The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old JapanWhen the United States entered the Gilded Age after the Civil War the nation lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward to "Old Japan," with its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, ultimately transforming itself, in the course of twenty-five years, from a feudal backwater to an international power. This great wave of historical and cultural reciprocity between the two young nations, which intensified during the late 1800s, brought with it some larger-than-life personalities, as the lure of unknown foreign cultures prompted pilgrimages back and forth across the Pacific. In The great wave, Benfey tells the story of the tightly knit group of nineteenth-century travelers--connoisseurs, collectors, and scientists--who dedicated themselves to exploring and preserving Old Japan. These travelers include Herman Melville, Henry Adams, John La Farge, Lafcadio Hearn, Mabel Loomis Todd, Edward Sylvester Morse, Percival Lowell, and President Theodore Roosevelt. As well, we learn of famous Easterners come West, including Kakuzo Okakura and Shuzo Kuki. |
Contents
THE FLOATING WORLD | 3 |
A COLLECTOR OF SEASHELLS | 45 |
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY | 75 |
Copyright | |
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The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of ... Christopher Benfey No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Adams's admired American Bigelow Boston brought called century ceremony Chinese Civil close Clover collection culture death Dickinson early East Education England English Farge's father Fenollosa figure foreign Gardner hand Harvard Hearn Henry Adams idea Imperial interest island James Japan Japanese Japanese art John knew known Kuki La Farge land later learned Letters light lived Lodge looking Lowell Mabel Manjiro Mars meaning Melville mind months Morse Morse's mountain Museum natural never Nikko noted Okakura opening Pacific painting photographs poem President quoted reported Roosevelt samurai seemed seen sense shells ship temple things thought tion Todd Tokyo took traditional translated turned United University wanted West Western whaling writing wrote York young