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In Praise of Shadows

byJunichiro Tanizaki

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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

An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read

Independent on Sunday

About Junichiro Tanizaki

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.
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • ISBN: 9780099283577
  • Length: 80 pages
  • Dimensions: 198mm x 5mm x 130mm
  • Weight: 66g
  • Price: £9.99
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