The Waterless Sea

The Waterless Sea
Author :
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Total Pages : 214
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781780239699
ISBN-13 : 1780239696
Rating : 4/5 (696 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Waterless Sea by : Christopher Pinney

Download or read book The Waterless Sea written by Christopher Pinney and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mirages have long astonished travelers of the sea and beguiled thirsty desert voyagers. Traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry and art depict the above-horizon, superior mirage, or fata morgana, as exhalations of clam-monsters. Indian sources relate mirages to the “thirst of gazelles,” a metaphor for the futility of desire. Starting in the late eighteenth century, mirages became a symbol in the West of Oriental despotism—a negative, but also enchanted, emblem. But the mirage motif is rarely simply condemnatory. More often, our obsession with mirages conveys a sense of escape, of fascination, of a desire to be deceived. The Waterless Sea is the first book devoted to the theories and history of mirages. Christopher Pinney navigates a sinuous pathway through a mysterious and evanescent terrain, showing how mirages have impacted politics, culture, science, and religion—and how we can continue to learn from their sublimity.


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