The Armstrong Archives: To Dwell In Evanescence: On Japanese Aesthetics with DBH

David Armstrong used to write a delightful Substack newsletter called "A Perennial Digression," for which he also recorded several interviews. He has, for various reasons--mostly having to do with time--ceased writing and recording for the publication. The contents are still available online (somewhere), and he has kindly provided me copies of the four interviews he recorded with me.
This is my favorite among the topics we discussed, I have to say.

[@kevinmcdonald6560]

Japanese aesthetics reading list mentioned at the end of this video:
Hojoki (My Ten-Foot Hut), by Kamo no Chomei
The Narrow Road of the Interior, by Matsuo Basho
On the Art of the No Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami, by Zeami Motokivo
The Book of Tea, by Okakura Kakuzo
Japanese Tea Ceremony, by A.L. Sadler
The Beauty of Everyday Things, Soetsu Yanagi
In Praise of Shadows, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
The Holy Kojiki: Including, the Yengishiki
Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, translated by W.G. Aston
A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics, by Donald Richie
The Inland Sea, by Donald Richie

[@citachot]

Thank you both for this conversation and for all the references for literature on Japanese aesthetics. I never miss any of your conversations. Greetings from Macedonia.

[@jasonegeland1446]

David may be my favorite of your exchanges between yourself and others.
Always smiling, positive, and open to talking about almost anything.

[@tommyk8774]

Hello Dr. Hart, where/how is the best way to contact you to ask you questions?

[@leavesinthewind7441]

I don’t engage in private conversations over email. I’m afraid I get too many requests. But I do try to answer questions sent by readers of my Substack newsletter in q and a columns.

[@universalistsnape8584]

Dr. Hart, are there any writings from antiquity that can shed light on the true nature of the word αιώνιος, specifically around the time of Christ? When talking with people about this, they often ask for evidence that the word doesn't always mean "eternal".
Thanks.

[@leavesinthewind7441]

Surely no one argues that agonies always meant eternal. Almost all of the evidence of antiquity is that in most cases it didn't. Just get the Ramelli and Konstan volume.

[@fairykun]

As a Japanese minor and long-time Japanese culture and history enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation! Can't wait to read some of the books recommended at the end :^)

[@bayreuth79]

What about Mishima?

[@leavesinthewind7441]

Not one of the greats of modern Japanese literature, like Soseki or Kawabata or Tanizaki, but in the second rank.

[@bayreuth79]

@@leavesinthewind7441 of modern Japanese authors I’ve only read Mishima. I’ve always loved more ancient Japanese literature though, such as Lady Sarashina’s Diaries and Nōh of Zeami.

[@leavesinthewind7441]

@@bayreuth79 A sign of good taste.

[@bayreuth79]

@@leavesinthewind7441 Thank you. I’d love to hear you speak about J S Bach and Richard Wagner, possibly my two favourite composers (although I adore Purcell, Mozart and Stravinsky, amongst others). Hopefully someone will interview you about music

[@leavesinthewind7441]

@@bayreuth79 I have a regular column on music on my Substack page.