« good morning? | Main | and yet it moves »
September 17, 2012
In Praise of Shadows
In Praise of Shadows is a meditation on aesthetics, and a rant, by the famous (in Japan) Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.. He wrote it in 1933 when he was 47. Japan was modernizing, Westernizing and mobilizing.
It's an essay really, only 73 pages, and wasn't translated into English until the '70's. I finally stumbled onto it when I saw it in the background during a scene in the movie "The Hedgehog".
The ranting part is his nostalgia for the pre-electric light era of Japan and his damning of the Westernization of life in Japan. He describes his frustation in melding the new and the old during the construction of his own house as he aspired to the Japanese aesthetic of subtle interior lighting, light and dark shadows, yet with the conveniences of modern life, i.e. electric light.
He rails against the "evils of excessive illumination."
I am familiar with ranting, and have uttered the same complaint against 'excessive illumination'.
The book has set off an interest in shadows of all kind.
We cast a shadow, therefore we are.
Which is more interesting, the thing or its shadow?
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The chained prisoners in Plato's
Allegory of the Cave, thought the world consisted only of shadows
cast on the wall of their cave from the life above.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
In Adelbert von Chamisso's 1814 novel Peter Schlemiel: The Man Who Sold His Shadow
Peter is a very sorry individual walking around without a shadow
and only a bottomless purse of gold to show for it….
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Shadows will trick you:
THE DOG AND THE SHADOW
Aesop's Fables
A Dog was crossing a plank bridge over a stream with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he happened to see his own reflection in the water. He thought it was another dog with a piece of meat twice as big; so he let go his own, and flew at the other dog to get the larger piece. But, of course, all that happened was that he got neither; for one was only a shadow, and the other was carried away by the current.
Posted by ronpaci at September 17, 2012 10:49 PM