Takenaka Tokio, a thirty-something writer weary of his marriage, takes in the bright young Yoshiko as his literary disciple and falls painfully in love with her. When her sweetheart Tanaka follows her to Tokyo, Tokio's jealousy, drinking and hypocrisy spiral until he sends her home.
Books mentioned in The Quilt (4)
Lonely Lives by Gerhart Hauptmann: “By some association he suddenly remembered Hauptmann's Lonely Lives. Before things came to this he had thought of making that play her daily lesson, wanting to teach her the heart and sorrow of Johannes Vockerat. [auto-translated]”
On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev: “For one hour each morning, from nine to ten, he explained Turgenev's novels, and Yoshiko sat slantwise at her desk under his shining eyes, listening to the long, long tale of On the Eve. How deeply Elena's fierce feelings, strong will and sad, tragic end moved her. [auto-translated]”
Punin and Baburin by Ivan Turgenev: “Fate, life: Turgenev's Punin and Baburin, which he had once taught Yoshiko, rose in Tokio's mind. The meaning of life as drawn by that great Russian writer struck him in the chest as if for the first time. [auto-translated]”
Faust by Ivan Turgenev: “He did not go so far as to teach her Lonely Lives, but he once taught her a short story by Turgenev, Faust. In the lamplit study, as he explained the passage where the hero reads Faust aloud to his former sweetheart, even his voice trembled. [auto-translated]”