Quicksand (Tanizaki novel)

The Japanese title, Manji, refers to the four-pronged Buddhist swastika, a symbol of the four lovers. The English title refers to the destructive cycle of obsession and jealousy faced by the four main characters.^[1]

The story is narrated by Sonoko Kakiuchi, a young woman from Osaka. At the start of the novel she lives comfortably with her husband Kotaro, and attends art classes at a local women's school. Rumors spread around the school that Sonoko is having a lesbian affair with another student, the beautiful young Mitsuko. Sonoko finds herself drawn to Mitsuko, though she barely knows her, and she proceeds to forge a friendship with her. Soon, she invites Mitsuko to her house to pose nude for her figure drawing. Mitsuko agrees, but insists on covering herself with a sheet. The sexual tension comes to a head when Sonoko rips the sheet away, thus sealing her infatuation. The two begin a fiery affair.

Things are complicated by the arrival of Watanuki Eijiro, Mitsuko's sometime fiancé. The effeminate, impotent Watanuki reveals that Mitsuko had intended to marry him, but now refuses unless he allows her affair with Sonoko to continue. Sonoko begins to sense that Mitsuko has been manipulating them both, but is far too mired in her infatuation – the quicksand of the title – to back out. Meanwhile, Sonoko's husband Kotaro has taken notice of her infatuation with Mitsuko. He attempts to put an end to it, but Sonoko will not be dissuaded. After a few chance meetings, Kotaro falls under Mitsuko's spell as well, and attempts to get closer to her. One evening when all three are sleeping in bed together, Sonoko awakens to find Kotaro having intercourse with Mitsuko. Knowing that their ménage à trois is doomed, Sonoko, Kotaro, and Mitsuko form a suicide pact, in which they will kill themselves with poison-laced sleeping powder. In the event, however, Sonoko wakes up, realizing that Kotaro and Mitsuko have withheld the poison from her dose, a final betrayal.

The novel was first published serially in the magazine Kaizō between 1928 and 1930. An English translation by Howard Hibbett was published in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf.^[1]

Film

The novel has been adapted to film several times:

More information Role, Cast ...

Role	1964	1983[2]	1998[2]	2006[3]	2023[4]
Cast
Mitsuko Sido	Ayako Wakao	Kanako Higuchi	Tomoko Mayumi	Fujiko	Manami Shindo
Sonoko Kakiuchi	Kyōko Kishida	Haruna Takase	Kaori Sakagami	Cosmosco	Noriko Kijima
Kotaro Kakiuchi	Eiji Funakoshi	Yoshio Harada	Sei Hiraizumi		Shima Ônishi
Crew
Screenwriter	Kaneto Shindō	Masaru Baba	Jun Miyamoto	Noboru Iguchi[5][6]	Kaori Kotani
Director	Yasuzo Masumura	Hiroto Yokoyama[7]	Mitsunori Hattori[8]		Kishū Izuchi[9][10]

Close

• 1985: adapted as Italo-German film The Berlin Affair, directed by Liliana Cavani, with the setting changed to Nazi Germany.
• 2024: adapted as 卍　リバース (Manji Reverse), directed by Tadaaki Horai, a gender swap portrayal set in modern day Japan.^[11]

Games

• A 1984 PC-88 game by CSK Research Institute is based on the novel.^{[citation needed]}