Episode 101: Our Fear of the Dark: On Tanizaki's 'In Praise of Shadows'
Weird Studies
00:00
The Shadows of a Japanese Room
A Japanese room might be likened to an ink wash painting, the paper-paneled shouji being the expanse where the ink is thinnest and the alcove where it is darkest. An empty space is marked off with plain wood and plain walls so that the light drawn into it forms dimish shadows with an emptiness. When we gaze into the darkness that gathers behind the crossbeam, around the flower base, beneath the shelves,. Though we know perfectly well it is mere shadow, we are overcome with the feeling that in this small corner of the atmosphere there reigns complete and utter silence.
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