Junichiro Tanizaki – In Praise of Shadows

In the West we chase light, air and openness, as naturally as a flower turns towards the sun. However Junichiro Tanizaki writes about a Japanese sensibility for shadows, or the interior in its widest sense. He writes with the touch of the great writer he was and with the air of a mourner. Even when he wrote this book back in 1933 his delicate world was being hidden by the electric light bulb. This essay however, brings a poetry to life to the culture of shadows he describes that sets the mind and senses racing even in a person who has not experienced that which he writes about. A beautiful poetic book which is a must read on the subject of aesthetics.