maddeningly restless and willful pupil, but develops into a seductive dominatrix, reducing her protector to slavery.
