Σκιών Έπαινος - In Praise of Shadows “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.” A cocktail of sleeping beauties , sighs metaphysical and pristine landscapes. A writer haunted by female beauty , by the whiteness of the body but also the dark impulses that habit them. A culture which, in the eyes of Tanizaki , is not that clarity - too dazzling , so misleading - but the shadow of dusk, the lamps go out, the impalpable lightness. With secret codes that you can read that through the dance of a reed in the wind , the rustling of tea in china, shake the brush that paints a ideogram, the enigmatic curve of a eyelid or the ghostly silhouette of a Nô actor . Tanizaki said that the Japanese have pushed subtlety to surround themselves - in their architecture but also in their familiar settings - object mats that seem to constantly absorb light. The paper , for example . And of course lacquers, only the darkness is able to develop . A lacquer decorated with gold powder is not made to be kissed a glance in a lighted place , Tanizaki wrote , but to be guessed in a dark place in a diffuse glow which, moments, reveals one or another detail, so that raises inexpressible resonances. And, through the cult shade, Japanese civilization could reach heights of refinement that is found both in the curve of a jade stone in the silence of a temple in the lapidary concentration a haiku in sobriety gestures of politeness or culinary techniques, while ellipses. Must enjoy this little essay is both an art of living, a semiotics of the everyday , an invitation to philosophize , a reflection on the Japanese concept of beauty . And praise of wisdom in this empire of signs that fascinated Roland Barthes. I always like a book that changes the way I see the world. As a Westerner who likes LIGHT more LIGHT, this praise of shadows, the dusky atmosphere of the past and architecture which protects and conceals, where mystery is held, reborn, is a peripheral vision of existence Id never imagined. Its been a year or so since I read it--but I still recall his image of enamelwork which is garish and awful in broad daylight, but has incredible beauty and charm in low light--which is not a defect, as we would see in Western culture, but simply that its designed to be seen in that mysterious light of the traditional Japanese structure. LIght is taken into consideration. you dont light for the object, you create the object for that light. It reminded me of so many low=light rooms which have been particularly memorable, romantic--candlelit... theaters and nightclubs, romantic bedrooms, which yes, are horrors in daylight--but that makes us think further about the nature of pleasure and certainly, of love, in a less pejorative standpoint to the idea of illusion--we Westerners live in horror of it... take all the charm out of so many things. Just a note--the small size of this book makes a charming gift.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 14:58:02 +0000
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