Sake & Satori: Asian Journals, Japan
This review covers "Sake & Satori", which is part 2 (of 2) of a real-life journey around the world undertaken by Joseph Campbell. "Baksheesh & Brahman" (part 1 of 2) will be reviewed at a later date, and appended to this thread.
Allow me to backpedal a bit, because, as with nearly all of Dr. Campbell’s works, a bit of background information and explanation is required in order to put things in their proper perspective.
Back in 1955, Dr. Campbell was a senior professor in the literature department of Sarah Lawrence College in the USA, where he taught classes in medieval literature and comparative religion. He was also a master of languages (speaking more than 12 at the time, and later many more), a recognized authority on art history, and already fast becoming a highly sought after authority and lecturer in a wide range of fields in various academic circles. He was one of those rare and blazingly bright intellects that people just seemed to LOVE to gravitate to and hover around, like moths to an open flame. Even after his death in 1987, people continue to be fired by his brilliant and far-reaching works ... even though much of it was unfinished at the time of his death and is only just now being released posthumously (as this book was).
In any case, in 1955 he received a very generous travel grant from the Bollingen Foundation that enabled him to take a 1 year hiatus from his teaching duties, and literally travel around the world. During those travels, he kept a daily personal journal of his adventures, including his day to day experiences, meetings & conversations (both chance, social, and professional), thoughts and insights, and even his plans for the future.
That journal formed the source material for 2 books (published posthumously):
* “Baksheesh & Brahman: Asian Journals - India (part 1 of 2)
* “Sake & Satori: Asian Journals - Japanâ€
Joseph Campbell - Asian Journals (series) - 10
Moderators: clong, Mr. Titanic
Joseph Campbell - Asian Journals (series) - 10
Last edited by Darb on Tue May 23, 2006 1:44 pm, edited 20 times in total.
Another thing that I appreciated about this book, which is often present in many of campbell's books, are the meticulous, extensive, and very helpful appendices, footnotes, endnotes, glossary, and index. The editors did a great job in supplying that information ... it's a true labor of love.
It's great to be able to open a page at random, encounter a cryptic reference, and then look up the helpful footnote to see it properly explained, along with providing a cross-reference to one of campbell's other works that explores the topic more fully. It's also neat seeing campbell's thoughts for future works and lectures footnoted as well - with info on whether or not he eventually acted on those plans in the ensuing decades of his career (in most cases, he did).
It's great to be able to open a page at random, encounter a cryptic reference, and then look up the helpful footnote to see it properly explained, along with providing a cross-reference to one of campbell's other works that explores the topic more fully. It's also neat seeing campbell's thoughts for future works and lectures footnoted as well - with info on whether or not he eventually acted on those plans in the ensuing decades of his career (in most cases, he did).
Unfortunately he was only in Formosa for a few days.
One small tidbit - I vaguely remember him being initially confused as to why the beaches were off limits, and why there was so little beach culture on an island nation.
One small tidbit - I vaguely remember him being initially confused as to why the beaches were off limits, and why there was so little beach culture on an island nation.
Last edited by Darb on Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The general population in Taiwan was under martial law until 1987 prohibiting access to all beaches - this combined with a widespread fear of deep water has kept beach culture rather stagnant in the last 20 odd years. It's growing, though.
It's a little amusing to go swimming here sometimes and be presented with a rope-and-floatie lifeguard barrier in water barely knee-high.
It's a little amusing to go swimming here sometimes and be presented with a rope-and-floatie lifeguard barrier in water barely knee-high.
Last edited by felonius on Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Colourless green ideas sleep furiously
TO ALL: I just made MAJOR updates to the Joseph Campbell portions of the database. The series names are still flagged as 'unknown', but that will be fixed shortly.
IBDOF-author-booklist.php?author=422
IBDOF-author-booklist.php?author=422
Sorry Brad - I missed your post or I would have replied a lot sooner...Brad_H wrote:Felonius - did you order Sake & Satori yet ? I think you'd like it, immersed as your are in oriental culture and society.
Haven't ordered it yet, I'm sorry to say - but it's definitely on my 'to acquire' list after reading your finely-crafted review.
I normally have a vigourous loathing for the whole concept of "political correctness" - but just for posterity, on a cultural level (at least with English-speaking natives of the region, should you ever be chatting with some), it's better to use the broad term "Asian" rather than "oriental" when discussing the Far East.
"Oriental" isn't as derogatory a term as some, but it is a western moniker which was applied to the region and is remniscent of some, shall we say, ambiguous colonial days. I suppose it's a little like saying "Eskimo" instead of "Inuit" or "Indian" instead of "Native American". It's also similar to how everyone says "Beijing" now - not "Peking" as was used in the past - which was just a rather crude Western approximation of the native name.
Rather like counting angels on pinheads, I know, and some Asians couldn't care less - but those who are well-educated usually do. Still - "Murder On The Asia Express" doesn't pack quite as much punch as a title, does it?
Brings up the whole conundrum of "acceptability" regarding older works of literature written in periods of different general worldview, and their tendency to sometimes offend modern cultural sensibilities...Rudyard Kipling, say, or Conrad - or in the case of someone like Nietzsche, views which were seized upon and twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. Mayhap another thread in there...
Colourless green ideas sleep furiously
FELONIUS: It's odd to see how the sublte nuances of various words change flavor from decade to decade, and generation to generation. Case in point - "Gay", back in the 1950's, used to mean 'happy, funloving and celebratory', rather than today's synonym for homosexuality. In any case, Dr. Campbell's use of the word 'orient' and 'oriental' runs slightly afoul of the same meaning/usage shifts. It's the slight linguistic patina of age on the work itself, not intent by the author to use slang, my friend.
EVERYONE: I revised and slightly expanded my review to include added links and references to some of the new entries I just added/re-worked in the IBDoF Database.
EVERYONE: I revised and slightly expanded my review to include added links and references to some of the new entries I just added/re-worked in the IBDoF Database.
Last edited by Darb on Wed Sep 29, 2004 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
More database updates for JOSEPH CAMPBELL: I found some more dupes that fell through the cracks, and I also fixed several broken ISBNs.
Dr. Campbell has given me so much reading satisfaction, that a full day's effort on his behalf (to get his library of collected works correct in our database) is a small price to repay.
Call it a personal shrine (and yes, that's an epistemological joke of sorts).
Dr. Campbell has given me so much reading satisfaction, that a full day's effort on his behalf (to get his library of collected works correct in our database) is a small price to repay.
Call it a personal shrine (and yes, that's an epistemological joke of sorts).
I fixed a bunch of typos in my initial review.
Belated note: I'm not sure if I'll get around to reviewing part one ... it's no longer fresh enough in my mind to give it the same highly detailed treatment that I did for part two. I'm not sure I'd want to attempt it unless I could do it the justice it deserves ... so it'll have to wait for me to reread it.
Belated note: I'm not sure if I'll get around to reviewing part one ... it's no longer fresh enough in my mind to give it the same highly detailed treatment that I did for part two. I'm not sure I'd want to attempt it unless I could do it the justice it deserves ... so it'll have to wait for me to reread it.