Showing results for "In Praise of Shadows"

An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure.

‘Were it not for shadows there would be no beauty.’ In Praise of Shadows is an eloquent tribute to the austere beauty of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Through architecture, ceramics, theatre, food, women and even toilets, Tanizaki explains the essence of shadows and darkness, and how they are able to augment beauty. He laments the heavy electric lighting of the West and its introduction to Japan, and shows how the artificial, bright and polished aesthetic of the West contrasts unfavoura...

"In Praise of Shadows belongs to that special order of slim, enormously powerful books that enchant the lay reader with an esoteric subject, leaving a lifelong imprint on the imagination." —Maria PopovaIllustrated with artful images by renowned Kyoto-based photographer John Einarsen, this book is a "must-have" for all fans of Japanese literature and anyone interested in Japanese art and design.These all-new translations of four lan...

Mega Square In Praise of the Backside celebrates the most sensual part of the female body. The insightful text by Hans-Jürgen Döpp discusses the backside as a feature that stands for both powerful eroticism and supple femininity, seducing famous artists from every genre. This title is sure to entice and delight a wide audience with its lively, provocative images.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, this classic novel erotically explores the relationships in one family.Mario Vargas Llosa lures readers into a passionate world of family life and erotic love with the story of Don Rigoberto, his second wife, Lucretia, and Rigoberto's prepubescent son, Alfonso. Although the group appears to be a happy household, within this small constellation lurk the shadows of perversion and the limitless boundaries of familial passion.

Mega Square In Praise of the Backside celebrates the most sensual part of the female body. The insightful text by Hans-Jürgen Döpp discusses the backside as a feature that stands for both powerful eroticism and supple femininity, seducing famous artists from every genre. This title is sure to entice and delight a wide audience with its lively, provocative images.

“What [Ekelund is] addressing is the intention to walk one’s way to meaning: the walk as spiritual exercise, a kind of vision quest... A key strategy for finding ourselves, then, is to first get lost.”—The New York Times Book ReviewAn ode to paths and the journeys we take through nature, as told by a gifted writer who stopped driving and rediscovered the joys of traveling by foot.Torbjørn Ekelund started to walk—everywhere—after an...

A hymn to walking, the mechanical magic at the core of our humanity.In this captivating book, neuroscientist Shane O’Mara invites us to marvel at the benefits walking confers on our bodies and brains, and to appreciate the advantages of this uniquely human skill. From walking’s evolutionary origins, traced back millions of years to life forms on the ocean floor, to new findings from cutting-edge research, he reveals how the brain and nervous system give us the abil...

For readers of Walden, Wild, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, A Book of Silence, A Gift from the Sea and other celebrations of the inner adventure.An utterly engaging dive into our modern ways of retreat — where we go, why we’re drawn, and how it’s urgentFrom pilgrim paths to forest cabins, and from rented hermitages to arts temples and quiet havens for yoga and meditation, In Praise of Retreat ...

A philosophical critique of how society encourages us to avoid risk when we should instead accept it.When Anne Dufourmantelle drowned in a heroic attempt to save two children caught in rough seas, obituaries around the world rarely failed to recall that she authored In Praise of Risk, implying that her death confirmed the ancient adage that to philosophize is to learn how to die. Now available in English, this magnificent book indeed offers a trenchant crit...

'In Praise of Men' explores the beauty, power and eroticism of men, seen through another man's eyes. It is about men who inhabit different niches of the sexual spectrum finding each other and, despite their fears and concerns, learning to enjoy each other's company. In 'The Need' a straight man tries to resist the pull of going to visit Andy, a gay man, again but it is a losing battle. In 'World Cup Wangers' Stig travels to Brazil with three gay guys. In Sao Paulo, Stig starts to feel adve...

A stunning work of investigative reporting by a Canadian journalist who has risked her own life to bring us a deeply disturbing history of the Rwandan genocide that takes the true measure of Rwandan head of state Paul Kagame.Through unparalleled interviews with RPF defectors, former soldiers and atrocity survivors, supported by documents leaked from a UN court, Judi Rever brings us the complete history of the Rwandan genocide. Considered by the international commun...