The island that Columbus didn't find. Seven faces of Japan
The island that Columbus didn't find. Seven Faces of Japan is a book by Adolf Muschg . It was published by Suhrkamp-Verlag in 1995.
content
It's a collection of loosely linked short stories , all of which deal with the subject of Japan . The stories are below:
«Nikko Waterfall»
The narrator remembers his childhood in Switzerland during the Second World War . He buys a collection of postage stamps, including a Japanese stamp depicting the Nikko waterfalls .
"Hansi, Ume and I"
The children's book Hansi, Ume and I was shaped by colonialism and addressed the children's wanderlust. The narrator points out that it played a major role in his later image of Japan.
«Tsunami»
As a young man, the narrator has a reproduction of Hokusai's Mount Fuji hanging in his apartment. He is not aware that he has missed some details of the picture.
«Japan - Attempt at a Fractal Portrait»
The lack of a colonial history of Japan is described and it is pointed out that Japan even seemed a mystery to Churchill .
"Two stories and a factor X for Tadao Ando"
The narrator realizes that the term “modern” is no longer sufficient for Tadao Ando's architecture and realizes that he has studied Western architecture such as the Parthenon and mixed it with Japanese traditions.
"Character shift"
Various films by Akira Kurosawa are discussed, especially “ Dodeskaden ”, “ Ran ” and “ Dreams ”. This reveals a particularly Japanese form of guilt. In the movie Dreams , Muschg sees an unfortunate connection between Kurosawa and Hollywood .
"Double agent in Dejima"
Muschg gives a speech at a Japanology congress.
background
The author was, among other things, a university professor in Japan and has been married to a Japanese woman since 1991.
criticism
“The author was wrong with his topic in terms of the genre: treatise, essay and lecture are not suitable for objectifying the boy’s dream. The essayist Muschg wants to create his Japan without using the productive resistance of research, intellectual and stylistic accuracy. "
expenditure
- Adolf Muschg: The island that Columbus did not find. Seven faces of Japan. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-518-40741-4 .
Web links
- Gregor Wittkop: Japan, two boy's dreams. In: Die Zeit , March 22, 1996