明治5年生まれの作家。三人の登場人物（次郎左衛門、八橋、栄之丞）それぞれの心理描写を克明に描写している、神視点の作品。お大尽の次郎左衛門は千両の大金を吉原の八橋に注ぎこみ、無一文になる。八橋は栄之丞と深い中であり、三角関係。無一文になった次郎左衛門は八橋を切って切腹しようとする。心理描写が微細でくどいくらいに描かれている。次郎左衛門も栄之丞もあれこれ迷う質で、優柔不断でのらりくらりとつかみどころがない。八橋を殺そうと企てる辺りから、俄然面白くなり、一気に最後まで読んだ。
江戸時代の事柄が分かるし、吉原のことも分かる。花魁言葉も巧みに使っている。
Cather's description is so vivid and minute that you can visualize each scene. The development of the story follows the authodox way of story telling. That is, let the protagonist, Canute, faces as much hardships as possible: He is a barbarian, his manner wild, his shanty weird with snaky decorations on the entrance door and on the window sills ; while Lena Yensen ditests him very much. She says, "And [Canute's] hair that ain't been cut since he was a baby, and a big dirty beard, and he wears overalls on Sundys, and drinks like a pig. Besides he will keep."
At the end of the story, however, he succeessfully gets married with Lena, by force. He abducts Lena and forces the priest to marry them.
Overall, the worse the hindrance, the better the ending.
