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In Praise of Shadows

In Praise of Shadows ESSAYS Comparative Critical Studies 7, 1, pp. 5–20 DOI: 10.3366/E1744185409000925 © BCLA 2010 ‘I would call back at least for literature this world of shadows we are losing.’ Junichiro Tanizaki Just recently, on 30 September 2008, in connection with the upcoming announcement of the most recent Nobel laureate for literature, the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, Horace Engdahl, did not shy away from the limelight to declare that ‘[o]f course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world’.1 Even if such a statement was merely intended as a publicity stunt or as a specific attack on writers from the United States, its starkness and arrogance are appalling. The laureate himself, Le Clézio, at least brought back the necessary nuancing when he affirmed that ‘I am half Mauritian, I have two nationalities. I am also happy for Mauritius that I have won this prize’.2 Junichiro Tanizaki, in his celebrated essay In Praise of Shadows, ironically commented on differences between Japanese culture and Western practices, defending a preference for shadows and exposing the way Westerners ‘spare [. . .] no pains to eradicate http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Critical Studies Edinburgh University Press

In Praise of Shadows

De Medeiros, Paulo
Comparative Critical Studies , Volume 7 (1): 5 – Feb 1, 2010
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References (2)

Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© British Comparative Literature Association 2010
Subject
Essays; Literary Studies
ISSN
1744-1854
eISSN
1750-0109
DOI
10.3366/E1744185409000925
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ESSAYS Comparative Critical Studies 7, 1, pp. 5–20 DOI: 10.3366/E1744185409000925 © BCLA 2010 ‘I would call back at least for literature this world of shadows we are losing.’ Junichiro Tanizaki Just recently, on 30 September 2008, in connection with the upcoming announcement of the most recent Nobel laureate for literature, the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, Horace Engdahl, did not shy away from the limelight to declare that ‘[o]f course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world’.1 Even if such a statement was merely intended as a publicity stunt or as a specific attack on writers from the United States, its starkness and arrogance are appalling. The laureate himself, Le Clézio, at least brought back the necessary nuancing when he affirmed that ‘I am half Mauritian, I have two nationalities. I am also happy for Mauritius that I have won this prize’.2 Junichiro Tanizaki, in his celebrated essay In Praise of Shadows, ironically commented on differences between Japanese culture and Western practices, defending a preference for shadows and exposing the way Westerners ‘spare [. . .] no pains to eradicate

Journal

Comparative Critical Studies – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Feb 1, 2010

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