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9781784875572

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An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday * A highly infectious essay lauding all things shady and subtly hidden * Guardian * The outstanding Japanese novelist of this century This is a powerfully anti-modernist book, yet contains the most beautiful evocation of the traditional Japanese aesthetic... More like a poem than an essay * Building Design * I am convinced that Tanizaki is one of the few great writers of our time. He is an author of outstanding stature and deserves to be far better known outside Japan than he is

Essential reading -- David Adjaye, architect An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday * More like a poem than an essay * Building Design * Tanizaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well -- AC Grayling This has been an important book for my career. I've read it multiple times-it continues to be meaningful and I don't expect that will change. Shadows are more important than objects because they enter the realm of the mysterious. The white space is more important than the stroke of the pen. Shadows are the silent reason that objects are recognized; they give them shape. Shadows represent the soul of a place or object -- Tom Kundig, architect

This has been an important book for my career. I've read it multiple times-it continues to be meaningful and I don't expect that will change. Shadows are more important than objects because they enter the realm of the mysterious. The white space is more important than the stroke of the pen. Shadows are the silent reason that objects are recognized; they give them shape. Shadows represent the soul of a place or object -- Tom Kundig, architect Tanizaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well -- AC Grayling More like a poem than an essay * Building Design * An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday * Essential reading -- David Adjaye, architect

Essential reading -- David Adjaye, architect An elegant essay on traditional Japanese aesthetics by the great novelist. A delight to read * Independent on Sunday * More like a poem than an essay * Building Design * Tanizaki suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well -- AC Grayling This has been an important book for my career. I've read it multiple times-it continues to be meaningful and I don't expect that will change. Shadows are more important than objects because they enter the realm of the mysterious. The white space is more important than the stroke of the pen. Shadows are the silent reason that objects are recognized; they give them shape. Shadows represent the soul of a place or object -- Tom Kundig, architect

Author Information

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.

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