
The Lens Within the Heart
The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan
Timon Screech(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 7. March 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
330 pages
978-0-7007-1573-2 (ISBN)
Description
Presenting a revised edition with a new preface of this important work, previously available only in hardback. It has long been assumed that Japan's closed country policy meant that Japan was isolated from the influence of the outside, and in particular the Western, world. However, this study of 18th century Japan, using sources wholly unstudied since their writing, reveals the profound influence that the introduction of Western technology and scientific instruments including glass, lenses and mirrors had on Japanese notions of sight, and how this change in perception was reflected most clearly in popular culture. Screech goes to the core of later eighteenth century thought through popular objects and the propositions which many considered groundbreaking on the book's first publication in 1996 have yet to be substantially challenged.
Reviews / Votes
'A pioneering work, bold, wide-ranging and challenging, full of sharp observations and provocative speculation' Ellis Tinios, Burlington Magazine 'Grand, unique and panoramic...a masterly exposition of the topics and materials, this book is also tremendously enjoyable' Madoka Kanai, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo 'Screech's highly innovative research is more accurately characterized as applied art history, considerably cross-fertilized as it is by parallel currents of intellectual and cultural histories' Tim Clark, Japan ForumMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 203 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
710 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7007-1573-2 (9780700715732)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Timon Screech
The Lens Within the Heart
The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan
E-Book
10/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€116.99
Available for download

Timon Screech
The Lens Within the Heart
The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan
E-Book
10/2018
1st Edition
Routledge
€116.99
Available for download
Person
Timon Screech was trained at Oxford, Harvard and Gakushuin and is currently Reader in the History of Japanese Art at SOAS, University of London, and Senior Associate at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He is the author of over half a dozen books in Japanese and English on the culture of the Edo period, including Sex and the Floating World (1999) and The Shogun's Painted Culture (2000).
Content
List of Plates and Figures Preface Preface to 2nd Edition Introduction 1. Trade and Culture in the Eighteenth Century 2. The 'Batavian Temperament' and its Critics 3. Mechanics and Motions 4. Machinery for Pictures 5. Seeing In 6. The Eye and the Lens 7. The View from on High Notes Glossary References Bibliographical Addendum Index