Nakai and Egypt

[Mathieu Capel]

Dear Richard,
"Fear of empty space" is actually the terms that Nakai uses at the end of
the chapter I am refering to ("Eiga no kûkan") ! Mario Praz (whose name, I
must admit, I have never heard of) may be the man... I will try to check and
go back to you to confirm your intuition !
Many thanks !

Mathieu

2010/6/8 Richard Suchenski <richard.suchenski at yale.edu>

>  Dear Mathieu,
>
>
>
> I’m not certain about this, but Nakai may be referring to the “fear of
> empty spaces” (horror vacui, a term borrowed from Aristotle) that the
> Italian Mario Praz introduced to art and literary criticism in the late
> 1920s, most famously in his 1930 book The Romantic Agony.  Praz was talking
> mainly about interior clutter and excessive ornament, but the central (and
> highly influential) idea was that this was a response by artists and their
> culture to a fear of infinity.  Praz’s writings were translated widely in
> the early 1930s and he was certainly considered a “famous critic” at that
> time, so they may be relevant here.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Richard Suchenski
>
>
>
> *From:* owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu [mailto:
> owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] *On Behalf Of *Mathieu Capel
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 08, 2010 9:16 AM
> *To:* KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* Re: Nakai and Egypt
>
>
>
> Thank you Mark for the hint - indeed Nakai studied Kant's philosophy 'and
> especially his "Critique of Judgment".
>
> Unfortunately, the "fear of space" Nakai refers to seems to have few in
> common with the idea of "sublime" (even if we may find, as you suggest, a
> familiarity between "fear" and "bewilderment") : the famous "critic" Nakai
> is indebted to would have stated that builiding the pyramids of Egypt was a
> way for the people to put limits to the infinite space of the desert, that
> they eventually perceived as a threat, or something irrational, for
> themselves were a nation of slaves who couldn't handle the categories of
> "freedom" or "infinity". That's why Nakai argues that pyramids expressed the
> Egyptians' "fear of space"... Thanks anyway.
>
>
>
> Mathieu
>
> 2010/6/8 Mark Roberts <mroberts37 at mail-central.com>
>
> Mathieu,
>
> Off the cuff, I would say: have a look at what Kant says about the pyramids
> in A. §§ 26 of the "Critique of Judgment", and see if that resonates with
> what Nakai says in "Bigaku nyûmon". It's a discussion of the sense of
> bewilderment associated with the mathematical sublime, and Savary's account
> of the pyramids is cited as an example.
>
> Regards,
>
> M. Roberts
>
>
>
> On Jun 8, 2010, at 7:08 PM, Mathieu Capel wrote:
>
> Dear Kinejapaners,
>
> Those of you who have approached Nakai Masakazu's theory may know that he
> often seemed reluctant to fully quote his sources. The realm of his
> interests is actually known, more or less, and can be linked, for instance,
> and besides other japanese fellows who were his contemporaries, to german
> thinkers from the end of 19th century to the beginnig of the 20th.
> Nonetheless, when reading Nakai's "Introduction to Aesthetics" (Bigaku
> nyûmon), it may be far from easy to locate his sources. In the chapter "Eiga
> ni kûkan", Nakai talks about the pyramid of Egypt, and the "fear of space"
> they symbolize : this idea actually was borrowed from " one critic" (p. 298
> in the Iwanami Bunko edition), but who that critic is, that's something I
> wouldn't know.
> Being something as a detail of small significance, where he took that idea
> may seem of minor importance, but I have the feeling that knowing the name
> of that very "critic" may help to rebuild a little further Nakai's network
> of influences, thus, to evaluate what was the novelty of his thinking in the
> field of "iconology", and then, in the theory of cinema.
> I tried to find the answer in Takahashi Naoyuki's "Nakai Masakazu to sono
> jidai", but wasn't lucky enough. I have been searching until now around
> Burckhardt and his followers too, such as Wölfflin, for Nakai's theory seems
> close to the idea of "Zeitgeist" ; around Panofsky's iconology also, after
> Warburg, and Cassirer. Anyway, I couldn't find yet the proper quotation...
> Would someone know the answer ? Many thanks.
>
> Mathieu Capel
> Paris
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Mathieu Capel
> 67 rue de la Roquette
> 75011 Paris
> 06 50 32 45 00 / 01 43 79 19 19
> mathieucapel at gmail.com
>



-- 
Mathieu Capel
67 rue de la Roquette
75011 Paris
06 50 32 45 00 / 01 43 79 19 19
mathieucapel at gmail.com
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