Episode 101: Our Fear of the Dark: On Tanizaki's 'In Praise of Shadows'
In modern physics as in Western theology, darkness and shadows have a purely negative existence. They are merely the absence of light. In mythology and art, however, light and darkness are enjoy a kind of Manichaean equality. Each exists in its own right and lays claim to one half of the Real. In this episode, JF and Phil delve into the luxuriant gloom of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichir\u014d Tanazaki's classic meditation on the half-forgotten virtues of the dark.
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REFERENCES
\n\nJunichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
\nChiaroscuro, Renaissance art style
\nJohn Carpenter (dir.), Escape from L.A.
\nWeird Studies, Episode 13 on Heraclitus
\nWalter Benjamin, The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction
\nYasujiro Ozu (dir.), Late Spring
\nWabi Sabi, Japanese idea
\nJohn Carpenter (dir.), Escape from NY
\nJonathan Crary, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the End of Sleep
\nEric Voegelin, German-American philosopher