{"id":5952,"date":"2024-05-10T04:40:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T04:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anotherlook.stanford.edu\/?p=5952"},"modified":"2024-05-10T18:28:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T18:28:36","slug":"turn-off-the-lights-junichiro-tanizakis-advice-for-a-gaudy-west-comes-to-stanford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anotherlook.stanford.edu\/?p=5952","title":{"rendered":"“Turn off the lights!” Jun\u2019ichir\u014d Tanizaki’s words to a gaudy West make a great night at Stanford!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jun’ichir\u014d Tanizaki<\/a><\/strong> would have been pleased. We didn’t exactly turn off <\/em>the lights last week, but we did at least turn them down, as the Nobel-nominated Japanese writer would have wished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The result was a surprisingly intimate evening on on Monday, April 29, as our four panelists took on an unusual event: Another Look discussed  Tanizaki<\/a><\/strong>‘s 1933 classic In Praise of Shadows <\/em>at the Stanford Humanities Center’s Levinthal Hall on the Stanford campus. His 73-page essay truly is an overlooked classic, at least in the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You couldn’t make it to the event? Here’s another way to attend: the Youtube video of the event is here<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. And for your listening on the road or as you rest, you can listen to the podcast here<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. And for photos? Scroll below. (All photos by David Schwartz<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panelists included Stanford Prof. Robert Pogue Harrison<\/a><\/strong>, author, director of Another Look; Mark Gonnerman<\/strong>, a Stanford PhD in religious studies; Meri Mitsuyoshi,<\/strong> whose appreciation of Japanese aesthetics is informed by study of ritual and intergenerational cultural transmission; and Ethen Wood<\/a><\/u><\/strong>, the associate director of Stanford\u2019s Sustainable Architecture + Engineering.

As always, this event was sponsored by the Stanford Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and the Continuing Studies Program at Stanford, and the Stanford Humanities Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Look aficionado Jeanne Verville<\/strong>, who recently visited Japan, wrote us this letter after the Another Look event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The long essay was written by one of Japan\u2019s greatest writers at the time Japan was overtaxed with its new extended empire. It was a time when ‘old’ (quiet and sequestered) Japanese aesthetics and ways of life had given way to the rapid change, bright lights, and noise of industrial development and the rise of militarism. Tanizaki looks to the past and reflects on what has been destroyed in Japanese tradition by twentieth century Western influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A finalist for the Nobel, but death took him first.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Having just experienced <\/em>the architecture of temples, shrines, a ryokan, tea houses, Gassho-Zukuri farmhouses, large rambling gardens, the Ryoan-ji Zen temple garden, government buildings, and <\/em>modern Tokyo\u2019s Ginza area, bullet trains, the new train station in Kyoto, etc., the essay and discussion deepened my understanding of old Japanese aesthetics, many of which have appealed to me for decades. Think: uncluttered lines, focus on small slices of beauty, the quietness of gardens, tea ceremonies, the people\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Deepening the learning is always a joy, but the experience of reading the essay and attending the discussion resonated for me in even deeper ways as I search for healthy ways of being in the scream of today\u2019s terrifying changes: climate, political, religious intolerance, overt hatred, immoral wealth distribution, discrimination, and materialism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Questions the discussion raised for me:

What am I missing by turning on the lights? What am I not noticing in the shadows?
When is the last time I truly lost myself peering into the night sky?
What do I hear and feel when sitting alone in the dark by the lake?
What mysteries of life have disappeared in the glare of the spotlight?
How does shadow create intriguing aesthetics? 
What comforts do I allow myself that detract from beauty and calm?
What would I gain by not reaching too quickly for comfort?
What aestetic pleasures am I missing by performing tasks in the light? (e.g., more fully feeling . shapes and textures when folding clothes)
What would cooking by candlelight feel like? What would I notice?
What insights am I missing by not walking around the block in the dark?
What am I missing by spending too much time on blue light-emitting devices?
Am I self-inducing cyber sickness?
In considering the benefits of shadow, how would experiencing them make me feel more . . . connected to my life?
How can I come out of my shadows and enhance, in quiet ways, the lives of others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


This event is sponsored by the Stanford Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and the Continuing Studies Program at Stanford, and the Stanford Humanities Center.<\/strong>

Add your own comments in the comments section at the bottom of this post.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another Look Director Robert Pogue Harrison kicks off the discussion. Below, left to right, Robert Harrison, Ethen Wood, and Mark Gonnerman in discussion. Meri Mitsuyoshi below. All photos by David Schwartz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n