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melitiamelitia 's review for:
In Praise of Shadows
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Very bookmarkable, it's a thought-provoking reflection on the author's culture and time. He questions the inevitability of Progress, particularly its seeming-inextricable link with the West. And then there's this theory on how beauty gets defined: "The quality that we call beauty... must always grow from the realities of life, and our ancestors, forced to live in dark rooms, presently came to discover beauty in shadows, ultimately to guide shadows towards beauty’s ends."
Tough to agree with everything he posits, but that's not what makes a good book (even a nonfiction one).
Tough to agree with everything he posits, but that's not what makes a good book (even a nonfiction one).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexism