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November 09, 2006
In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki
It can be easily said of this essay that it is a set of jottings about the aesthetic power of darkness. The author's writing is like a stream that runs through architecture, takes a turn into gastronomy, goes swiftly by human beauty and ponders on old age, with a turn of prose so compelling that makes you wish you owned minimalistic decorated japanese house and were reading by candle light.
The considerations on architecture and decoration can be taken as the oriental counterpart to Bachelard's Poetics of Space, taking the way the lived experience of the space is that which matters for his aesthetics and practical purposes.
Tanizaki is a man who can write beautifully about sensuous experiences like sight or taste never losing from sight his theme.
But what exactly is the theme? It seems to me to be a mourning of a traditional way of life, or should we say of lighting, that was quickly disappearing. The view that glorifies darkness which makes lacquer and gold stand out or that softens the whites as opposed to artificial light which makes everything glitter and brings the unbearable brightness can also be just a romantic vision of a lost Japan that never existed. But that really isn't an issue if you are aiming to enjoy this book for its sheer beauty and bits of witty humor.
*****
"It has been said of japanese food that it is a cuisine to be looked at rather than eaten. I would go further and say that it is food to be meditated upon, a kind of silent music evoked by the combination of lacquerware and the light of a candle flickering in the dark."
*****
This edition is lacking a glossary of untranslated japanese terms used throughout.
Posted by claudia
Comments
Posted by marianne at November 16, 2006 10:30 AM
Posted by claudia at November 16, 2006 10:38 PM
Posted by bentinho at November 27, 2006 11:52 PM
Posted by Wally at November 28, 2006 10:37 PM