Scan barcode
staticdisplay's review against another edition
3.0
this book is largely about the mystery of who is Sharaku? like at least 50% of the book is really about that. it's an interesting framing device because it kind of obscures or eclipses the second mystery, which is a more traditional question of suicide or murder.
I'm not very knowledgeable about ukiyo-e, so the academic sections were a bit dense (but not overwhelmingly so, and I enjoy learning). I looked just now and there was a Sharaku whose identity remains a mystery. I'm curious whether this was written to put forth a reasonable theory (I absolutely do not know anything and therefore can't even begin to speculate) or if it was just written about something that is culturally a compelling mystery. basically, was this written for a super niche audience to appreciate the academic's attention to detail and as a sort of back-door entry to put scholarship out in the world, OR is this something that the average person would be like oh Sharaku how interesting.
it was an interesting read but did a few things I don't appreciate in mysteries, e.g. hiding information so the reader can't figure it out alongside the characters and revealing things through an explanatory monologue. in that sense, this appears to have been more a vessel for theorizing than crafting a tightly woven mystery narrative. still, the framing device (or at least that's how I'm conceptualizing it) was interesting and I did learn some things. it was astonishing to think that people could forge things with such impunity in the art world, and I wondered if some of the techniques in this story are really used.
one minor note, I read this digitally and it had several typos (like using the wrong tense for a verb) and there was no formatting to indicate a change of scene so sometimes it took some time to catch up to what was going on.
I'm not very knowledgeable about ukiyo-e, so the academic sections were a bit dense (but not overwhelmingly so, and I enjoy learning). I looked just now and there was a Sharaku whose identity remains a mystery. I'm curious whether this was written to put forth a reasonable theory (I absolutely do not know anything and therefore can't even begin to speculate) or if it was just written about something that is culturally a compelling mystery. basically, was this written for a super niche audience to appreciate the academic's attention to detail and as a sort of back-door entry to put scholarship out in the world, OR is this something that the average person would be like oh Sharaku how interesting.
it was an interesting read but did a few things I don't appreciate in mysteries, e.g. hiding information so the reader can't figure it out alongside the characters and revealing things through an explanatory monologue. in that sense, this appears to have been more a vessel for theorizing than crafting a tightly woven mystery narrative. still, the framing device (or at least that's how I'm conceptualizing it) was interesting and I did learn some things. it was astonishing to think that people could forge things with such impunity in the art world, and I wondered if some of the techniques in this story are really used.
one minor note, I read this digitally and it had several typos (like using the wrong tense for a verb) and there was no formatting to indicate a change of scene so sometimes it took some time to catch up to what was going on.
More...