In Praise of Shadows
Published on 3. May 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-0-09-928357-7 (ISBN)
Description
Were it not for shadows there would be no beauty.
Nothing evokes the calm and nuance of the traditional Japanese aesthetic more profoundly than this book. Tanizaki's eye ranges over architecture, jade, food, even toilets, examining the design and feel of the intimate places we inhabit. His acute sense of the use of space in buildings, his poetic descriptions of lacquerware under candlelight and his appreciation for natural materials suggest the possibility of a simpler, more beautiful life - one in which the softness of shadows is shielded from the dazzling light of modernity.
'Tanazaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well' AC Grayling, Guardian
'That it is a work of art can never be in doubt' New Statesman
'Elegant...a delight to read' Independent on Sunday
Nothing evokes the calm and nuance of the traditional Japanese aesthetic more profoundly than this book. Tanizaki's eye ranges over architecture, jade, food, even toilets, examining the design and feel of the intimate places we inhabit. His acute sense of the use of space in buildings, his poetic descriptions of lacquerware under candlelight and his appreciation for natural materials suggest the possibility of a simpler, more beautiful life - one in which the softness of shadows is shielded from the dazzling light of modernity.
'Tanazaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well' AC Grayling, Guardian
'That it is a work of art can never be in doubt' New Statesman
'Elegant...a delight to read' Independent on Sunday
Reviews / Votes
An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday * A highly infectious essay lauding all things shady and subtly hidden * Guardian * The outstanding Japanese novelist of this century This is a powerfully anti-modernist book, yet contains the most beautiful evocation of the traditional Japanese aesthetic... More like a poem than an essay * Building Design * I am convinced that Tanizaki is one of the few great writers of our time. He is an author of outstanding stature and deserves to be far better known outside Japan than he is That it is a work of art can never be in doubt * New Statesman * It comes to remind the Western reader that the razzle dazzle of electric lighting was foreign for thousands of years ... above all, it highlights the fact that shadow is inseparable from our holistic and spiritual relationship with light * Lighting *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 125 mm
Width: 194 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
66 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-928357-7 (9780099283577)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2019
Vintage Classics
€19.00
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Person
Junichiro Tanizaki was one of Japan's greatest twentienth century novelists. Born in 1886 in Tokyo, his first published work - a one-act play - appeared in 1910 in a literary magazine he helped to found. Tanizaki lived in the cosmopolitan Tokyo area until the earthquake of 1923, when he moved to the Kyoto-Osaka region and became absorbed in Japan's past.
All his most important works were written after 1923, among them Some Prefer Nettles (1929), The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi (1935), several modern versions of The Tale of Genji (1941, 1954 and 1965), The Makioka Sisters, The Key (1956) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961). He was awarded an Imperial Award for Cultural Merit in 1949 and in 1965 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the first Japanese writer to receive this honour. Tanizaki died later that same year.
All his most important works were written after 1923, among them Some Prefer Nettles (1929), The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi (1935), several modern versions of The Tale of Genji (1941, 1954 and 1965), The Makioka Sisters, The Key (1956) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961). He was awarded an Imperial Award for Cultural Merit in 1949 and in 1965 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the first Japanese writer to receive this honour. Tanizaki died later that same year.