Description
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of 'Quaint, Exquisite,' a profound exploration of Japan's intertwining influence on Western aesthetics during the Victorian era. This beautifully learned book presents a unique analysis of how Japan's emergence in the 1850s transformed the Western imagination. Grace Lavery skillfully uses an interdisciplinary approach, combining philosophy, psychoanalysis, queer theory, and extensive archival research to construct a radical genealogy of aesthetic experiences in modernity. Discover how the Victorian period viewed Japan as both a rival empire and a bastion of exquisite beauty, reflecting the complexities of cultural exchange amidst globalization.
Through rich narratives, Lavery discusses significant cultural artifacts, such as Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Mikado' and the English adaptations of haiku, along with critical examinations of iconic figures like Winnifred Eaton, who wrote under her Japanese pseudonym. The book also emphasizes the importance of objects infused with symbolic power, from W. B. Yeats's katana sword to Oscar Wilde's luxurious Japanese vellum editions.
Quaint, Exquisite is a must-have for readers interested in Japanese art, Victorian studies, and cultural history, providing remarkable insights into beauty, intimacy, and the intricate web of global aesthetics.
**Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.**
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780691227795
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780691227795
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Description:
Winner of the NAVSA Best Book of the Year, North American Victorian Studies Association
From the opening of trade with Britain in the 1850s, Japan occupied a unique and contradictory place in the Victorian imagination, regarded as both a rival empire and a cradle of exquisite beauty. Quaint, Exquisite explores the enduring impact of this dramatic encounter, showing how the rise of Japan led to a major transformation of Western aesthetics at the dawn of globalisation.
Drawing on philosophy, psychoanalysis, queer theory, textual criticism, and a wealth of in-depth archival research, Grace Lavery provides a radical new genealogy of aesthetic experience in modernity. She argues that the global popularity of Japanese art in the late nineteenth century reflected an imagined universal standard of taste that Kant described as the "subjective universal" condition of aesthetic judgment.
The book features illuminating cultural histories of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, English derivations of the haiku, and retellings of the Madame Butterfly story, and sheds critical light on lesser-known figures such as Winnifred Eaton, an Anglo-Chinese novelist who wrote under the Japanese pseudonym Onoto Watanna, and Mikimoto Ryuzo, a Japanese enthusiast of the Victorian art critic John Ruskin. Lavery also explains the importance and symbolic power of such material objects as W. B. Yeats's prized katana sword and the 'Japanese vellum' luxury editions of Oscar Wilde.
Quaint, Exquisite provides essential insights into the modern understanding of beauty as a vehicle for both intimacy and viole
Through rich narratives, Lavery discusses significant cultural artifacts, such as Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Mikado' and the English adaptations of haiku, along with critical examinations of iconic figures like Winnifred Eaton, who wrote under her Japanese pseudonym. The book also emphasizes the importance of objects infused with symbolic power, from W. B. Yeats's katana sword to Oscar Wilde's luxurious Japanese vellum editions.
Quaint, Exquisite is a must-have for readers interested in Japanese art, Victorian studies, and cultural history, providing remarkable insights into beauty, intimacy, and the intricate web of global aesthetics.
**Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.**
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780691227795
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Note: Shipping for this item is free. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. Once your order is placed, it cannot be cancelled.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780691227795
Format: Trade paperback (US)
Year: 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Description:
Winner of the NAVSA Best Book of the Year, North American Victorian Studies Association
From the opening of trade with Britain in the 1850s, Japan occupied a unique and contradictory place in the Victorian imagination, regarded as both a rival empire and a cradle of exquisite beauty. Quaint, Exquisite explores the enduring impact of this dramatic encounter, showing how the rise of Japan led to a major transformation of Western aesthetics at the dawn of globalisation.
Drawing on philosophy, psychoanalysis, queer theory, textual criticism, and a wealth of in-depth archival research, Grace Lavery provides a radical new genealogy of aesthetic experience in modernity. She argues that the global popularity of Japanese art in the late nineteenth century reflected an imagined universal standard of taste that Kant described as the "subjective universal" condition of aesthetic judgment.
The book features illuminating cultural histories of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, English derivations of the haiku, and retellings of the Madame Butterfly story, and sheds critical light on lesser-known figures such as Winnifred Eaton, an Anglo-Chinese novelist who wrote under the Japanese pseudonym Onoto Watanna, and Mikimoto Ryuzo, a Japanese enthusiast of the Victorian art critic John Ruskin. Lavery also explains the importance and symbolic power of such material objects as W. B. Yeats's prized katana sword and the 'Japanese vellum' luxury editions of Oscar Wilde.
Quaint, Exquisite provides essential insights into the modern understanding of beauty as a vehicle for both intimacy and viole