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ofravens commented on the word mono no aware
As per Wikipedia: lit. "the pathos of things", also translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a pity toward things." A Japanese term used to describe the awareness of the transience of things and a gentle sadness at their passing.
March 24, 2008
bilby commented on the word mono no aware
If I get it, it's a disarming little expression.
March 24, 2008
rolig commented on the word mono no aware
Wow. Unfortunately, I am not sure this word is usable in English, since it would seem to mean something like "one-sided insensitivity" (monadic non-awareness). What would be a close equivalent in English? Nostalgia? Wistfulness?
March 24, 2008
yarb commented on the word mono no aware
Since I came upon this curious term I've taken it to describe the awareness of the transience of things as embodied in those things. An innate sadness of objects, or emotion experienced directly through contact with objects.
It's very hard to describe; sometimes I'll read a book or poem which is full of it (not music, though).
March 25, 2008
super-julia commented on the word mono no aware
if you care to see it in japanese.. 物�?�哀れ
March 25, 2008
rolig commented on the word mono no aware
"He wrote me that the Japanese secret—what Lévi-Strauss had called the poignancy of things—implied the faculty of communion with things, of entering into them, of being them for a moment. It was normal that in their turn they should be like us: perishable and immortal."
– from the voice-over text (English version) of the Chris Marker film Sans Soleil / Sunless, (1983) a very personal contemplation of Japanese culture, in comparison with the culture Guinea-Bissau.
It strikes me that "the poignancy of things" would be a good translation of mono no aware. I haven't been able to track down the Lévi-Strauss reference.
March 30, 2008
sionnach commented on the word mono no aware
There's even a blog:
mono no aware .
Which I was first tempted to dismiss out of hand as being unbelievably, preciously, pretentious. But it's actually not -- some of her reviews seem really good. But how does she manage to go to the theatre with such staggeringly high frequency?
December 27, 2008
garyth123 commented on the word mono no aware
see lacrimae rerum
December 27, 2008