Reviews for Another Asia: Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Tenshin

The average rating for Another Asia: Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Tenshin based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-06-09 00:00:00 Mark Rosenthal Great intro. I liked most his idea of the way different economies were interlaced around Noh - rather than a vessel of the shogunal power. I also liked his analysis of Hideyoshi's power in terms of its 'contingent' origin, the one ascribed to his performativity as a Noh player. According to him, this is sort of "ascriptive mode of power," the one which might explain a crucial aspect of the power structure of both the medieval and Tokugawa regimes. The contingent condition of power was somehow substituted by the newly 'performed order' in which the Tokugawa regime envisioned its totalizing regime and controlled circulation through the very performance of noh. Noh was then one of the crucial forms of Tokugawa power, as well as its condition. I liked too his comparison between Noh and Nikko, and Nikko and Edo Casle. They are the problems of Tokugawa power that has largely been framed as a matter of locating relations among sites. Should have read this book before submitting my thesis...

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-25 00:00:00 Michael Fuchs I study modern history, and I am not interested in "noh" theaters in particular, but the book gives a big structural analysis that surrounded the state and its use of "noh," and offers insight into how the Tokugawa society worked in the way it did. I liked it. A good assignment for thinking about capitalism-aesthetics-politics in before-Meiji in one shot.