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rebeccazh's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting mediation on Japanese aesthetics and why traditional Japanese houses, furniture and etc are so visually appealing - I have to agree that the dark wood sets off everything beautifully. Not so sure about what he said about skin color though...
mcleary's review against another edition
4.0
This guy has really thought a lot about light and shadow.
kevkev777's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting read. If I were to summarize the main point in one sentence, it would be this: Japanese interiors are characterized by shadows which give them a subtle, yet dramatic aesthetic, whereas Western interiors are characterized by an overabundance of light caused by a kind of aversion for shadows and filth (perhaps a legacy of the Victorian obsession with health?), resulting in very sterile interiors.
Tanizaki's essay reminded me of a quote by Albert Camus from The Fall:
Tanizaki argues that shadows give objects and rooms a mystical aura. This is because shadows (evidently) hide parts of an object or room, leaving our imagination to fill in the rest.
One more interesting thought was the following: Tanizaki reflects on the reason as to why the Japanese were so fond of shadows as opposed to westerners. After all, before the invention of the electric light, westerners also lived in darkness. Tanizaki argues that this difference has come into existence because the Japanese made do with the darkness, they embraced it, whereas westerners try to improve everything. Japanese culture was also very traditional. It was only during the Meiji Restauration that Japan 'allowed' itself to be influenced by the West and its focus on progress, stemming from the Enlightenment (the name says it all). It reminded me of the American Dream, that everyone can 'make it' and that bigger is always better: a bigger house, a bigger car, etc. One could read this essay a countermovement to this urge of always having the newest or biggest of anything. It's essentially a revaluation of the subtle, which has always been a matter of great importance to the Japanese.
Tanizaki's essay reminded me of a quote by Albert Camus from The Fall:
Don't lies eventually lead to the truth? And don't all my stories, true or false, tend toward the same conclusion? Don't they all have the same meaning? So what does it matter whether they are true or false if, in both cases, they are significant of what I have been and what I am? Sometimes it is easier to see clearly into the liar than into the man who tells the truth. Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.
Tanizaki argues that shadows give objects and rooms a mystical aura. This is because shadows (evidently) hide parts of an object or room, leaving our imagination to fill in the rest.
One more interesting thought was the following: Tanizaki reflects on the reason as to why the Japanese were so fond of shadows as opposed to westerners. After all, before the invention of the electric light, westerners also lived in darkness. Tanizaki argues that this difference has come into existence because the Japanese made do with the darkness, they embraced it, whereas westerners try to improve everything. Japanese culture was also very traditional. It was only during the Meiji Restauration that Japan 'allowed' itself to be influenced by the West and its focus on progress, stemming from the Enlightenment (the name says it all). It reminded me of the American Dream, that everyone can 'make it' and that bigger is always better: a bigger house, a bigger car, etc. One could read this essay a countermovement to this urge of always having the newest or biggest of anything. It's essentially a revaluation of the subtle, which has always been a matter of great importance to the Japanese.
alrightmax's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
daphnesayshi's review against another edition
3.0
I have to admit, Tanizaki's essay on aesthetics is largely convincing and revitalised deeper interest in the various aspects of Japanese culture that we have taken for granted and exported, en masse. especially notable were his remarks on the nature of human innovation, and positing the differences that might have been, were the locus located in the East instead of West.
That being said, a few gripes:
- the year of when this essay rears its dated head in parts, especially his observations with regards to beauty (specifically, women's beauty, which he is no doubt an expert in, as this casual and not at all sarcastic reviewer here reading with her modern-day feminist lens on notes)
- I'm typically of two minds when it comes to translated works, and this is no exception
- not sure if it's a misguided decision of the translator, or an accurate translation of the times in which Tanizaki existed, but the use of 'Orient', and 'Oriental' is just... well nope.
That being said, a few gripes:
- the year of when this essay rears its dated head in parts, especially his observations with regards to beauty (specifically, women's beauty, which he is no doubt an expert in, as this casual and not at all sarcastic reviewer here reading with her modern-day feminist lens on notes)
- I'm typically of two minds when it comes to translated works, and this is no exception
- not sure if it's a misguided decision of the translator, or an accurate translation of the times in which Tanizaki existed, but the use of 'Orient', and 'Oriental' is just... well nope.
krichardson's review against another edition
4.0
A very short look at Japanese aesthetics and the changes that occurred in the mid-1900s. I wasn't familiar with everything mentioned, but Tanizaki does a good job of getting the vibes across anyway.
cliophate's review against another edition
4.0
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki is obsessed with shadows and writes beautifully about them in this essay. And for me as someone who is into photography and loves how light can interact with a picture, this essay changed how I see the world a little. "We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates."
sol_13's review against another edition
5.0
Es un libro corto, pequeño, del tamaño de una mano aproximadamente, se puede leer perfectamente en algo menos de dos horas. El papel y el tamaño son muy agradables.
A pesar de ser sin cortes ni pausas más que los puntos y las comas no se hace pesado, lleva una evolución paulatina y una descripción ordenada, todo sigue a lo anterior con un sentido y una evolución natural del tema. Es delicado, muy sensorial, es inevitable imaginar los elementos que describe, las texturas, turbiedades, plasticidades, luces. No sólo es una explicación que abre los ojos ante la estética japonesa tradicional, es que te demuestra que se relaciona con absolutamente todo. Las conexiones que siguen a la simple apreciación y la forma de sentir las cosas, el carácter ante ellas realmente puede llevar a cambiarlo todo. No sólo se ciñe a Japón sino que comenta como esa estética pura de la cultura se pierde con la occidentalización. Y es que Occidente y Oriente en este aspecto son radicalmente distintos, por eso veo que este libro ensancha las percepciones y sentidos de una forma enriquecedora.
A pesar de ser sin cortes ni pausas más que los puntos y las comas no se hace pesado, lleva una evolución paulatina y una descripción ordenada, todo sigue a lo anterior con un sentido y una evolución natural del tema. Es delicado, muy sensorial, es inevitable imaginar los elementos que describe, las texturas, turbiedades, plasticidades, luces. No sólo es una explicación que abre los ojos ante la estética japonesa tradicional, es que te demuestra que se relaciona con absolutamente todo. Las conexiones que siguen a la simple apreciación y la forma de sentir las cosas, el carácter ante ellas realmente puede llevar a cambiarlo todo. No sólo se ciñe a Japón sino que comenta como esa estética pura de la cultura se pierde con la occidentalización. Y es que Occidente y Oriente en este aspecto son radicalmente distintos, por eso veo que este libro ensancha las percepciones y sentidos de una forma enriquecedora.