The end?

Before Sunday passes, a brief overview of the rest of the essays in the The Immense Journey.

The Slit

"Through how many dimensions and how many media will life have to pass? Down how many roads among the stars must man propel himself in search of the final secret? The journey is difficult, immense, at times impossible, yet that will not deter some of us from attempting it. We cannot know all that has happened in the past, or the reason for all of these events, any more than we can with surety discern what lies ahead. We have joined the caravan, you might say, at a certain point; we will travel as far as we can, but we cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or learn all that we hunger to know."

The Flow of the River

"If there is magic on this planet it is contained in water. (...) As for men, those myriad little detached ponds with their own swarming corpuscular life, what were they but a way that water has of going about beyond the reach of rivers? I, too, was a microcosm of pouring rivulets and floating driftwood gnawed by the mysterious animalcules of my own creation." 

The Great Deeps

"All of the tremendous differences between living forms have been achieved only by the elaboration of devices for the maintenance of that inner nourishing liquidity in which cells can live and grow within a certain narrow range of tolerance. Nor for nothing has the composition of mammalian blood led to our description as 'walking sacks of sea water.' Nor for nothing did the great French physiologist Bernard comment that 'the stability of the interior environment is the condition of free life.'"

The Snout

"The day of the Snout was over three hundred million years ago. Not long since I read a book in which a prominent scientist spoke cheerfully of some ten billion years of future time remaining to us. He pointed out happily the things that man might do throughout that period. Fish in the sea, I thought, birds in the air. The climb all far behind us, the species fixed and sure. There is something wrong with our worldview. It is still Ptolemaic, though the sun is no longer believed to revolve around the earth. We teach the past, we see farther backward into time than any race before us, but we stop at the present, or, at best, we project far into the future idealized versions of ourselves. We see through human eyes alone. We see ourselves as the culmination and the end, and if we do indeed consider our passing, we think that sunlight will go with us and the earth be dark. We are the end. For us continents rose and feel, for us the waters and the air were mastered, for us the great living web has pulsated and gown more intricate. (...) Perhaps the old road through the marsh should tell us. We are one of many appearances of the thing called Life; we are not its perfect image, for it has no image except Life, and life is multitudinous and emergent in the stream of time." 

How Flowers Changed the World

"Without the gift of flowers and the infinite diversity of their fruits, man and bird, if they had continued to exist at all, would be today unrecognizable. (...) The weight of a petal has changed the face of the world and made it ours."

Man of the Future

"We men of today are insatiably curious about ourselves and desperately in need of reassurance. Beneath our boisterous self-confidence is fear– a growing fear of the future we are in the process of creating." 

Little Men and Flying Saucers

"Darwin saw clearly that the succession of life on this planet was not a formal pattern imposed from without, or moving moving exclusively in one direction. Whatever else life might be, it was adjustable and not fixed. It worked its way through difficult environments. It modified and then, if necessary, it modified again, along roads which would never be retraced. Every creature alive is the product of a unique history. The statistical probability of its precise reduplication on another planet is so small to be meaningless. Life, even cellular life, may exist out yonder in the dark. But high or low in nature, it will not wear the shape of man. That shape is the evolutionary product of a strange, long wandering through the attics of the forrest roof, and so great are the chances of failure, that nothing precisely and identically human is likely ever to come that way again. (...) In the nature of life and in the principles of evolution we have had our answer. Of men elsewhere, and beyond, there will be none forever."

The Bird and the Machine

"This is the great age, make no mistake about it; the robot has been born somewhat appropriately along with the atom bomb, and the brain they say now is just another type of more complicated feedback system. The engineers have its basic principles worked out; it's mechanical, you know; nothing to get superstitious about; and man can always improve on nature once he gets the idea. (...) On the other hand the machine does not bleed, ache, hang for hours in the empty sky in a torment of hope to learn the fate of another machine, nor does it cry out with joy nor dance in the air with the fierce passion of a bird."

All quotes taken from The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley, a Vintage Book edition, 1959.

The hoax, man's lonely and supreme ascent, and the brain

This month seems to have fled past me. Yet before March closes, and feeling April is upon us, I want to speak a little more about Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey. Today, Friday 29th of March, I bring somewhat and briefly into focus 3 essays from the book.
1. The Real Secret of Piltdown
2. The Maze
3. The Dream Animal
These essays caught my attention because each of them deals with lingering scientific issues and pertinent inquiries. All three of the essays are related to one another, specifically in the manner in which they deal with man's lonely and supreme ascent.

Starting with the first one on the list, "The Real Secret of Piltdown" discusses the Piltdown Hoax (the greatest hoax in the history of science). This hoax, subsequently provides the thesis question of the essay, how did man get his brain? Through the arguments of Charles Darwin and his fellow contemporary, Alfred Russel Wallace, Eiseley expands the matter on the development of the human brain, which is explored through it's variants. A.R. Wallace, a scientist, proponent of natural selection and evolution "challenged the whole Darwinian position on man by insisting that artistic, mathematical, and musical abilities could not be explained on the basis of natural selection and the struggle for existence." This is the challenge that is met head on between Darwin,Wallace and also Eiseley in this essay, keeping the focus on the central point: how, why, when, where is the development of the brain. Add to Loren Eiseley's exploration within the arguments, scientific discoveries and the advancements at the disposal of current scientific inquiries, it suffices to say that the same author adds"today we can make a partial answer to Wallace's question. Since the exposure of the Piltdown hoax all of the evidence at out command– and it is considerable– points to man, in his present form, as being one of the youngest and newest of all earth's swarming inhabitants."

"Man of today, the atomic manipulator, the  aeronaut who flies faster than sound, has precisely the same brain and body as his ancestors of twenty thousand years ago who painted the last Ice Age mammoths on the walls of caves in France."

The next gleam of reason following Eiseley's argument, is the sensible conclusion that "it is man's ideas that have evolved and changed the world about him." From this statement the human being is proved to be a creature dependent on society, unable to develop alone.

"Creature of dream, he has created an invisible world of ideas, beliefs, habits, and customs which buttress him about and replace for him the precise instincts of the lower creatures. (...) The profound shock of the leap from animal to human status is echoing still in the depths of our subconscious minds. It is a transition which would seem to have demanded considerable rapidity of adjustment in order for human beings to have survived, and it also involved the growth of prolonged bonds of affection in the sub-human family, because otherwise its naked, helpless offspring would have perished. (...) Man's competition, it would thus appear, may have been much less with his own kind than with the dire necessity of building about him a world of ideas to replace his lost animal environment.

I am sure it can be derived from the previous paragraphs briefly covering "The Secret of Piltdown", a denotation that these three essays are dense and layered with information. The following two essays are no exception.

Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/29178/media/treeolif.jpg

"The Maze" covers the controversy piqued within the scientific community which followed the publishing of the previous Piltdown essay. It leads to present before the reader the Oreopithecus (the enigma), and his usage for providing the missing link previously deviated by the Piltdown hoax. From here stemmed two divergent schools concerning the search for the the crucial puzzle piece that will unite the tree of life, "the school of the little-man and that of the ape-man." In the end, the Oreopithecus is proven not to lead towards the missing puzzle piece. In the least, it is far less likely for the Oreopithecus to be the evidence that has long been searched for.

"The Dream Animal" picks up the recurrent exploration of "the mystery which enshrouds the rise of the human brain." Loren Eiseley uses   Progeria, premature aging, a curious and relatively unknown disease, to reveal how it is an indication of an internal clock "capable of running fast or slow, shortening life or extending it and, like the more visible portions of our anatomy, being subjected to evolutionary selection." This clock has paved the path for the growth of rare, particular and specialized organs. Included within the bracket of these organs is the human brain. This organ grows with greater rapidity than our nearest living relative, the great apes.

"When we are born, our brain size is about 330 cubic centimeters, only slightly larger than that of a gorilla baby. This is why human and anthropoid young look so appealingly similar in their earliest infancy. A little later, an amazing development takes place in the human offspring. In the first year of life its brain trebles in size. It is this peculiar leap, unlike anything else we know in the animal world, which gives man his uniquely human qualities. When the leap fails, as in those rare instances where the brain does not grow, microcephaly, "pinheadedness", is the result, and the child is then an idiot."

The essay proceeds to place in perspective the minute's clock of what is known of human evolution in comparison to the Astronomical clock, which spans a much, much longer millennia. Will we find the key to our human brain clock?

"For the first time in four billion years a living creature had contemplated himself and heard with a sudden, unaccountable loneliness, the whisper of the wind in the night reeds. Perhaps he knew, there in the grass by the chill waters, that he had before him an immense journey. Perhaps that same foreboding still troubles the hearts of those who walk out of a crowded room and stare with relief into the abyss of space so long as there is a star to be seen twinkling across those miles of emptiness."

Personally, all three essays offer great insight and information to be pondered. They both dually echo the previous essay spoken of a week or so back, The Secret of Life, as well as answer many lingering questions concerning our human journey. Aside from the density of information in the essays, I want to transmit the enlightenment they provide, the benefit enjoyed while reading them, the delight, the sensible, the educational element found while reading line after line of Eiseley's words.

I know I've filled this article more than usual but I hope I have conveyed wonder, and that you, reader, are infected and propelled to read Loren Eiseley, he is definitely worth the time.

The Immense Journey

Who am I kidding? No one needs to see my face frequently on this site. I attempted the video but I have opted, as the FINAL decision, to keep it real and actually write about literature in this literary endeavor of mine. This month is Loren Eiseley month, that is what I've secondly decided.

I've had this book for a few months now, having acquired it by chance and at no cost. It's an old beat up edition but the title lured me into taking it home. (Vintage Books, A Division of Random House)

The Immense Journey: An imaginative naturalist explores the mysteries of man and nature. I began with the last essay in the collection, I started it, again, by chance and with no great expectations. A few sentences later, I was lured into the wonder painted in the pages, with no other option but to devour the rest of the book in a matter of days. The Immense Journey is a collection of essays and was the first book published by Loren Eiseley, around 1946. Loren Eiseley was a native of Nebraska, an anthropologist, an archaeologist, a writer, a naturalist, a philosopher, an educator, a humanist and, from what I've recently learned much more.

To say this book surprised me is only skimming the surface. In each essay found in the book, perspectives are challenged as Eiseley retraces the steps of the human animal within the planet it inhabits and calls home. Each essay touches on seemingly minute details involved in the evolution of the planet and subsequently the human species.

The title of the essays are as follows (in order as they appear in the book):
The Slit
The Flow of the River
The Great Deeps
The Snout
How Flowers Changed the World
The Real Secret of Piltdown
The Maze
The Dream Animal
Man of the Future
Little Men and Flying Saucers
The Judgement of the Birds
The Bird and the Machine
The Secret of Life

The entire book is full of vivid imagery that recreates the truth and the possibilities of what once was a young earth. Each essay can be reread with pleasure and at leisure. I highly recommend to those of you who stumble upon this site of mine to find the book, used or new, and read it. And for those that have the book and haven't read it, pick it up and start with one essay. Just one, I doubt anyone would regret this enlightening book.

Therefore, for these brief reasons and more that I will show later, I have chosen to gush over Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey this month. In just a a few days from now I will be writing about the last essay in the collection.

On a side note and to end, there is a Loren Eiseley Society that recently published The Loren Eiseley Reader.

Click on the link, or type this in a search –––––––––––––––––––––––>

Nobody Passes

I know, I know, the end of the month approaches in a few days and the Pride marches and celebrations have almost all passed. Nonetheless, meandering through my consuming weeks here is this post, just in time*.

For this insert I considered Gloria Anzaldua, an excellent Chicana feminist lesbian writer, specifically an excerpt from her Borderlands/ La Frontera, "How To Tame a Wild Tongue", which can be found by clicking on the title. Yes, it is a good and relevant work but not exactly what I was aiming for this month. In regards to Making Gay History, I am still reading along, so far the years are progressing as the interviews branch out and cover the Civil Rights movements of the 60s.

Recently, I received a book of essays I had ordered last month, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity, curated, compiled and edited by Mattilda AKA Matt Bernstein Sycamore. I haven't yet read it in its' entirety but only a few of the essays, in total there are 27. What delightfully surprised me as I read the essays, is that the authors range from diverse backgrounds, sexes, genders and preferences, there is no clear-cut "typical" characterization within the stories. Instead, what I find in each of the authors is an account of not passing. In not passing I refer to the borderlands, beyond the established parameters, those of us that do not pass unto common grounds, the outsiders. Within this cornucopia of authors and stories I have found a few I'd like to briefly share.

First is "Friction Burn: A Nonfiction Admission" by Stacey May Fowles. The author of this piece opens with the description of the relationship with her mother, as she proceeds to reveal her unsuccessful relationships with men. A few paragraphs in, one begins to see why, how easy is it to find a complementing partner that will willingly participate in her sadomasochistic tastes? She speaks of her scars and of her difficulty in revealing herself to those around her, including her mother. She wavers on the line between sadomasochism being degrading towards her gender, and having a preference, liking SM.

I will steal this moment like I have stolen so many others, and I will turn it into a self-aggrandizzing piece on sadomasochism that will inevitably embarrass. 

The conclusion is choice, she demands her right to a choice and this right in itself negates sadomasochism being degrading to her.

I wanted a choice. I wanted to decide. I want him to beat me because I want to receive things asked for rather than to be surprised by a sudden fist. 

It's not easy to fit in and pass with these preferential demands but as many of us already know, one learns to cope, to deal and eventually one finds a niche and a comfort, wether it be small or large.

The second essay, "And Then You Cut Your Hair: Genderfucking on the Femme Side of the Spectrum" by Amy André and Sandy Chang, I found unique and revelatory. It's in interview format, a back and forth discussion on what it means to be woman, queer, cutting one's hair, blurring gender lines, the use of fashion within these contexts, the significance of being a "minority", of community and of identity. Sandy Chang is an Chinese American and Amy André a mixed-race African American Jew.

Enriching experiences sprinkle the conversation as the two divulge on the dichotomies inherent to the femme, genderqueer idiosyncrasy. There is a nascent urge for fluidity in sexuality, the denial of clear-cut parameters. As Amy states halfway through the conversation:

Gender is performance. 

The destruction of stereotypes is necessary and beneficial and that is what laces Amy and Sandy's interchange of experiences and ideas. Sandy ends:

I think we're moving toward a place where people have greater access to a range of gender expressions. [...] I would hope that there's more freedom for people to do that, without fear of judgement. That's the direction I hope we're heading in, one of more fluidity.  

I will end with these two for today, tomorrow will great the day with two or maybe even three more. I highly recommend Nobody Passes, so far it has been an unveiling treat to read.

Press: Great Expectations

A little while ago I made a post about how I was contacted by Xelsion Publishing to write an essay on Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Well, I have completed the essay and here it is:

Bicentenary of Charles Dickens

I distinctly recall the first time I held Great Expectations in my hands. I stumbled upon the book by chance, in the sales bin, at a local bookstore. Recognizing the author from A Christmas Carol, I took advantage of the fortuitous chance and purchased the book. I started reading a couple days later. It began one night of restlessness, where sleep eluded me. I picked up the book and laid in bed, between the covers, and began to read the first page. In a matter of days I swallowed the book, wondering the entire time, "Where has this book been all this time, and why haven't I read it?" This was the beginning of a journey through Dickens’ world, a journey which led to falling in love with the authors’ voice, style and most markedly, his characters. I have always found that his characters seem to sit in the readers’ imagination as a dear old friend that one loves to revisit.

Singular and distinctly like Charles Dickens, Great Expectations offers a kaleidoscope of characters and of settings, with frank reality and a deft hand at writing. Portraying Victorian London and it’s surroundings, he lays bare this city for all to marvel, gape, gasp in horror, and fawn at, one feels almost as if one knows the city and is transported. Briefly, the story is about a boy who enters life with great expectations and matures into a man that sees the world for what it is, not necessarily with a pessimistic eye but with a sobering maturity. Along with the trajectory of this boy, from having little to having much more, there is also an underlying exploration of guilt, duty and what it means to be "good" and “bad” which laces the novel, ruminating behind the vivid scenes of the story. It is this exploration that engages the reader. Don't let this brief summary deter you, dear reader, from delving into Pip's story, for he is all of us. All the complex and disadvantageous traits that we as humans have, Pip has, and honestly, haven't we all had great expectations and found, later on, that life had other things to say concerning those expectations? On the ending, Charles Dickens wrote the book with two, the first ending was found to be too harsh and Dickens revised it to create a more pleasing, if not vague and somewhat hopeful, finale.

Charles Dickens
Source: http://www.charlesdickens.xelsion.com/about/

Like most of his books, this novel was first serialized, which gave an interesting dimension to the story unfolding before the eagerly awaiting reader. Now, what is special about this novel is not only the authors’ genius but that, unlike his other books, Great Expectations condenses everything for which Dickens stood. His signature preoccupations, motifs and

characters are tightly drawn, creating a story that doesn't sway, and drives its' point directly to the reader. This being said, this year happens to mark the bicentenary birth of this worthy author, and his novel, Great Expectations, is the perfect tapestry with which to begin delving into his talent.

Por Una Erótica Solar

Hace unos posts atrás, yo hablé sobre un libro que en aquel momento estaba leyendo, el tratado filosófico de Michel Onfray titulado, Teoría del Cuerpo Enamorado: Por Una Erótica Solar. Michel Onfray es un profesor y filosofo contemporaneo francés. El libro, con el cual tropecé de manera inesperada, lo leí traducido al español. Éste esta dividido en tres grandes partes. Al encontrarnos en el mes de febrero, el cual para muchos es el mes del amor, hablaré sobre este pequeño libro de envergadura, que trata los temas de relaciones corporales.

La primera parte es la Genealogía del Deseo. Aquí, el autor traza desde los origenes filosóficos griegos, los coneptos y las definiciones del deseo. Define al deseo desde dos puntos de vista, de la falta: epifanía de la platija filosófica, caracterizada mayormente por el filosofo Aristófanes y el otro punto contrario, del exceso: travesuras del pez masturbador. Este segundo punto caracterizado por los filosofos materialistas, principalmente, Demócrito.

 La segunda parte del tratado se titula, Logica del Placer. De igual forma que el primero, esta segunda parte esta compuesta por dos partes contrarias. Primera, del ahorro: emblemática del elefante monógamo. Segunda, del gasto: bromas del cerdo Epicúreo. Es en éste capitulo que sale a la luz el filosofo que caracteriza en gran parte lo que Michel Onfray desea exponer y proponer, Epicúreo.

 La tercera y ultima parte es la teoría de las disposiciones. También comprendido por dos partes, del instinto: virtudes de la abeja gregaria y del contrato: celebración del erizo soltero. En ésta última sección se mete más de lleno en la filosofía Epicúrea y elabora el concepto hedonista.

Este es un tratado denso, lleno de referencias filosóficas y complejas. Pero no es difícil de leer, al contrario, he encontrado el libro sumamente interesante y revelador. El autor descompone la larga historia y trayectoria del deseo, desde la esfera platonica, que busca completar lo que falta y el bando contrario, los materialistas. Las propuestas de Onfray son expuestas utilizando el bestiario filosófico. Lo cual le otorga a los animales usados como ejemplo un sazón antropomorfo.

En fin, crudamente resumiendo un trabajo excelentemente expuesto, Onfray busca desprender del deseo las trabas que obstaculizan su goce y su placer. Trabas caracterizadas por ilusiones ilusorias de la pareja ideal y la defectuosa estructura de una relación impuesta por la religión y por dogmas antiguos. Sé que al deducir La Teoría del Cuerpo Enamorado en pocas palabras no le hará justicia. Yo disfrute mucho leyendo el libro y se lo recomiendo a todo aquel que se atreva. Les dejo unos extractos del libro:

"El amor, en primer lugar físico, se vive en la simplicidad de la expresión libre."

"La amistad proporciona la materia de toda intersubjetividad electiva. Primero, la amistad con uno mismo: no enfadarse consigo mismo, no mantener relaciones mortíferas con la propia intimidad, no celebrar subterráneamente las pulsiones negativas del odio o del desprecio dirigidas contra la carne, no consentir las violencias que se vuelven contra uno mismo, no desfigurarse, no lacerarse el alma, no encenagarse en la maceración mórbida, en el asco visceral del propio ser, no dejarse vencer por las maquinas de guerra judeocristianas como el sentimiento de la falta, la impresión del pecado, el imperio de la culpabilidad, la espina en la carne. No hay mañana para quien se entrega a la creencia de la bestia pecaminosa interior y alimenta la carne de horca incapaz de establecer contratos hedonistas.

"El contrato hedonista, en este registro del sentimiento amistoso, implica una doble exigencia: querer la pulsión de vida y el trato único con aquellos que la quieren, evitar la pulsión de muerte y la relación con aquellos que la escogen."

Y de tal manera hacer que la libre expresión del deseo se pueda disfrutar y, por consecuente, permitiendo el goce "del puro placer de existir."

Artículos relacionados e interesantes:
Sex: from a public to a private affair.
Nature, Nurture and Liberal Values.

Joruri, The Art of the Puppet Theatre

http://ynt.yafjp.org/en/performing-arts/
Bunraku "Gionsaireishinkoki" (KIRITAKE Kanjuro) National Theater Collection

A few weeks have passed and Junichiro's words still resonate in my mind. Hence, going along with the first post I made this year and with the theme of Japanese tradition, I am sharing a brief essay I read on my anthology of Japanese literature, Chikamatsu on the Art of the Puppet Stage.


Chikamatsu (1653-1725) is a Japanese playwright who wrote for the Bunraku, or puppet theatre as well as the Kabuki. As opposed to Kabuki,  the art of living actors, Joruri seeks to give life to inanimate objects. Therefore, the plays should resound clearly and expressively in the written word, and likewise, should transfer unto a stage in the same vivid manner. The aim is to compel in the audience specific emotions. According to Chikamatsu, Joruri creates a sphere where, for the sake of art, words and facts are communicated that would have, in any other form, remained silent. Much like the evocative power of poetry. This art form, being centered on inanimate objects, allows the writer and the audience to journey through uncharted waters of the psyche, it enables hidden truths to shine through that would not have otherwise been seen in daily life. The essay also delves into the pathos in theatre, how it is a matter of restraint. Of containing the emotions while pulling the audience in.

While speaking of the puppet theatre and playwriting, Chikamatsu firmly resides within the territory of art. Postulating the question, what is art? According to him, it is about playing with light and shadow, the real and the unreal, and molding these elements with stylization so as to compel and delight minds.
Even though this essay is about theatre and those elements that create Bunraku, it reveals much more to the reader, especially if said reader has artistic inclinations. It speaks about the aesthetics on appealing to a public, and on another spectrum, reveals aspects of Japanese tradition that retains value within the realm of this post-modern era.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/culture/AJ2011101411068
A scene from the bunraku classic Hirakana Seisuiki at the National Theater in September.
(Provided by the National Theater)

"Art is something which lies in the slender margin between the real and the unreal."

If the subject is of interest see these other sites for further info.
YokoHama Noh Theatre
Blog on Japanese culture
Bunraku at Princeton
On Chikamatsu

El Elogio de la Sombra

La estética tradicional japonesa a través de los ojos de Junichiro Tanizaki. En el ensayo escrito en 1933 por el galardonado escritor japonés, El Elogio a la Sombra, vemos claramente las palpables diferencias entre la cultura occidental y la cultura oriental. Tanizaki comienza su obra describiendo las dificultades de modernizar la estructura de una casa tradicional japonesa. La cual se ha formado y desarrollado de tal forma que obstaculiza la luz y favorece la sombra, al verse enfrentada por el clima de la isla y los materiales disponibles para los antepasados. Al presentar estas dificultades lleva al lector por el trayecto de su tesis.

http://littexpress.over-blog.net/article-18924330.html

"Occidente ha seguido su vía natural para llegar a su situación actual; pero nosotros, colocados ante una civilización más avanzada, no hemos tenido más remedio que introducirla en nuertras vidas y, de rechazo, nos hemos visto obligados a bifurcarnos en una dirección diferente a la que seguíamos desde hace milenios: creo que muchas molestias y muchas contrariedades proceden de esto."

Las contrariedades procedentes de la influencia extranjera es un aspecto que, evidentemente, Tanizaki lamenta. El tema de la estética comienza cuando entra el ejemplo de los materiales hechos de laca que usan los japoneses para comer. En como este material que es oscuro representa de manera indirecta lo que es bello para la cultura japonesa. Sobre la oscuridad y la belleza él lo explica:

"Pero eso que generalmente se llama bello no es más que una sublimación de las realidades de la vida, y así fue como nuestros antepasados, obligados a residir en viviendas oscuras, descubrieron un día lo bello en el seno de la sombra y no tardaron en utilizar la sombra para obtener efectos estéticos." 

Esta belleza, según Tanizaki, "incita discretamente al hombre a la ensoñación." La fascinación por la penumbra que seduce y produce la contemplación. Aquí es donde reside la estética japonesa. En la simple harmonía del toko no ma, ese hueco ubicado en las salas japonesas donde se pone un cuadro o un arreglo floral, cuyo funcionamiento es de añadir profundidad a la sombra. En la armonía de las geishas, los vestidos del teatro kabuki y el no, los cuales son más apreciables bajo la luz tenue de una vela, sumergidos en sombra.
He aquí donde llega a su tésis, a la culminación de sus contemplaciones en esta obra:

"Nosotros los orientales creamos belleza haciendo nacer sombras en lugares que en sí mismos son insignificantes.[...] Nuestro pensamiento procede analogamente: creo que lo bello no es una sustancia en sí sino tan sólo un dibujo de sombras, un juego de claroscuros producido por la yuxtaposición de diferentes sustancias. Así como una piedra fosforescente, colocada en la oscuridad, emite una irradiación y expuesta a plena luz pierde toda su fascinación de joya preciosa, de igual manera la belleza pierde su existencia si se le suprimen los efectos de la sombra."

Al llegar al clímax con esas palabras Tanizaki lamenta la pérdida de ésta estética tradicional al verse enfrentada con las influencias del occidente. Como, en vez de conseguir balance ante el enfrentamiento extranjero, se ve olvidada junto con su apreciación.
Interesante como nuestros conceptos varían, de país a país y de cultura a cultura. Tanizaki enfatiza lo necesario que es encontrar la armonía entre lo pasado y lo presente, entre la tradición y la modernidad.
He encontrado El Elogio a la Sombra, un ensayo revelador y seductor. Que pone en perspectiva la belleza y la penumbra.

Japanese aesthetics through the eyes of Junichiro Tanizaki in In Praise of Shadows. In this little book I stumbled upon, a spanish translation, Tanizaki makes palpable the idiosyncrasies of his native Japan. Most specifically, the concept of beauty. And how this concept, which can be seen throughout every aspect of the culture from the structure of their houses, to the materials used in daily lives, from the lacquer to writing paper, has been suffering from the influence of Western culture and their ideas of beauty and utility.