Excerpts from Records of What Was Heard

1. It is advisable to first acquire a basic understanding of several of Tanizaki's representative works (such as A Portrait of Shunkin and In Praise of Shadows) before reading this book, to better appreciate the threads of thought in his essays.
2. The chapters are independent and well suited to quiet reading in fragmented time; readers may jump around according to interest without adhering to order.
3. Keep pen and paper at hand while reading to note Tanizaki's exquisite comments on particular writers or works; these are themselves excellent models of literary appreciation.

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.