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estr 's review for:
In Praise of Shadows
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
funny
reflective
more than anything else abt this book, i appreciated that tanizaki’s ruminations sparked my own whether in opposition or somewhat begrudging, footnoted agreement. a lot of times it felt like an exercise in self-orientalization & also calcification of a culture (which most of us are guilty of doing, to be fair). i sympathized with his wishful, “if only” thinking regarding how certain technologies that came out of the west might have suited japanese life & aesthetics better if only they’d been invented in japan or china (even if similar thoughts i’ve had were ones i had more than a decade ago & not ones i find particularly productive, worthwhile, or interesting today). his tangent on women & their presentation as another argument in support of japanese cultural value of shadows & darkness felt like it came a bit out of left field & seemed to speak more to standard misogyny (& maybe more culturally japanese misogyny) than anything else. some lines made me laugh out loud sometimes from sheer absurdity & disagreement; other times, bc he sounded like a parody of himself but i could still relate on some level to his thoughts on aesthetics, etc.