In Praise of Shadows Audiobook (Free)

‘Were it not for shadows there will be no beauty.’ In Praise of Shadows can be an eloquent tribute to the austere beauty of traditional Japan aesthetics. Through structures, ceramics, theatre, meals, women and actually toilets, Tanizaki clarifies the fact of shadows and darkness, and how they are able to augment beauty.

He laments the heavy electric lighting from the West and its launch to Japan, and displays the way the artificial, shiny and polished aesthetic of the Western contrasts unfavorably with the moody and day light from the East. Dreamy, melancholic and strange, In Praise of Shadows is a haunting understanding into a overlooked world.