Let Us Now Praise Famous Shadows
September 8, 2016 1:39 PM   Subscribe

I just read In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. I loved it; the lament for the past combined with no desire to relinquish the future, the insight into Japanese architecture, etc. Do you have any suggestions of books like this one? I'm interested in directly similar books, but also books that have the same feel. The books don't need to be about Japanese subjects. I do not want to read academic books that are written in a style that's designed to make the author sound smart.

I did not like The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. The writing style makes the whole thing uninteresting to me.

I'm about half way through The Book of Tea, which I like a lot better than The Eyes of the Skin, but not nearly as much as In Praise of Shadows.
posted by gregr to Religion & Philosophy (5 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
This may be too obvious but your description reminded me immediately of Edward Seidensticker's Tokyo from Edo to Showa. Turns out he was one of the translators of In Praise of Shadows so there you go.
posted by Lorin at 1:49 PM on September 8, 2016


Lost Japan often has a similar feel to In Praise of Shadows. It's a collection of essays. I loved it.
posted by Blitz at 2:16 PM on September 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


maybe pye's nature & aesthetics of design?
posted by andrewcooke at 3:55 PM on September 8, 2016


Wabi Sabi by Leonard Koren
posted by shibori at 12:17 AM on September 9, 2016


Tanizaki is my favorite author. If you haven't read The Makioka Sisters, or Naomi, they may address your desire in a slightly roundabout but very satisfying way.

Also Liza Dalby has written some excellent books on the geisha lifestyle (as the only Western woman to ever become a geiko) and on Murasaki, the author of the Tale of Genji.
posted by ananci at 2:11 AM on September 9, 2016


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