&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Naomi_Novel.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Jun'ichirō Tanizaki |
|---|---|
| Original title | Chijin no Ai |
| Translator | Anthony H. Chambers |
| Cover artist | Kashō Takabatake (高畠華宵) |
| Language | Japanese |
| Publisher | Shinchōsha (Japanese) Knopf (English) |
Publication date | 1925 |
| Publication place | Japan |
Published in English | September 12, 1985 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback, Hardcover) |
| Pages | 449 (Japanese) 237 (English) |
| ISBN | 4-10-100501-X (Japanese) ISBN 0-394-53663-0 (English) |
Naomi (痴人の愛, Chijin no Ai, lit. A Fool's Love) is a novel by Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965). Writing of the novel began in 1924, and from March to June, Osaka's Morning News (大阪朝日新聞, Osaka Asahi Shinbun) published the first several chapters of the serial. Four months later, the periodical Female (女性, Josei) started to publish the remaining chapters. The novel was first published in book form, by Kaizosha, in 1925.
Narrated in the first person by the protagonist, a salaryman named Jōji, the novel follows his attempt to groom a Eurasian-looking girl, the eponymous Naomi, to be a Westernized woman. Naomi is a significant work in its comic depiction of Japanese culture of the era and its fascination with the West. The clash between older and newer generations over the more progressive depictions of women, such as Naomi, has been viewed as a clash over Japan's transition into the modern period.