# Diary of a Mad Old Man

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![Diary of a Mad Old Man](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage-classics/junichiro-tanizaki/diary-of-a-mad-old-man_978-00-9928-519-9.jpg?v=2026-04-22%2005%3A14%3A25)

- Authors: [Jun'ichirō Tanizaki](https://www.bookquiver.com/junichiro-tanizaki)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2025-06-12
- Genres: Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general

## Description

Two or three times a day I think to myself: maybe I’ll die today. While recovering from a stroke, seventy-seven-year-old Utsugi turns to his diary to wryly record his struggle with his ageing body. Though impotent and in pain he notes down his growing desire for his beautiful daughter-in-law Satsuko, a chic, Westernised dancer with a shady past. Written when the author himself was an old man and shining with self-effacing humour, Tanizaki’s last novel is a tragicomedy about desire and the will to survive. ‘Lightly comic, lyrically evocative and savagely cruel’ New York Times ‘An artistic masterpiece’ Irish Times

## Editions

### Diary of a Mad Old Man

- Publisher: Vintage Classics
- Translated by: Howard Hibbett
- ISBN: 978-00-9928-519-9
- Pages: 192
- Published: 2025-06-12
- Language: en_GB