Nakai and Egypt

[Richard Suchenski]

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

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