On his deathbed Ikku enjoined his pupils to place upon his corpse, before the cremation then usual in Japan, certain packets which he solemnly entrusted to them. At his funeral, prayers having been said, the pyre was lighted, whereupon it turned out that the packets were full of firecrackers, which exploded merrily. Ikku had kept his youthful promise that his life would be full of surprises, even after his death.
Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, Page 885
On Saturday the 27th of January 2018, I finished Volume I of Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization.
Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, Page 885
On Saturday the 27th of January 2018, I finished Volume I of Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization.
As I said when I began this project, I intended to read rather than study this long chronicle, to approach Durant’s Civilization as a story, which means I am gaining a broad sweep of history, but not retaining Durant’s innumerable details.
Durant ends his first volume with a study of Japan, followed by a short “Envoi” addressing the scope and material of the entire book. His writing on Japan is particularly fascinating, given that he wrote his book in the 1930s, before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the war in the Pacific. As I read, I was reminded of the deliberate insularity of Japan regarding foreign immigrants while at the same time exercising a prodigious ability to accept foreign ideas and innovations. Here is Durant’s conclusion on the latter:
“There is no more amazing or portentous phenomenon in modern history than the way in which sleeping Japan, roughly wakened by the cannon of the West, leaped to the lesson, bettered the instruction, accepted science, industry, and war, defeated all her competitors either in battle or in trade, and became, within two generations, the most aggressive nation in the contemporary world.” (Our Oriental Heritage, Page 913)
Think about it. Within the space of a hundred years, the Japanese twice threw off the burdens of their past and made their country a powerhouse, once as a military power, then again following the Second World War as an industrial power. Though their economy has stagnated for the last twenty years, and their birthrate now lies far below replacement levels, the Japanese nonetheless remain a power to be reckoned with.
Durant also predicted the outbreak of war between Japan and America, mostly of course for economic reasons of markets and resources.
Now, some general remarks:
First, I am eager to see if Will maintains his literary style through the next ten volumes. The project took him forty years, and Ariel, his wife, joined him halfway through this immense. To date, his style might be labeled magisterial or pompous, depending on the reader’s literary judgment. Will he continue writing in this vein? Will the addition of Ariel change his style? We will see.
Second, many today would label Durant’s history politically incorrect. His observations on women, family, race, and civilization would gain him a place at the table with such “conservative” historians as Paul Johnson. Given that Durant in his own day was a socialist and a free thinker, this label is especially amusing. Moreover, Durant dedicates ten of his eleven volumes to the civilization of the West, a proportion that would raise the hackles on many progressives in 2018, who regard the West as a stain on human history.
Third, I love the details, like the one regarding Japanese writer Ikku above, furnished by Durant. His history includes political developments, yes, but also addresses the arts, religion, philosophy, mores, and biographies central to each civilization. When reading about India, for example, I emerged feeling soaked in the waters of the Ganges. His accounts of China and Japan left me much more appreciative of the culture of both these civilizations.
Finally, as Durant and I shift to the history of Greece in Volume II, I enter more familiar territory. We have already together taken up this new direction on our journey, with his description of the culture of Crete, and already I find myself much more at home, more acquainted with the names and places under discussion. Consequently, the reading should prove a little less arduous, my progress a bit swifter.
Lead on, Will. I will follow.
Durant ends his first volume with a study of Japan, followed by a short “Envoi” addressing the scope and material of the entire book. His writing on Japan is particularly fascinating, given that he wrote his book in the 1930s, before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the war in the Pacific. As I read, I was reminded of the deliberate insularity of Japan regarding foreign immigrants while at the same time exercising a prodigious ability to accept foreign ideas and innovations. Here is Durant’s conclusion on the latter:
“There is no more amazing or portentous phenomenon in modern history than the way in which sleeping Japan, roughly wakened by the cannon of the West, leaped to the lesson, bettered the instruction, accepted science, industry, and war, defeated all her competitors either in battle or in trade, and became, within two generations, the most aggressive nation in the contemporary world.” (Our Oriental Heritage, Page 913)
Think about it. Within the space of a hundred years, the Japanese twice threw off the burdens of their past and made their country a powerhouse, once as a military power, then again following the Second World War as an industrial power. Though their economy has stagnated for the last twenty years, and their birthrate now lies far below replacement levels, the Japanese nonetheless remain a power to be reckoned with.
Durant also predicted the outbreak of war between Japan and America, mostly of course for economic reasons of markets and resources.
Now, some general remarks:
First, I am eager to see if Will maintains his literary style through the next ten volumes. The project took him forty years, and Ariel, his wife, joined him halfway through this immense. To date, his style might be labeled magisterial or pompous, depending on the reader’s literary judgment. Will he continue writing in this vein? Will the addition of Ariel change his style? We will see.
Second, many today would label Durant’s history politically incorrect. His observations on women, family, race, and civilization would gain him a place at the table with such “conservative” historians as Paul Johnson. Given that Durant in his own day was a socialist and a free thinker, this label is especially amusing. Moreover, Durant dedicates ten of his eleven volumes to the civilization of the West, a proportion that would raise the hackles on many progressives in 2018, who regard the West as a stain on human history.
Third, I love the details, like the one regarding Japanese writer Ikku above, furnished by Durant. His history includes political developments, yes, but also addresses the arts, religion, philosophy, mores, and biographies central to each civilization. When reading about India, for example, I emerged feeling soaked in the waters of the Ganges. His accounts of China and Japan left me much more appreciative of the culture of both these civilizations.
Finally, as Durant and I shift to the history of Greece in Volume II, I enter more familiar territory. We have already together taken up this new direction on our journey, with his description of the culture of Crete, and already I find myself much more at home, more acquainted with the names and places under discussion. Consequently, the reading should prove a little less arduous, my progress a bit swifter.
Lead on, Will. I will follow.
RSS Feed